Abstract

Driving through Phoenix, one cannot help but notice the massive casino buildings and corresponding highway signs that protrude from the desert landscape. Yet, these visible landmarks represent a much larger story— one of urban encroachment, natural resource loss, and poverty, but also one of legal resistance, economic development, and resilience. Arizona’s central valley tribes, especially the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation (FMYN) and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC), have battled with the Arizona state government throughout the turn of the twenty-first century to establish tribal gaming. As a result of their efforts, all 22 of Arizona’s federally recognized tribes financially benefit from casino profits. In this way, the Valley’s Native tribes have been able to successfully adapt settler systems to work for the benefit of their own communities, reestablish economies that had been disrupted from natural resource encroachment, and strengthen tribal sovereignty. However, this method is not entirely unproblematic and often runs the risk of solidifying these same systems. In the case of the tribal entertainment industry, the use of western-style, water-intense enterprises increases the strain on vitally and culturally important water resources, which have already been exhausted by climate change and poor resource management. Therefore, an interdisciplinary analysis of the situation that understands both the economic and political importance of tribal entertainment enterprises as well as the potential environmental harm is a must in order to ensure responsible decision-making. By historicizing these modern institutions, a necessary basis is established for understanding their significance. Furthermore, by discussing the contradictory relationship between environmental conservation and economic development while reorienting the conversation around the potential for an indigenous-led system of co-existence, Arizona may move closer to finding sustainable solutions that benefit all of its inhabitants.

Keywords: Arizona, Tribal Gaming, Indigenous, Water, Environment, Settler Colonialism

How to Cite:

Wood, A., (2025) “When the River Runs Green: The Intersection Between Tribal Sovereignty, Economy, and Environmental Stewardship”, Footnotes: A Journal of History 7, 155-166.