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Wednesday, February 8, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Cow Creek Tribe bakes holisbic approach bo foresb managemenb
By Emily Hoard
The News-Review
ROSEBURG (AP) — The
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua
Tribe of Indians teamed up
with Lone Rock Timber
Management Company to
create the sole proposal to
buy 82,500 acres of the Elliott
State Forest from the State of
Oregon.
With the help and support
of the Confederated Tribes
of Coos, Lower Umpqua
and Siuslaw Indians and The
Conservation Fund, the part-
nership hopes to manage the
land for timber harvest while
providing 40 jobs per year and
protecting the environment
and public access.
“Tribes have always had
a large role in managing the
lands,” said Michael Rondeau,
CEO of the Cow Creek Tribe.
“Tribes didn’t own the land,
the land owned them, and it’s
part of their harmony with the
resources available to them.
We belong to the land; we’re
a function of nature.”
The tribes understand that
people have an important role
in the ecosystem and in nature,
added Tim Vredenburg, direc-
tor of forest management for
the tribe.
When there’s something
special on the landscape,
Vredenburg said, the Western
conservation approach is to
draw a line around it and
stay away, but he sees the
tribe doing the opposite. It is
actively involved in manag-
ing the land and interacting
with the ecosystem in such
a way to preserve the habi-
tats, old growth reserves and
streams while allowing for
resource extraction and fuel
management, reported The
News-Review.
“No matter what a Native
American Indian tribe does
in terms of forest manage-
ment,” Vredenburg said, “they
live with the consequences
of those actions. If they were
to create smoke, they would
breathe the smoke, if they
muddied the water, they’d
have to drink it and if they cre-
ated a fire-prone forest, they’d
live in a dangerous place.”
While most public agen-
cies will write management
plans for a 10- to 20-year time
period, the tribe’s sense of
consequence spans for at least
seven generations.
“The tribes have been here
for thousands of years and will
continue to be here. This is our
home,” Rondeau said.
Evan Smith of The
Conservation Fund added that
unlike other timber investors
who might decide to pick up
and move away, the tribes stay
and are committed to the local
community.
“They have this very
patient, restorative approach
to forestry that is rare to see
in timber land managers these
days,” Smith said.
The Cow Creek Tribe also
takes on a holistic view of the
forest that is not motivated by
a short-term profit, according
to Smith.
“Tribes look at natural
resources a little bit differ-
ently than mainstream white
culture,” Smith said, adding
that while a lot of environ-
mentalists see a stark divide
between timber and natural
resource protection, tribes
see whole forests that they’ve
been actively managing for
centuries.
Dr. John Gordon, for-
mer dean of forestry at Yale
University, said the general
attitude shared by many tribes,
including Cow Creek, is that
they see the big picture and try
to accomplish the best joint
solution for resources, habitat,
water and other factors.
“They see all the differ-
ent facets together instead of
trying to manage them sepa-
rately,” Gordon said.
This holistic approach
includes frequently burning
undergrowth to control haz-
ardous fuels, creating open
areas for wildlife habitat and
managing for sustainable tim-
ber production at the same
time.
The frequent burns have
historically been an important
part of Cow Creek’s manage-
ment to maintain a healthy
forest where it is easier to hunt
and gather. The tribe often
burned huckleberries and
other natural crops each year
to improve production for the
next season.
Historically, trees were
spaced further apart with less
dead material on the ground
and undergrowth that could
carry a fire up to the top of
large trees.
“With the lack of that
regular activity, the forest
has become dense and over-
crowded and less healthy,
so now the tribes are look-
ing at a much different forest
today than 200 years ago,”
Vredenburg said.
“When the fuels build up,
it sets the stage for these cata-
strophic fires that can take the
land out of commission for a
generation,” Rondeau said.
In the Elliott, the Cow
Creek Tribe and its partners
are required to manage for
sensitive habitats, particu-
larly in riparian areas to keep
stream temperatures down and
protect listed and endangered
species including the coho
salmon, marbled murrelet,
spotted owl and bald eagles.
“They’re very aware of
that, and I’m sure because
of their tribal values, not just
because of the laws, they will
be very careful about that,”
Gordon said.
Cow Creek’s practices are
also meant to contribute to a
quality watershed with healthy
salmon populations and more
fishing opportunities while
creating sustainable forms of
revenue to support programs
like elder services, health and
education.
The Cow Creek Tribe has
a long history of managing
forestland in the area where
Douglas County now exists. In
the Elliott, trees were sparse,
grass grew head high and
there were plenty of meadows
for elk to graze.
However, the tribe was
terminated in the 1850s and
many of the traditional for-
estry practices were taken
away with their land.
Now, Rondeau’s generation
See MANAGEMENT on page 31