Keenwire is exhibiting at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) Winter Conference in Shelton, WA from February 13-16, 2012. Appropriately, the FCC is set up in the booth next to us! Showing a clear dedication to our relationships in the northwest, Keenwire is the only broadband communications consultant with vendor space at the tribal conference with nearly 500 attendees.
One fact heard today shows the importance of the northwest tribes; over 1/3 of all tribal TANF assistance funds are accounted for by northwest tribes. This in addition to the substantial natural resources (minerals, timber, thermal energy, etc) found in the west and northwest. The newly elected President of ATNI, Fawn Sharp, represented the Northwest Tribes in a recent 2011 meeting with President Obama, being the first of 5 tribes called on to speak tribal issues. Ms. Sharp is no stranger to being in a leadership role as she introduced President Obama at the Tribal Nations Summit in 2010 and is also the President of the Quinault Indian Nation in Western Washington State (currently under contract with Keenwire for broadband planning and deployment). Prior to Ms. Sharp, Quinault had an outspoken leader named Joe DeLaCruz who pushed forward sovereign rights during the 70′s and decades after. These are just a few examples of continued and historic leadership by tribes in the northwest.
The tribes of the northwest struggle with unique challenges of reservations covering expanse land masses with difficult terrain and foliage and particularly low population densities. This makes communications inherently difficult to deploy, achieve ubiquity and reliability not to mention simply affording the infrastructure (both from a private and public perspective). The FCC will be participating in a session on Tuesday and in the evening, putting on a “listening session” dedicated to information exchange about some of the major regulatory changes and ambitions of the tribes in deploying broadband.