[blackdog]

So why don’t the tribes go into the copper mining business? The mining of domestic copper in the US is a matter of national security.

[Sacajaweau]

You mean work?? They like to lease and collect checks.

[Hugin]

It’s not their land. It’s ours. Or it was. It’s Tonto National Forest, as it says in the article.

[Jeff Chandler]

So why don’t the tribes go into the copper mining business?

Or grow pot?

[lrdg]

Why should “Northwest” Indians be concerned with something happening in Arizona?

[righttackle44]

It's not a matter of what they can do instead of doing something else. Their commitment is to their sacred lands. It's like the government swooping into your hometown and taking away your Baptist and Catholic churches. So, why not use the sites of the now-gone Baptist and Catholic churches to plant gardens? See how there is no sine non qua for the tribes merely to swap off their land and establish mining companies?