This page has been visited
times. LAND
ACQUISITIONS, PROPERTY SEIZURES
and USE ISSUES
The following are a series of communications and writings on the numerous problems occurring today regarding land, property and use issues in the diverse area of property rights and the regulating agencies involved in usurping these rights. To get your opinions or experiences included on this page please participate in the discussions on the list or in the forum. When interest dictates we'll be setting up conferences with the assorted player's in this arena so you may present your views in person to those who may have some input in getting these views heard and where they can be addressed.
*************
Klamath Want Their
Reservation Back
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/99/12/st121412.html
Klamath Tribes seeks part of forest
The Native American group wants 660,000 acres of the Winema National Forest to establish a
homeland
Tuesday, December 14, 1999
By Courtenay Thompson of The Oregonian staff
SPRAGUE RIVER -- All that's left of Allen Foreman's childhood home in the heart of the
former Klamath Indian Reservation is a chimney stack, listing slightly in a grove of
leafless trees.
Beyond, backed by the Ponderosa pine forests of the Winema National Forest, stand a series
of small buttes, rocky hills that held spiritual significance for Foreman's Modoc Indian
ancestors.
Just 45 years ago, this was all part of the Klamath Reservation, a 50-mile-by-50-mile
chunk of Oregon covered with rich forests, large deer herds, two rivers and the
10,000-year history of the Klamath, Modoc and Snake River Yahooskin tribes.
Today, Foreman, the newly elected chairman of the once dispossessed Klamath Tribes, hopes
to see a portion of the former reservation -- 660,000 acres of public land on the Winema
-- returned to the tribes as a homeland.
If the tribes can persuade the local community and ultimately Congress to support such a
return, the Klamath would control the largest reservation in Oregon. Tribal officials hope
that this would in turn lead to the resurgence of what was once one of the wealthiest
tribes in the nation.
"This is a real important time in the tribes' history," said Foreman, 52, who is
reviving a dream the tribe has worked toward for decades. "To be able to complete
this process will have effects on generations to come."
It's a controversial idea that has generated both excitement and fear in the Klamath
Basin, where battles over water, timber, public lands and endangered species have
intensified during the past decade.
The Winema -- headwaters of the Sprague and Williamson rivers and a long-standing source
of timber and recreation for Klamath County -- is seen by irrigators, environmentalists
and local officials as a critical part of the region's economic and ecological health.
In a series of public meetings during the next year, Foreman hopes to show the community
that the Klamath Tribes, not the U.S. Forest Service, would be the best manager of the
lands. With a new forest sustainability study in hand, he hopes to demonstrate that tribal
management of the former reservation will help solve not only the tribes' economic,
cultural and social problems, but also provide creative solutions to the region's
environmental and economic problems.
The tribes, for example, would be open to paying cash-strapped counties a share of timber
receipts, Foreman said. With the business tax breaks possible on a Native American
reservation, the tribes could attract industries to provide jobs throughout the community.
They could help rebuild the struggling former timber town of Chiloquin, fund wildlife
restoration projects, and possibly create water storage on the reservation to alleviate
summertime shortages for irrigation downstream.
"The Forest Service cannot offer any of the things we can offer -- to the irrigators,
the towns, the counties," Foreman said.
But the little-understood history of the tribes, combined with a struggle over water
rights and endangered species, will make the tribes' task difficult.
Environmental groups don't want to lose their ability to appeal sales on the public forest
if it becomes tribal trust land. Hunters don't want to lose access to its roads. Private
landowners living on the former reservation want to ensure their property rights won't be
affected.
"It will be a real tough sell," said Mike McKoen, a Klamath Falls area farmer
who is vice president of the Klamath Water Users, which represents 22 irrigation districts
and other irrigators throughout the Klamath Basin. He said many in the general public
believe the tribes were fairly compensated for the taking of the reservation.
But others, including McKoen himself, say they would support returning part of the Winema
to the tribes.
"I just think it was an injustice done to those people a long time ago," McKoen
said. "The federal government has an obligation to make that right."
20 million acres ceded
In 1864, the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Band of Paiute Indians signed a treaty with the
U.S. government, ceding more than 20 million acres that were then opened for white
settlement.
Tribal chiefs thought they had retained a 2.5-million-acre reservation. Over time,
however, the land was whittled away. The tribes retained 880,000 acres of the region's
most valuable timber.
By the mid-1950s, the personal income of Klamath tribal members was 93 percent that of the
surrounding community; timber receipts provided cash for a hospital, a loan fund and a
steady income for individual members; the tribes even paid for the federal agents who
worked on the reservation just north of Klamath Falls.
But in 1954, over the objections of the Klamath, Congress changed all that by passing a
termination act that severed its ties with the Klamath and led to the condemnation of the
880,000-acre reservation, the largest in Oregon, eventually converting most of it into the
Winema National Forest.
The Klamath, Congress reasoned, were so successful they were ready for full assimilation
into mainstream society -- despite evidence, such as low education levels and financial
sophistication, to the contrary, said Don Wharton, senior attorney for the Native American
Rights Fund, who is representing the Klamath.
"The irony of it, the thing that doesn't make any sense, is where there was a tribe
that was successful by the definition of Congress -- they had timber and ranches -- it was
the land-based economy making them successful," Wharton said. "And that's
exactly what they took away from them."
Despite common belief that tribal members voted to sell their reservation, they never had
a chance to vote on termination. Instead, they were given a choice of whether to withdraw
from the tribe and receive what turned out to be $43,000 apiece or remain in the tribe and
receive an uncertain income from a land trust. Seventy percent, or 1,600 members, voted to
withdraw in 1958. Eighty people voted to remain, and another 300 refused to vote.
By the time the trust was dissolved in the early 1970s, the federal government had paid
tribal members $220 million.
But during that period, Wharton said, the government earned more than $450 million in
timber sales and never compensated the tribe for water and mineral rights.
The social results of termination were devastating, leading to a host of problems,
including loss of identity, alcoholism, bankruptcy and early death.
In 1986, the Klamath Tribe was re-recognized by the federal government, which set about
repairing some of the damage of the past 30 years.
Despite the loss of federal recognition, the tribes fought in federal court to retain
their hunting, fishing and water rights -- eventually winning a landmark decision
recognizing that their water rights "dated back to time immemorial."
That gives them a powerful position in the battle over who owns the right to water in the
Klamath Basin.
Some farmers and ranchers hope that the tribes will back off on some of their demands for
water to restore fish and wildlife. The idea of restoring lands to the Klamath has been
discussed for about a year in parallel water settlement negotiations.
Alice Kilham, chairwoman of the Klamath River Compact Commission and recently retired
co-chairwoman of the Hatfield Upper Klamath Working Group, said the tribes need to come
forward with a plan that will show they can manage the lands better -- and that the public
will retain some guarantees and safeguards.
"I personally don't care so much about who manages it, more how they manage it,"
she said.
Rich McIntyre, owner of CrystalWood Lodge for fly fishers and project director for the
Oregon Trout Wood River Channel and Wetland Restoration Project, has worked with the
tribes on wetlands restoration and other projects. He said he would support perhaps an
incremental return of the reservation, as the tribes demonstrate their ability to manage.
"They would be hard-pressed to do a worse job than the last 30 years," he said.
Since termination, tribal Chairman Foreman says, the condition of timber, fish and
wildlife have suffered. Too much timber has been cut, deer herds have dwindled, and
natural springs have been plugged.
Foreman hopes that in two years the tribes will have a management strategy to submit to
the secretary of the interior and eventually Congress, as part of the tribes'
self-sufficiency plan.
The forest strategy, approved by the tribal council this fall, lays out three plans for
developing a sustainable forest with 100-year timber rotations. The tribes hope to manage
the forest for fish, wildlife and water, as well as for timber revenue. Foreman said
tribal leaders voted for a cut level of between 4 million and 10 million board feet a year
-- levels below what is coming off the forest now.
Foreman said he hopes to get comment from ranchers, environmentalists, hunters, campers,
state and federal agencies -- all the parties who have a stake in what happens on the
Winema -- and craft a final plan that reflects the entire community.
The tribes will eventually need to persuade Oregon's congressional delegation.
Mary Healy, press secretary for Sen. Gordon Smith, said the senator won't take a position
until after the complete plan is presented to him.
But she said Republican senator supports the inclusive, cooperative approach the tribe is
taking.
***************
Thu, 2 Dec 1999 Miami
Herald AMERICAS
Brazil Indians press a claim for ancient
land
BY LARRY ROHTER
New York Times Service
PORTO SEGURO, Brazil -- The history of the Brazilian nation began
here when a Portuguese flotilla hoping to reach India spied a
``mount, very high, round and wooded'' after a grueling 43-day voyage.
The seafarers found an anchorage, which they promptly named Porto
Seguro (safe port), and sent a delegation ashore to talk to the astonished
locals, whom the mission's log described as ``innocent'' and ``childlike.''
Now, with the 500th anniversary celebrations of the Portuguese arrival
fast approaching, the descendants of those earlier inhabitants are trying to
regain this historic piece of land.
Since August more than 200 members of the Pataxo tribe (pronounced
pot-a-SHOW) have been occupying Monte Pascoal National Park, site of
the 1,742-foot hill that guided Pedro Alvares Cabral's men to that first
landfall on the afternoon of April 23, 1500.
In North American terms, it is as if the Wampanoag tribe were to seize
Plymouth Rock and demand the return of the surrounding territory.
WANT THE LAND BACK
``This park is still our house, even though someone else has been
living in it,'' said Joel Braz, director of the tribal council representing more
than a dozen nearby Pataxo villages. ``The only way we can celebrate is
by getting our land back. We are not going to be satisfied until we achieve
that, and we will fight if we have to, because our survival as a people is at
stake.''
The symbolism of the Pataxo takeover, which includes replacing the sign at
the
entrance of the park with one proclaiming a new identity as the ``Pataxo
Indigenous Park of Monte Pascoal,'' has reverberated profoundly
among Brazil's 165 million people.
Like the United States, Brazil has found it difficult to come to grips with
the indigenous component of its past, beginning with the enslavement and
extermination of the Tupi group of tribes who were ancestors of the Pataxo.
For those reasons, ``the struggle of the Pataxo has become emblematic
of the whole indigenous movement in Brazil'' and forced the government to
tread lightly, said Sumario Santana of the Indigenous Missionary Council, a Roman
Catholic Church organization that works closely with Indian groups.
``The government is silent, but it doesn't have many options,'' he said.
``Either it admits the Pataxo are the legitimate owners or it kicks them out. I
don't
see a middle ground here.''
PROMISES DISTRUSTED
The government tried to reach a middle ground during negotiations two
decades ago, granting Pataxo villages in the area access to 21,000 acres of the
national park and leaving the remaining 36,000 acres under government control.
Federal officials who have been talking with tribal leaders recently have
indicated that they are willing to give the tribe more land, but only if the Pataxo
move to
another area and relinquish their claims to the park.
The Pataxo distrust such promises, particularly older members like
Manoel Goncalves dos Santos, 74.
``We helped the first surveyors who came to demarcate the national
park, because they told us we would get this land,'' he recalled of the event
in the early 1940s. ``But when they were finished, we were driven away and told we
had to stay out of the park.''
After that expulsion, and the dispersal that came after a clash with the
Bahia state police in 1951, the Pataxo gradually lost their language and were
reduced to selling handicrafts at the park's entrance.
Since the 1960s some government documents have even referred to
the tribe not as Indians, but as caboclos, a term applied to
hillbillies and people of mixed race.
Nevertheless, the Pataxo continue to struggle to maintain their identity as a
people and still regard Monte Pascoal as ``sacred to us,'' said Oziel Santana
Ferreira, a village chief.
``It is our brother, and the forest is our mother,'' he said. ``We know
every cave and waterfall, our ancestors are buried here and this is where our old
folks have always performed their songs and rituals, so we cannot leave here.''
What the Pataxo are demanding now is the entire 138,000 acres that
was initially set aside for the park, most of which ended up in
the hands of ranchers and other ``private interests that had the political
connections we have never had,'' Braz said.
THREATENED SANCTUARY
Pataxo leaders say they need more land because their population has
exploded, from a few hundred in the early 1950s to more than 6,000 today, but
they are being resisted by local landowners.
The Pataxos' seizure of the park has also created a quandary for
Brazil's environmentalist groups. Though they normally support Indian causes,
on the theory that indigenous people are proven stewards of nature, the park
is a sanctuary that harbors one of the last stands of virgin Atlantic rain
forest, including rare species like the Brazilwood tree, which gave this country
its name.
``A significant portion of the depredations this park has suffered are due
to the Indians,'' complained Silvio da Cruz Freire, the park's acting director,
``so for them to suddenly present themselves as protectors of the
environment flies in the face of reality. I can't remember a time when there
haven't been Indians inside the park burning trees to plant their crops or
cutting them
down to use in making their handicrafts.''
Some environmentalists also worry that the Pataxo case could send the
wrong signal to other groups, ranging from ranchers to miners, that covet the
riches contained in other, more remote and less policed national parks.
``The law clearly states that no one can form a residential community in
a national park,'' Santana said, ``and the fear among nongovernmental
organizations is that this could set a dangerous precedent.''
But the Pataxo argue that they are taking better care of the park than the
government ever did. ``The park guards were always taking bribes to
let hunters and wood gatherers come in,'' said Aliso Coelho, a member of the
Pataxo security team that, armed with clubs and bows and arrows, now
controls access to the park. ``But we have captured them and turned
them over to police.''
********************
Lawyers for Oneida Land
Claim Opponents Plan a Meeting in December
The Associated Press State & Local Wire
25 November 1999, BC cycle.
http://www.ap.org/
Verona, N.Y. -- Lawyers for central New York residents fighting the
claim on their property through legal action by Oneida Indians may
meet next month with a mediator. The invitation follows Tuesday's
meeting between the opposing parties and the man trying to settle
the long-disputed claim by the Oneidas. Attorneys representing
Upstate Citizens for Equality (UCE), the Central New York Fair
Business Association and the American Citizens Association
explained to mediator Ronald Riccio in Utica that not all landowners
and not all Oneida Indians support their leaders, said Leon Koziol,
a Utica lawyer representing UCE. The lawyers also explained that
not everyone supports mediation.
*****************
October 13, 1999 7:39 AM
URGENT: CALL FOR AUTHORS FOR AGRICULTURE
DIALOGUE PAPERS
Dear brothers and sisters,
FYI for your participation, and please circulate to any other Indigenous
Peoples organizations who work with traditional/sustainable agriculture
issues and LAND MANAGEMENT and have something to say about it!
The UN hasn't made it easy for us to convince community, grass roots people
with real, hands-on expertise in specific areas (like agriculure) that we
can have any kind of policy impact at the international level. But if we
don't take advantage of this opening to get some direct IP input into the
CSD through these groundwork-laying papers NOW for the CSD session, it'll
mean months of struggle to make sure our issues aren't pushed to the sides
LATER in the formal part of the CSD process. (There will be a diverse block
of Indigenous and
non-Indigenous NGOs together as allies on the GMO issue & organic farming,
etc., but interests could clash when stakes are high re: Land issues).
Treaty Council can work with people on the papers, if needed (and later, as
we prepare as an Indigenous Caucus toward the Intersessional Meeting in Feb.
and the official CSD-8 session in April) from a more international
perspective, but it's the LOCAL voices that I'm trying to make sure get
heard at the UN.
THANKS,
Carol
************
October 09, 1999 12:48 PM
Oceti Sakowin: Janklow, protesters argue
http://www.yankton.net/stories/100899/new_1008990004.html
Web posted Friday, October 8, 1999
Janklow, Protesters Argue About Land Claims During Boisterous Meeting
By JOE KAFKA
Associated Press Writer
PIERRE -- Congress made treaties with Indian tribes, and
Congress can break them, Gov. Bill Janklow told a handful
of protesters Thursday during a feisty session in his Capitol office.
Raising their voices, the two sides tried to speak over
each other on several occasions, turning part of the
meeting into a shouting match.
The governor's impromptu guests are members of an
encampment on LaFramboise Island, located on the Missouri
River between Pierre and Fort Pierre. The group wanted the
governor to formally acknowledge an 1868 treaty with the
Sioux as well as the Declaration of Independence and U.S.
Constitution.
A copy of the treaty, which set aside the western half of
South Dakota as Indian lands, was placed on the governor's
desk for his signature.
The governor refused to sign, accusing the protesters of
staging a publicity stunt for bringing reporters.
The treaty cannot be considered in a vacuum, he said.
"I have no reason to sign it," Janklow said. "I uphold the
Constitution and the laws of the United States."
Cliff Kindy of North Manchester, Ind., a member of
Christian Peacemaker Teams who is staying at the camp,
argued that the treaty does not allow federal transfer of
land along the river to state government. Two tribes also
are to receive some of the land.
"We're inviting you to acknowledge a common history that
all of us have," Kindy said to the governor. "We're not
talking about what's law. We're talking about what's
right."
Christian Peacemakers is a Chicago-based group that works
to prevent violence and tries to resolve conflicts.
"What we're trying to talk about is a nation-to-nation
agreement that was signed in 1868," Kindy said during
several minutes of spirited banter with the governor.
"Your office has been an obstacle to the withholding of
that agreement between the Great Sioux Nation and the
United States," Kindy told Janklow.
Campers have been on LaFramboise Island since March 22 to
protest the land transfer. The deal, which was brokered by
Janklow and Sen. Tom Daschle a couple years ago, violates
treaties, protesters argue.
Congress passed a law last year returning land taken
decades ago for Missouri River dams.
The act makes the state and the Cheyenne River and Lower
Brule Sioux responsible for environmental protection and
development along the Missouri River virtually all the way
from North Dakota to Nebraska.
Janklow has said the state and tribes can manage the land
cheaper than the federal government and improve recreational
access to the river.
Although protesters said the transfer law violates the 1868
treaty, Janklow said there is a century-long history of the
U.S. Supreme Court upholding the power of Congress to pass
laws affecting treaties.
"The power to make a treaty is the power to follow a
treaty," the governor said.
Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the final say
on all laws and treaties, he said.
"The Constitution predates any treaty," he told the
protesters crowded into his office.
The Black Hills and much of the rest of western South
Dakota was reserved for the Sioux in the Fort Laramie
Treaty of 1868. After gold was discovered in the Black
Hills, the land was taken back in 1877 and Indians were
forced onto smaller reservations.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that the federal
government improperly confiscated the land, awarding
financial damages. With interest, the sum has now grown to
several hundred million dollars, but the tribes have
refused to accept it.
The justices did not say the land must be returned to the
Sioux.
Janklow told protesters Thursday that an 1825 Sioux treaty
acknowledged the supremacy of the United States and that
the tribe lived within U.S. territory. He also said the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1903 that Congress can break
treaties.
"I will not allow you to single out one treaty," Janklow
told his wary guests. "You have to look at all the
treaties. You have to look at all the laws and the
Constitution."
A dozen or so campers stay on LaFramboise Island. They are
allowed by the Corps of Engineers to stay even though
camping there is off-limits to others.
"I'm concerned that we all respect the laws of our
country," said Joanne Kaufman of Chicago, another Christian
Peacemaker. Treaties are the supreme law of the land and
courts must follow them, she told Janklow.
"A treaty, under the auspices of nation-to-nation
relationship, is what binds all of us to respect that
treaty," Kaufman said. "How can the state of South Dakota
take treaty land ... by an act of the United States
Congress?"
The act transfers about 158,000 acres of shoreline from
Corps of Engineers control to the state and two tribes.
Opponents said changes in the 1868 treaty must first be
approved by descendants of all the tribes that signed it,
not just the Lower Brule and Cheyenne River Sioux.
The controversial land varies in width on the shoreline
along both sides of the river. The transfer is to compensate
the state and tribes for more than 400,000 acres of flooded
wildlife habitat when the dams were built.
The state wants to plant trees and fix deteriorating boat
ramps, campgrounds and other recreational facilities along
the river.
The new law also creates a trust fund to give the state and
tribes money to manage the land.
*************
Janklow, Protesters Argue
About Land Claims During Boisterous Meeting
By JOE KAFKA
Associated Press Writer
PIERRE -- Congress made treaties with Indian tribes, and Congress can break
them, Gov. Bill Janklow told a handful of protesters Thursday during a
feisty session in his Capitol office.
Raising their voices, the two sides tried to speak over each other on
several occasions, turning part of the meeting into a shouting match.
The governor's impromptu guests are members of an encampment on LaFramboise
Island, located on the Missouri River between Pierre and Fort Pierre. The
group wanted the governor to formally acknowledge an 1868 treaty with the
Sioux as well as the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
A copy of the treaty, which set aside the western half of South Dakota as
Indian lands, was placed on the governor's desk for his signature.
The governor refused to sign, accusing the protesters of staging a
publicity stunt for bringing reporters.
The treaty cannot be considered in a vacuum, he said.
''I have no reason to sign it,'' Janklow said. ''I uphold the Constitution
and the laws of the United States.''
Cliff Kindy of North Manchester, Ind., a member of Christian Peacemaker
Teams who is staying at the camp, argued that the treaty does not allow
federal transfer of land along the river to state government. Two tribes
also are to receive some of the land.
''We're inviting you to acknowledge a common history that all of us have,''
Kindy said to the governor. ''We're not talking about what's law. We're
talking about what's right.''
Christian Peacemakers is a Chicago-based group that works to prevent
violence and tries to resolve conflicts.
''What we're trying to talk about is a nation-to-nation agreement that was
signed in 1868,'' Kindy said during several minutes of spirited banter with
the governor.
''Your office has been an obstacle to the withholding of that agreement
between the Great Sioux Nation and the United States,'' Kindy told Janklow.
Campers have been on LaFramboise Island since March 22 to
protest the land transfer. The deal, which was brokered by Janklow and
Sen. Tom Daschle a couple years ago, violates treaties, protesters argue.
Congress passed a law last year returning land taken decades ago for
Missouri River dams.
The act makes the state and the Cheyenne River and Lower
Brule Sioux responsible for environmental protection and
development along the Missouri River virtually all the way from
North Dakota to Nebraska.
Janklow has said the state and tribes can manage the land
cheaper than the federal government and improve recreational
access to the river.
Although protesters said the transfer law violates the 1868
treaty, Janklow said there is a century-long history of the U.S.
Supreme Court upholding the power of Congress to pass
laws affecting treaties.
''The power to make a treaty is the power to follow a treaty,'' the
governor said.
Under the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the final say
on all laws and treaties, he said.
''The Constitution predates any treaty,'' he told the protesters crowded
into his office.
The Black Hills and much of the rest of western South Dakota was reserved
for the Sioux in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. After gold was discovered
in the Black Hills, the land was taken back in 1877 and Indians were forced
onto smaller reservations.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that the federal government improperly
confiscated the land, awarding financial damages. With interest, the sum
has now grown to several hundred million dollars, but the tribes have
refused to accept it.
The justices did not say the land must be returned to the Sioux.
Janklow told protesters Thursday that an 1825 Sioux treaty acknowledged the
supremacy of the United States and that the tribe lived within U.S.
territory. He also said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1903 that Congress
can break treaties.
''I will not allow you to single out one treaty,'' Janklow
told his wary guests. ''You have to look at all the treaties. You
have to look at all the laws and the Constitution.''
A dozen or so campers stay on LaFramboise Island. They are
allowed by the Corps of Engineers to stay even though camping there
is off-limits to others.
''I'm concerned that we all respect the laws of our country,'' said Joanne
Kaufman of Chicago, another Christian Peacemaker. Treaties
are the supreme law of the land and courts must follow them, she told
Janklow.
''A treaty, under the auspices of nation-to-nation relationship, is what
binds all of us to respect that treaty,'' Kaufman said.
''How can the state of South Dakota take treaty land ... by an act of the
United States Congress?''
The act transfers about 158,000 acres of shoreline from Corps of Engineers
control to the state and two tribes.
Opponents said changes in the 1868 treaty must first be approved by
descendants of all the tribes that signed it, not just the Lower Brule and
Cheyenne River Sioux.
The controversial land varies in width on the shoreline along both sides of
the river. The transfer is to compensate the state and tribes for more than
400,000 acres of flooded wildlife habitat when the dams were built.
The state wants to plant trees and fix deteriorating boat ramps,
campgrounds and other recreational facilities along the river.
The new law also creates a trust fund to give the state and tribes money to
manage the land.
http://wolfseeker.com
http://www.sunlink.net/~
**************
October 5, 1999
Land Give Back
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) - A potential water war over endangered fish
might be avoided under an ambitious plan that includes returning much of
the Winema National Forest to the Klamath Indian tribe.
At issue is the endangered Lost River and shortnose sucker
fish in Klamath Lake. The tribe has been at odds with ranchers and
farmers who depend on the lake's water to irrigate pastures and crops.
Settlement talks started in earnest last month after the Tulelake Growers
Association forwarded a draft proposal to the Hatfield
Upper Klamath Basin Working Group. The 31-member group includes
representatives from state and federal agencies; timber and agricultural interests;
conservation, hunting and fishing groups; and the tribe.
Last Friday, more than 50 people crowded into a meeting
room at the Winema National Forest headquarters to have their say on the
growers' proposed settlement and the idea of restoring the tribe's
homeland.
``We believe that the pieces to construct a comprehensive
solution are in place, and miraculously the pieces could benefit
practically every interest,'' said Marshall Staunton, a farmer and
member of the Tulelake Growers, which drafted the plan.
Opponents pointed to the $220 million paid to tribal members in exchange
for their reservation, and others voiced concern about lost
tax revenue in Chiloquin, where the 2,800-member tribe is based.
``What we have paid for is ours,'' said Don Roeder of Klamath Falls, whose
family owns ranch land in Fort Klamath, near the former
reservation. ``The United States government has no right to give away
public land.''
The plan would give back the 680,000-acre reservation that
became part of the Winema National Forest in 1961.
Other possibilities include re-engineering the Bureau of
Reclamation's massive Klamath Project, stepping up conversion of
farmland into marshes, guaranteeing adequate water for the basin's six
National Wildlife Refuges, protecting commercial farming on 22,000 acres leased
from one refuge and managing irrigation cutoffs in drought years.
The tribe's 45-year quest to regain its reservation has
gained support from key members of the agricultural community,
surprising many area residents.
Faith Wilkins of Chiloquin said the proposal ``has fragmented our
community at a very deep level on both sides.''
The support follows two years of secret negotiations with
irrigators that began after the tribe successfully sued to ensure
adequate water for endangered fish in Klamath Lake and to recognize
tribal water rights within the Klamath Basin.
Supporters praised the tribe's efforts to resolve water
issues outside of courtrooms and condemned the 1954 federal taking of
the timber-rich reservation.
The tribe has ``done an excellent job to bring the parties
to the table and sit down to talk about some very delicate
issues,'' said irrigator Mike McKoen of Merrill.
``I think they have a legitimate claim there, and I think
it would benefit the economy of the entire region,'' added Earl Miller
of Bonanza.
Tribal members said restoration of their homeland would
help sustain both the environment and the economy.
``It will allow the people who know the land best and live
here to make the decisions,'' tribal Chairman Allen Foreman said.
Returning the Winema forest to the tribe and re-engineering the Klamath
Project's irrigation system would require congressional
approval and federal financing, worrying some.
``There is an inherent danger in asking Congress to pass any
legislation,'' said James Ottoman of Malin.
But many still see the real danger as the loss of a water
supply developed mostly for agriculture.
``We're not interested in giving it away,'' said Barney Hoyt of Malin.
*****************
Expansion Of Medicine Wheel
Site Suggested
'SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPE'
Expansion of Medicine Wheel site suggested
By MICHAEL MILSTEIN
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
Sept. 1999
LOVELL, Wyo. - A new study of traditional Native American use of the Medicine
Wheel
National Historic Landmark in the Bighorn Mountains concludes that for
American Indians,
the site's cultural values extend far beyond the ancient stone structure to
envelop the entire
"spiritual landscape" of Medicine Mountain.
The study, in the form of a nomination to the National Register of Historic
Places,
recommends expanding the current 110-acre National Historic Landmark to
15,230 acres of
the Bighorn National Forest. The increased acreage would take in many
associated
archaeological sites such as traditional campsites, trails and medicinal
plant gathering sites.
"The Medicine Wheel itself is not the main event up there, the main
event is the landscape if
you're a Native American," said archaeologist Fred Chapman of the
Wyoming State Historic
Preservation Office and an author of the nomination. "There's nothing
else really like this
in the West in terms of a concentration of archaeological sites and
continuing traditional
uses."
Expanding the boundaries of the National Historic Landmark would recognize
the
importance of those sites without imposing any restrictions on land use not
already spelled out in
a Historic Preservation Plan signed by state, local, federal and tribal
groups in 1996, Chapman said.
But the proposed boundary expansion is already generating criticism in
Lovell, where residents
fear it will limit their access to national forest lands long used for
grazing, logging and recreation.
"I think it's a crime against everyone who lives in the area to try to
set aside 15,000 acres for the
Medicine Wheel when we've gotten along with 100-plus acres for all this
time," said Cal
Taggart, who while mayor of Lovell in the late 1960s pushed for designation
of the original
110-acre National Historic Landmark including the Medicine Wheel.
"They're distorting what this site is all about by saying it's just a
sacred site for the Indians," he
said. "I don't care if the Indians pray up there or anyone prays up
there, but I don't think it ought
to be set aside for any group, whether it's Mormons or Baptists or Lutherans
or anything else."
Although the origin of the Medicine Wheel remains a mystery, many Native
American tribes
consider the wagon-wheel-shaped stone structure on a windswept ridge below
the peak of
Medicine Mountain to be a sacred site. Debate over proposals to improve the
site with
additional visitor facilities finally led to the 1996 Historic Preservation
Plan, under which the
Forest Service must consult local and state agencies and tribal groups on any
plans for
logging or other development within a 23,000-acre "viewshed"
surrounding the
Medicine Wheel.
Wyoming Sawmills of Sheridan earlier this year sued the Forest Service,
arguing that the Historic
Preservation Plan has hampered logging opportunities on lands long designated
for
multiple use. The lawsuit is still pending.
The Historic Preservation Plan also called for revising the Medicine Wheel's
nomination to the
National Register of Historic Sites based on a comprehensive survey of
traditional Native
American use of the site - called an "ethnographic survey."
The results of that survey make up the bulk of the 100-page nomination
completed by Chapman,
anthropologist James Boggs of Missoula, Mont., and Robert G. York of the
Northern Mariana
Islands Museum of History and Culture in Saipan. They say that archaeological
evidence
and their many interviews with tribal members and local residents document
longstanding
Native American use of the Medicine Wheel and Medicine Mountain.
The authors are now soliciting comments from the parties to the Historic
Preservation Plan and
the public and will then submit a final version of the nomination to the
Forest Service. It will then
be up to the Forest Service to submit the nomination to the National Park
Service, which
maintains the National Register of Historic Places.
Copies of the document are available from the Forest Service, although the
locations of
archaeological sites and the names of Native Americans quoted are blacked
out.
A public meeting to discuss the nomination is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at
the Big Horn
County Annex in Lovell.
"Contemporary traditional Native Americans generally venerate the
Medicine Wheel because
it embodies uniquely important and powerful spiritual principles that figure
prominently in
tribal, family and band-specific oral and ceremonial traditions," the
nomination says. "To
many Native Americans, Medicine Mountain as a whole constitutes a highly
differentiated and
complex sacred geography."
While the Medicine Wheel itself is the most visible sign of ceremonial use of
the area and is
the prime attraction for the 15,000 or so tourists who visit annually, its
cultural significance
extends over a far broader area, the document says.
"Most knowledgeable Indian traditional practitioners regard the Medicine
Wheel as an
essential but secondary component of a much larger spiritual landscape
composed of the
surrounding alpine forests and mountain peaks,"it says. "In 1998,
841 Native Americans from 89
tribes conducted ceremonies at or near the Medicine Wheel."
The team that completed the ethnographic survey originally had no idea how
large the
"spiritual landscape" would turn out to be, Boggs said.
"We weren't aiming for any traditional acreage - we took different
aspects of the landscape that
emerged as important to the Native American people who came to the mountain
and put those
together," he said. "Everybody thought the Medicine Wheel was the
focus, since that was
what drew the attention of non-Indian people to begin with, but the Medicine
Wheel is more like
an altar to the mountain - it was a kind of symbol of the mountain's
importance."
He said the mountains have religious importance in the Bible, too.
The Medicine Wheel was never intended as a static object or monument, but a
kind of living
structure that could be altered and supplemented over time, he said.
Surrounding features such as springs on the south face of Medicine Mountain,
trails that led
longtime users of the Medicine Wheel up and down the mountain and campsites
used by
Native Americans while visiting the Wheel also deserve inclusion in the
National Historic
Landmark, he said.
Such features are important not only for their archaeological value, but also
for their modern
role in continuing Native American traditions such as vision quests, he said.
"None of the tribes we encountered, except perhaps the Northern Arapaho,
maintains
worship at Medicine Mountain as an aspect of what could in any sense be
called its 'tribal
religion,' " the ethnographic section of the nomination says.
"Indeed, much of Native
American religion is not what Euro-Americans call 'organized religion.'
"Traditional cultural knowledge about Medicine Mountain is often
transmitted within families, or
from Elder to youngster, from teacher to student, rather than as part of
organized bodies of
knowledge distinctly representative of different tribes," the
document says.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/
http://wolfseeker.com
http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/mbs.cgi/mb629759
http://www.sunlink.net/~wlfskr
TOP OF PAGE
**************
Domenici Plan To Speed Grazing
Permits Blasted
By Mike Taugher
Journal Staff Writer
Ranchers on public range would see their
grazing permits
renewed even if federal land managers had not
completed
environmental review of their ranching
operations, according to
legislation being pushed by New Mexico's senior
senator.
Conservationists say the legislation, tacked on
to an annual
appropriations bill by Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N.M.,
unnecessarily exempts ranchers from
environmental laws.
Federal land managers say that even without the
legislation,
they have no plans to suspend grazing while
they work on the
required environmental studies. But Domenici
says the legislation
is needed to protect ranchers from problems
that might arise
when many federal land leases -- including
hundreds in New
Mexico -- expire in a couple of weeks.
"I'm saying ranchers should not be treated
unfairly because the
(U.S. Bureau of Land Management) cannot get its
job done in a
timely manner," Domenici said recently.
The Senate is expected to approve the proposal
this week.
The issue for ranchers and their federal
landlords is twofold:
An unusually large number of grazing permits
are set to expire
this year on BLM land, and a recent
administrative court
decision has placed BLM land managers under a
new imperative
to complete environmental reviews before they
renew grazing
permits.
"We've got a big bulge in the
workload," said BLM spokesman Rem Hawes.
About 5,000 or so grazing permits are scheduled
to expire on
Oct. 1, and environmental reviews under the
National
Environmental Policy Act will not be done on
many of those
grazing allotments before the expiration date,
Hawes said.
About 700 of the permits set to expire are in
New Mexico.
Conservationists say Domenici, by proposing
legislation that
would automatically extend leases without
changes, is going too
far.
They note previous attempts by Domenici to use
riders, or
amendments to spending bills, to aid ranchers.
Conservationists
contended the riders would be at the expense of
other public
lands users and the environment.
"The scary thing about this rider for
Western public lands is
that Sen. Domenici with a few sentences has
managed to
accomplish a lot of what he tried to accomplish
in the past with
grazing riders," said Fran Hunt, a
Wilderness Society lobbyist.
"The impact on the land and on other land
users would go on
for an indefinite period of time," Hunt
said.
Hunt said a failed Democratic attempt last week
to modify
Domenici's proposal made more sense.
According to Hunt, the Democratic proposal
would have
extended permits for a year, which would allow
the ranchers'
business to continue uninterrupted while also
keeping pressure
on BLM managers to complete the studies.
According to a letter to senators from dozens
of Western law
professors, Domenici's proposal would prevent
BLM managers
from making changes to grazing operations until
the
environmental studies are completed.
"My amendment does not shield any grazing
permit renewals
from the full environmental process, but it
would work to
alleviate some of the uncertainty created by
the slow pace of the
BLM's environmental reviews," Domenici
said last week.
**************************
<+=<+KOLA Newslist<+=<+
Hello all,
we're preparing an XXL "open letter" to the Costner brothers re. their
planned Dunbar resort in the sacred Black Hills. All letters will be published in
a special issue of KOLA's quarterly magazine "Eyapaha", along with
background
information on the resort and the Paha Sapa. This will be sent to Kevin & Daniel
Costner, the media, and everybody else who's interested. We need more letters from
people who are willing to have their full names, "title", etc. printed.
For more information about the Costner plans, please visit:
http://users.skynet.be:kola/costner.htm
Please send your open letter(s) to the Costner brothers to the KOLA
address before October 15, 1999.
kolahq@skynet.be
fax: 011-32-2-241-8322
*****************************
Subject: open letter(s) to Costner
<+=<+KOLA Newslist<+=<+
Hello all,
We're preparing an XXL "open letter" to the Costner brothers re. their
planned Dunbar resort in the sacred Black Hills. All letters will be published in
a special issue of KOLA's quarterly magazine "Eyapaha", along with background
information on the resort and the Paha Sapa. This will be sent to Kevin & Daniel
Costner, the media, and everybody else who's interested. We need more letters from
people who are willing to have their full names, "title", etc. printed.
For more information about the Costner plans, please visit:
http://users.skynet.be/kola/costner.htm
Please send your open letter(s) to the Costner brothers to the KOLA
address before October 15h, 1999.
kolahq@skynet.be fax: 011-32-2-241-8322
in Friendship & in Struggle,
Elsie Herten and Phyllis Bald Eagle
http://users.skynet.be/kola/
http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
*************************
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 1999 10:40 AM
Update on SD relief effort
I just got word that coming from Michigan are cooking utensils, food, one or two generators for power and assorted stuff. Hawk has arrived in SD with cooking utensils, generator, food, UPS took from NJ blankets, clothing and more is being gathered for an additional shipment. From Tenn. a shipment went out today which included a Tent, cooking supplies and clothing.
So relief is not only on the way but is already arriving.
The Michigan caravan is leaving Friday night/Saturday morning. Anyone enroute that has things to be picked up to be delivered then send me a note and we'll try to arrange a rendezvous.
Thanks to all and lets keep the effort going. There's still actions we're combating over there in SD and disasters like this weather event only mean we have to double our efforts.
Current needs are toiletries, soaps, shampoo's, dish soaps, baby items are in desperate need.
Ellis
-AMERI-ADVOCATE -
______________________________________________________________________
From: Kathy Morning Star
The Loneman School, in the Oglala District has been set up as a center for distribution of donations for victims of the tornadoes that has almost completely destroyed Oglala. Wilma Black Smith, of the Loneman School, said that right now they're concentrating on the 22 families who were left homeless after the disaster.
Items that are needed include clothing for children and adults, blankets, diapers (desperately needed), toiletries, non-perishable food items, cooking pots and utensils; sleeping bags would be helpful.
These families have been left with absolutely nothing.
They've been informed that their power will be out for another 3-4 days,so they are also in need of lamps, oil, flashlights, and candles ASAP.
Donations can be sent to:
Loneman School
P.O. Box 50
Oglala, SD 57764
and
Loneman School
C/O Black Smith
P.O. Box 322
Oglala, SD 57764
Assistance is greatly appreciated.
In Struggle, Kathy
______________________________________________________________________
There are three major land stealing efforts underway domestically in the US. The first concerns the Sioux Nation where the pressure is every bit as forceful as the Serbians but is receiving NO media attention what so ever. Following is a series of posts from what we've heard for the past six months or so of this American Ethnic Cleansing campaign.
South Dakota is directly below,
for the Black Mesa Dineh in Arizona please go to "Black Mesa Dineh
Affair" and finally our friends in Mendota Minnesota in their efforts to stop the
bulldozing and paving of their sacred lands see "Mendota"
SOUTH DAKOTA - HOW TO STEAL 200K ACRES, BECAUSE YOU CAN
From: "Ellis Smith"
I just got word from Della Eastman from AIM Sissenton S.D. who has relayed to me that in addition to having the power cut off, Banks shut down and phones disconnected (the phones are now reconnected but they are unable to call outside the reservation unless its collect); apparently in their attempts to force them off the reservation they are now intercepting food shipments both commercially and FDA surplus commodity shipments. Additionally, already one elderly man has died as a result of these "motivational techniques" but a child has as well.
Since they managed to survive the winter with no power or heat, now the deprivation of food and communications is hopefully going to succeed in moving them off their land and canceling the treaty that has been legally in effect for some time.
NARF (Native American Resource Foundation) apparently was responsible for getting the phones turned back on in the limited capacity they currently have. However, recent developments in food supply Deprivation is going to take some significant and expedite action in order for these people to get through this... ALIVE. They have reported that the Power Company is already beginning construction on Native Treaty Land in anticipation of its being overturned and the Sioux being chased off their own land. The whole deal is about stealing land to thread power lines through it without having to pay for it. I'd wager that the power company made some significant financial contributions to the South Dakota legislature not to mention the Governors Office.
I would like to close this note in not only a plea for everyone and everyone you know, their mother, distant relatives and causal acquaintances contacting these villains and demand they stop this atrocity but to take note, this event, now taking place not only in South Dakota but in Arizona and Minnesota and many, many other places domestically is absolutely NO different then the current fiasco in Kosovo... namely the removal of a people based upon their cultural heritage from their own land by a more powerful nation who's only goal is personal gain without out any capital investment.
In My Humble Opinion,
Ellis Smith
**********************************
Date: Tuesday, April 20, 1999 1:37 P
Subject: 200,000 acre treaty land transfer
Dear Peltier list,
Because Leonard is concerned about the following, we are putting it out on the list. One
of the key figures in this land transfer is the self proclaimed "Indian fighter"
William Janklow. There are websites with more information listed at the bottom. -
--LPDC staff (anyone please feel free to cross post on this)
The government in SD are trying to transfer 200,000 acres of Lakota land to the state of
SD. There are protestors camped in the state capitol. The protestors are asking for
congressional oversight hearings,as required by law, on Title VI of the 1999 Omnibus
Appropriations Act, also called the Mitigation Act.Under the terms of the Ft. Laramie
Treaty, the land can't be transferred without the signatures of 3/4 of all adult males of
the seven tribes. The government is trying to expedite this through congress this week,
before the Greater Sioux Nation has a chance to challenge this in court.
Here is a list of names, phone numbers, faxes and e-mails to help protest this illegal
transfer. The more people who protest this, the more the politicians responsible for this
will have to listen. I would suggest to call or fax or e-mail often.
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
838 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC20510
Attn: Patricia Zell or Paul Moorehead
Tel:202-224-2251 Fax:202-224-5429
Honorable Ben Nighthorse Campbell,
Chairman U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
828 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Attn: Patricia Zell
Tel:202-224-5852 Fax:202-224-1933
E-mail: administrator@campbell.senate.gov
The Honorable Tom Daschle (D-SD)
509 Hart Senate Building US Senate S-221
Washington, DC 20510
Tel:202-224-2321 Fax:202-224-2047
E-mail- senator@daschle.senate.gov
Honorable Daniel Inouye, Vice-Chair (D-HI)
U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
722 HSOB Washington, DC 20510
Tel:202-224-3934 Fax:202-224-6747
E-mail: senator@inouye.senate.gov
Honorable George Miller (D-CA)
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources
509 O'Neil Annex House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Attn: Steve Lannich
Tel: 202-225-2095 Fax:202-225-5609
E-mail: george.miller_pub@mail.house.gov
Honorable Don Young, Chairman(R-AK)
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Resources
1324 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Attn: Tom Glidden Tel:202-225-5765 Fax:202-225-0425
E-mail: don.young@mail.house.gov
Again, please feel free to post this information so many people can see it and respond.
Thank-you all for your support. Laura
-=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=- Related URL's: -=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=-
From: NAIIP News Path! "North American Indian & Indigenous People" http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/news.html
Federal & State Governments "Trying To Expedite Land Transfer"
Written by CPT Peacemaker Corps member, Joanne Kaufman and Reservists Rick Polhamos and
Kathy Kern. Saturday, April 17, 1999 http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/News99/0499/CPT990417gov.htm
CPT Ask Senators to Honor Treaty Rights of Sioux Nation Written by CPT Peacemaker Corps
member, Joanne Kaufman and Reservists Rick Polhamos and Kathy Kern.
Tuesday, April,13 1999
http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/News99/0499/CPT990413honor.htm
Mitigation Act Or Sold Out! by Candace Ducheneaux Wednesday,
April 7, 1999
http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/News99/0499/990407soldout.htm
Brief Chronology of the La Framboise Island Occupation
From Robert Quiver Sunday, April 4, 1999 http://www.YvwiiUsdinvnohii.net/News99/0499/BH990404chronology.htm
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583 Lawrence,
KS 66044 785-842-5774
__________________________________________________________________
I am writing on behalf the Ameri-Advocate Newslist and myself in order to protest the U.S.
Congressional bill transferring 200,000 acres of Treaty land to the state of South Dakota.
We want Congressional committees to hold oversight hearings on the bill (Title VI of the
1998 Omnibus Appropriations Act) to determine whether it is in fact legal.
We overwhelmly support any efforts that respect and assist the legal and intrinsic rights
of Native Americans.
The Christian Peace Teams and the Lakota/Dakota Sioux Nation are now currently protesting
this blatantly obvious attempt to illegally steal land from a Nation who legitimately has
claim and title through treaty of this land since 1868.
We also want to ask that you help to ensure that the local and national authorities
refrain from harassing the protestors who are camped on land granted them by the U.S.
government and be part of the solution that is legal and morally right by respecting their
right to protest peacefully without harassment, intimidation or harm.
Lastly we would like to point out that this attempt to usurp the treaty of 1868 and steal
the land out from under the Lakota/Dakota Sioux Nation differs very little from the
current war in Kosovo. A more powerful neighboring nation, by sheer will and force, pushes
the local population off their own land without regard to the human tragedy that will
inevitably follow.
Let us not continue to introduce hypocrisy as our national political heritage.
Thank you ,
Ellis Smith / the Ameri-Advocate Newslist
______________________________________________________________________
Front Page or Contents
More Media Contacts
This page has been visited times.