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. Main Ave., #3
www.eurosports.us
(Across from Bright Spot) 541-588-0931
SPAY & NEUTER
Sponsorships Available
Immunization Assistance
Also Available at Bend Spay & Neuter’s
Saturday Wellness Clinics
FURRY FRIEND S
501 ( c )( 3 )
FOUNDATION
Contact Kiki at
541-549-9941
Tax-deductible donations
accepted year-round.
www.FurryFriendsFoundation.org
Furry Friends Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization