Siletz news /, December 01, 2008, Page 13, Image 13

TRIBAL MEMBER NEWS
Photos by Brent Merrill
PRIME HABITAT - Siletz Tribal Natural Resources Manager Mike Kennedy points
out prime marbled murrelet nesting habitat at Arnold Creek near the Alsea River.
The Tribe aquired the land as part of the New Carissa oil spill settlement.
New Carissa, con’t from page 1
conservation organization or one of the
Trustee Tribes managed the property.
The kicker was that whoever managed
the land had to be willing to pay the
property taxes.
At this point, the Siletz Tribal Coun­
cil tasked the Tribe’s Natural Resources
Department, Planning Department and
Cultural staff to collectively put together
a proposal for the Tribe to own and man­
age the land.
“The Trustees reviewed the Tribe's
proposal, along with those submitted by
two national conservation organizations,
and eventually selected the Siletz Tribe to
receive and manage the lands for the ben­
efit of marbled murrelets,” said Kennedy.
“The original proposal called for
the Tribe to manage 3,851 acres in two
adjoining parcels located along portions
of Cedar Creek and Reed Creek,” said
Kennedy. Those locations are seven miles
north of Siletz.
This block of land, now known as the
Reed Creek parcel, was transferred to the
Tribe on July 20, 2007.
According to Kennedy, this transfer
of land came at no expense to the Tribe.
Kennedy said another parcel of land
known as the Arnold Creek parcel was
supposed to go to the U.S. Forest Service.
That parcel was 412 acres surrounded by
U.S. Forest Service land and is located six
miles east of Waldport.
The Forest Service changed its direc­
tion on managing the land and the Tribe
was contacted about taking over ownership
and management of that parcel as well. The
Tribal Council again said it was interested
and the transfer is now in process.
Kennedy said the transfer of the Ar­
nold Creek parcel could be complete by
the end of 2(X)8.
Both properties come with a legally
binding conservation easement in favor of
the Oregon Department of Fish and Wild­
life, the Bureau of Land Management and
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The conservation easement calls for
the Tribe to manage the land in perpetuity
for the benefit of the marbled murrelet,”
said Kennedy.
He added that about a third of the
4,263 acres is currently either suitable for
or already being used as nesting grounds
for the seabirds. The other two-thirds of
the property is accounted for in the land
transfer agreement.
“The conservation easement calls for
the Tribe to manage the land in such a way
that it leads to the creation and protec­
tion of a total of 2,842 acres of suitable
marbled murrelet habitat,” said Kennedy.
“This will be accomplished through pre­
commercial and commercial thinning of
the younger timber stands.”
According to the conservation ease­
ment, all revenue from timber harvest or
other commercial activities on the proper­
ties are to be used for property expenses,
including property taxes and management
expenses.
Kennedy said the lands come with
$850,000 for road maintenance, timber
stand surveys, murrelet surveys and pre­
commercial thinning expenses.
“The conservation measurement re­
quires that the land remain in fee status
and not be put into trust status - thus
guaranteeing that it will be subject to
payment of property taxes,” said Kennedy.
“Currently, those taxes run about $25,(XX)
per year. Any other costs of management
of the properties will come out of timber
harvest revenue from the properties, the
survey and maintenance fund or existing
Tribal Forestry funding.”
Kennedy said a l()-year management
plan is also a requirement of the conser­
vation easement agreement and the plan
is being established now. He said the
completion date for the plan is summer
of next year.
Key for the Tribe in all of this busi­
ness of international shipwrecks and lo­
cally endangered seabirds is that the Tribe
now has more than doubled its timber land
base to 8,500 acres and the only cost to
the Tribe is the $25,000 annual property
tax fee.
The value of the new properties is
more than $15 million. For perspective,
if the Tribe were to purchase this prop­
erty at its current value and pay it off at
$25,000 a year, it would take more than
6(X) years to pay for the land. And that's
without interest. Normal, current property
value interest rates would be more than
the $25,(X)0 annual tax paid by the Tribe
and preclude the property from ever be­
ing paid off.
Future Tribal members can know that
current Tribal leaders and Tribal members
continued the tradition of being good
stewards of the land and looking seven
generations into the future. Current Tribal
members can look back on one of the
worst ecological disasters to ever hit the
Oregon Coast since shipping began and
know that the Siletz Tribe, in cooperation
with others, helped turn a negative into a
positive. Aho.
December 2008
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Siletz News
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