Goldtooth receives Sierra Club Award

Tom Goldtooth, a Native American environmental leader from Bemidji, received the Sierra Club’s 2016 John Muir Award on Sept. 10 at a ceremony in Oakland, Calif. Goldtooth is known “nationally for his efforts to defend Indigenous rights to a healthy environment and his dedicated work against fossil fuel projects like the Keystone XL pipeline,” a release said.

Goldtooth has spent more than 40 years helping Native American and indigenous communities worldwide address issues such as environmental protection, climate change, energy, biodiversity, environmental health, water, and sustainable development. Goldtooth and his son, Dallas, have both been leaders on domestic and international efforts to keep fossil fuels in ground and foster indigenous-based environmental protection initiatives, the release said. Goldtooth has served as the Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network since 1996 and is now helping lead and coordinate the ongoing tribal opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, according to the release.