Within just a few days, President Donald Trump has signed several executive actions in hopes of advancing progress in completing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.

Many Americans were surprised that Trump was following through with his campaign promises so swiftly, however, panelists Lance Foster and Richie Meyers were not.

Iowa State held a panel to discuss the growing concerns people have with the pipelines running through Native communities. Panelists included:

Foster, tribal historic preservation officer; Meyers, tribal relations director and American Indian Studies program coordinator at South Dakota State University; with an introduction from Sebastian Braun, director of American Indian studies at Iowa State.

The panel discussed regulations, laws, best practices and solutions for addressing the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in conjunction with the affects it may have on Native communities.

“The issue is that we live on a continent where one culture with its own interpretation of the landscape has been superimposed over another culture that was already on the landscape,” Braun said.

With the continued construction of major oil pipelines in America, Native Americans’ sacred sites are being threatened with little to no concern.

Sacred sites could be anything from ancient cemeteries to effigy mounds, a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, human or other figure.

“To be left alone is often one thing that the sacred [site] needs,” Braun said.

The order that was recently signed by Trump will greatly impact these sacred sites around the United States.

It’s not only the Dakota Access pipeline that affects sacred sites across the United States but any infrastructure project that may run through the respected landscape.

Braun cited the building of ski runs around the San Francisco Peaks as another project that has interfered with sacred sites of Native Americans.

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act “requires Federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties, and afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation a reasonable opportunity to comment.”

Governmental personnel and Native Americans therefore have consultations regarding the proposed sites of construction.

However, these consultations are often not a conversation. Rather, Native Americans are asked their opinion, which often gets disregarded.

Regardless of if these sites are visited and removed, the ancient artifacts found there, they will still be sacred to Native Americans.

“We are bound to land. We will always be there,” Foster said.

“Meaningful consultations between government and Native Americans are crucial for solving issues relating to infrastructure projects around their land,” Foster said.

Not only are Native Americans trying to protect the land for their purposes, but they’re also protecting the land for non-Native Americans too.

Foster described Native Americans as looking many generations into the future when deciding the impact that these infrastructure changes could have on everyone living around these areas.

For the waterways that pipelines pass by, there is potential for spilling to happen, and that would affect Natives and non-natives.

Meyers said 80 percent of the protesters at Standing Rock were non-native, and only 20 percent were Native Americans. The infrastructures being proposed for completion don’t just affect those within the Dakotas.

When discussing the popularity of Standing Rock in recent months, Foster said the reason the construction was possible to delay was because the tribes it was affecting have a counsel that was able to fight for them against the government.

Foster also addressed the gray area in media coverage currently and the idea that people seek information to fit their confirmation bias. Having knowledge of Native American history allows for a better understanding of the problems that are arising in society today.

When asked about their opinions on Donald Trump signing executive actions to advance the approval of the Dakota Access oil pipelines they both were not surprised with this move.

“It was expected and [Native American’s] aren’t going to give up,” Foster said.

“It was depressing, but it wasn’t surprising,” Meyers said. “It’s a dangerous time for native sovereignty and other issues.”