To the Editor:

“Tribes Surviving on Coal Funds Hold Tight to Trump’s Pledges” (front page, April 2) tellingly illustrates the risks of dependency, in this case the dependence of some Native American tribes on revenue from coal mining on their reservations.

The Crow tribe of Montana, cited in the article, has lost a thousand jobs, as demand for its coal has declined because utilities nationally have shifted to cheaper natural gas to provide fuel for their power plants.

It’s no small matter for tribes, which hold a third of the country’s coal reserves. That’s one side to the story of reservation dependence, on an industry that fades, just as some tribal leaders elsewhere worry that reliance on income from casino gambling is not holding up as gambling begins to decline.

More generally, some Native leaders are concerned about the effects of dependence itself, particularly on government benefits, robbing the people of self-worth and leading to alcoholism, child neglect and other social problems — an epidemic that has prompted two-thirds of natives to leave their reservations to find jobs elsewhere.