Answer:
Native Americans learned to use natural resources in their environments for food, clothing, and shelter. For example, in the frigid regions of the far north, early Americans survived by hunting caribou in the summer and sea mammals in the winter.
The buffalo was the most important natural resource of the Plains Indians. The Plains Indians were hunters. They hunted many kinds of animals, but it was the buffalo that provided them with all of their basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter.
Typically, Tribal and Federal governments are the largest employers on the reservations. Many households are overcrowded and earn only social security, disability or veteran's income. The scarcity of jobs and lack of economic opportunity mean that, depending on the reservation, four to eight out of ten adults on reservations are unemployed. Among American Indians who are employed, many are earning below poverty wages (2005 BIA American Indian Population & Labor Force Report).
The overall percentage of American Indians living below the federal poverty line is 28.2% (2008, American Indians Census Facts). The disparity for American Indians living below poverty on the reservations is even greater, reaching 38% to 63% in our service area (2006, National Center for Education Statistics, and other sources).
Often, heads of household are forced to leave the reservation to seek work, and grandparents take on the role of raising their grandchildren. In order to survive, extended families pool their meager resources as a way to meet basic needs. The relative poverty still experienced by these blended families is best understood as the gap between the overall need and the need that goes unmet.
Explanation:
