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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2015)
8 Wednesday, February 25, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Tribes: Sale jeopardizes agreements Radio show explores meditation By Jeff Barnard Associated Press GRANTS PASS (AP) — The chairman of the Klamath Tribes said Friday that the unexpected sale of private timberlands the tribes had hoped to regain to rebuild their lost reservation jeop- ardizes agreements to settle longstanding battles over water. Chairman Don Gentry said a key provision of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is funding so the tribes could buy 140 square miles of lodgepole pine known as the Mazama Tree Farm. It also lays out ways to divide water between pro- tected fish and farms in times of drought. This week, Fidelity National Financial Ventures announced it had sold the assets of Cascade Timberlands, LLC, includ- ing 300 square miles of timberlands in Deschutes and Klamath counties, to Whitefish Cascade Forest Resources, LLC, based in Singapore. The sale included the Mazama Tree Farm, which straddles U.S. Highway 97 between Chemult and Chiloquin. Fidelity National received a distribution of $63 million from Cascade at closing. Gentry said the tribes had an option to buy the land, but it expired. He added that Fidelity had emailed a tribal member, but that person was no longer involved in tribal government, and it was not noticed until too late. Gentry said the tribes’ participation in the agree- ment depends on regaining that land, or some substitute. He adds that two other agree- ments are closely related and would also be in jeopardy. One would remove four Klamath River dams to help salmon and another would help ranchers when they have to stop irrigating due to tribal water rights. “Certainly the agreements are at risk,” Gentry said. “I’m not sure what other benefit would satisfy our tribes. Our members voted on the agree- ments as they are.” The agreements grew out of a desire by farmers, tribes, salmon fishermen, conserva- tion groups and others to set- tle longstanding battles over water that reached a peak in 2001, when water had to be cut off to a federal irriga- tion project straddling the Oregon-California border to leave enough water for fish protected by the endangered Species Act — endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho in the Klamath River. The next year water was restored to irrigators, and tens of thousands of adult salmon died in the lower reaches of the Klamath River from diseases that thrive in low warm water conditions. Meanwhile, PacifiCorp agreed to give up four aging hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California to restore salmon to the upper basin and avoid having to pay millions of dollars to upgrade the dams so salmon could swim over them. Those agreements have languished for years in Congress, where House Republicans have been strongly opposed. Last year, a third agreement was added that helps ranchers forced to stop irrigating when there is only enough water in streams running through the former reservation to satisfy tribal water rights, which are devoted to fish. The Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Band of Snake Indians were terminated by Congress in 1954, and their 1,400-square-mile reser- vation sold off, becoming ranches, rural subdivisions, private timberlands, and parts of two national for- ests. Since tribal status was restored in 1986, the tribes have been working to regain some of the reservation as an economic base. SPRING BIKE TUNE-UP $45 Over the past 50 years, global research has repeat- edly demonstrated the many psychological and physiolog- ical benefits humans experi- ence from regular meditation practice; everything from lowering blood pressure, reduction of stress and anxi- ety, increased self-esteem, improved relationships and concentration, and a boosted immune system. Some might call meditation The Fountain of Youth. The Western mind only began learning about the powers of meditation when it gained popularity in the ’60s and ’70s. Transcendental medita- tion, aka TM, was brought to the West by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and was further blasted to the populace by The Beatles’ involvement and subsequent exposure. According to radio host Kelsey Collins, “One would think that increasing our mindful awareness would be as important as eating healthfully and daily exer- cise, and yet, with all of this research showing medita- tion is safe, relatively few Americans employ the prac- tice in their daily lives.” Collins has invited Tobin Blake, author of “Everyday Meditation,” to join her on this week’s Kelsey Collins Show. Join in the conversation on KZSO, 94.9, on Saturday, February 28, at 9 a.m. The show can be heard by live- streaming at www.kzso radio.org, or listen to the pod- cast later Saturday at www. kelseycollins.podbean.com. Year-round FIREWOOD SALES — Kindling — — — SISTERS FOREST PRODUCTS 541-410-4509 SistersForestProducts.com Experience… Your Creativity A creative place to call your own! 541-549-2471 Open 7 days a week Corner of Hood & Fir, Sisters 392 W. 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