Bill Quackenbush, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Ho-Chunk Nation, gestures at the ceiling of a room in the Wisconsin state capitol, Jan. 13, 2016. The murals on it depict the history of Native Americans in Wisconsin. Alex Garcia for Al Jazeera America

MADISON, Wis. — A painting of French explorer Jean Nicolet hangs on the wall of State Senator Robert Cowles’ office here in the Wisconsin Capitol. It’s clearly a white man’s imagining of power, showing Nicolet firing a pair of flintlock pistols into the air as Menominee tribal members observe in awe.

In the second week of January, members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin were trying to paint a different picture of power, galvanized by a bill announced last year that could strip protections for ancient burial sites around the state. With papers spread across a wooden conference table, Ho-Chunk legislator and lobbyist David Greendeer and Ho-Chunk attorney Mike Rogowski were trying to make the case that the proposed legislation wasn’t just a Ho-Chunk issue, but an issue for tribes across the state.

Ryan Smith, chief of staff for Cowles, looked at the maps, diagrams, photos, memos and documents, and listened.

Across the United States, tribal interests in sacred sites are colliding with federal, state, public and private interests. The ancestral home of the Western Shoshone in Nevada is facing destruction from a proposed gold mine, while international copper interests are eyeing the religious grounds of the San Carlos Apache in Arizona.