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A new bill in Colorado aims to prevent bison poaching after government-sponsored killing of bison nearly led to the animal’s extinction a century ago.

Lawmakers heard from the chairmen of the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute during Colorado's annual State of the Tribes address.

Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute officials are willing to forgo future water use to help conservation efforts in the overstretched Colorado River Basin if they’re paid for the effort. Listen to our host Michael Lyle Jr. discuss this story with The Colorado Sun reporter/editor Shane Mullane and then read The Colorado Sun story at the link below.

A new bill introduced this week in the state legislature would make historic advances in voting access for Colorado’s two Native American tribes. It would also expand access to students and inmates, and make changes to ballot counts, election transparency and campaign finance.

The Ute Mountain Ute tribe’s chairman, Manuel Heart, and the Southern Ute tribe’s chairman, Melvin J Baker, praised lawmakers for working with the tribes, but said they have also been left out of important legislation in the past.

Earlier this year, Arizona -- one of seven southwestern states that rely on the Colorado River -- was in the midst of a heated discussion about…

Ernest House Jr. served as executive director of Colorado's Commission of Indian Affairs for the last 11 years. He's the first member of the Mountain Ute…