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More News from Inchon Country
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Colville tribes freezing part of salmon catch
OMAK, Wash. (AP) - For
each of the past few summers,
the Colville Tribes have caught
thousands of salmon using a
commercial boat and a purse
seine net, and distributed the
fresh fish to tribal members.
This summer - as their an­
cestors before them did - they'll
start putting some of their catch
away for the lean winter months.
But instead of setting up dry­
ing racks on the river banks, the
Colvilles will freeze the fish, and
offer it to elders and tribal mem­
bers long after the salmon fish­
ing is over.
Their salmon-preserving fa­
cility in a newly-renovated build­
ing at the old Paschal Sherman
Indian School east of Omak is
currently a one-man operation.
Tribal elder Glen Launer
once worked in a fish process­
ing plant in Alaska.
He’s now in charge of wash­
ing, vacuum sealing and freez­
ing the summer chinook and
sockeye that Dale Clark brings
to him after a morning of fish­
ing in the tribe's fishing boat, the
Dream Catcher.
“They’re our new, modern-
day salmon chiefs,” laughs Joe
Peone, director o f Fish and
Wildlife for the Colville Tribes.
But he’s not really joking.
Although Clark and Launer
are using modern methods to
catch and preserve the fish, they
are adhering to the old principles
by making sure the wild salmon
escape to spawn, and by sharing
this bounty with elders and oth­
ers who cannot fish for them­
selves.
Peone said he’d like to see
o n e-q u arter o f the salm on
caught this summer put away in
their giant, walk-in freezer. That
could mean 5,000 to 8,000 sock-
eye and summer chinook pre­
served for later use in ceremo­
nies and to round out their win­
ter diet.
It’s all part of a larger effort
by the Confederated Tribes of
the Colville Reservation to bring
more salmon back to the upper
Columbia River, and provide
more of this traditional food to
tribal members, and to others
who fish in the upper reaches
of the Columbia Basin.
“They could just go in and
throw gill nets in the river, but
they don’t because the best way
to harvest is selective fishing,”
said Stephen Smith, a fisheries
consultant and biologist who
used to work for NOAA Fish­
eries and the Bonneville Power
Administration.
Smith said from his perspec­
tive, the Colvilles are doing ev­
erything right.
“They are the leaders in the
Basin on selective fishing and
proper hatchery management to
restore wild runs,” he said. The
operation includes a careful sort­
ing of chinook salmon to release
any wild fish to spawn, before
h arvestin g those w ith a fin
clipped, denoting they were
hatchery-raised.
Smith helped the Colville
T ribes ham m er out a 2007
salmon harvest agreement with
Washington state. It's an agree­
ment designed to prepare for the
tens o f thousands o f new
spring and summer chinook to
be produced at the tribe's Chief
Joseph Hatchery, now under
construction. Allocations will be
renegotiated in a few years, once
the hatchery is producing fish.
But it's already making a dif­
ference.
“Things are good right now
in the upper river,” Smith said.
“I’ve been doing this for almost
40 years, and there’s no doubt
in my mind that the Colvilles are
bringing more fish to the upper
Columbia.”
That’s good news for sports
fishermen, he said. More fish
are coming back, and the state
is setting higher limits and full-
length fishing seasons.
“I believe if it weren’t for this
agreement, most of the state’s
harvest would be occurring in
the lower river,” he said. “The
com m ercial net fishery and
sports fishing on the lower river
have an insatiable demand, and
a lot of political power.”
Peone said he, too, believes
sports fishermen are benefiting
from the Colville Tribes’ agree­
*
ment with the state. Some fish­
ermen still worry when they see
the tribes’ commercial boat net­
ting hundreds of salmon on the
Columbia River. “But there's an
allocation for you, and there’s
one for us, and we don't feel
we're cutting into anybody’s al­
location,” he said.
Before striking the agree­
ment, the Colvilles relied mostly
on salmon considered surplus at
hatcheries around the region.
But the 2,000 surplus salmon
d id n 't go far am ong nearly
10,000 tribal members, Peone
said. Smith said the tribe har­
vested fewer than 900 salmon.
Now, their annual harvest is
nearly tenfold.
Last year, the tribe caught
and distributed some 16,000
sockeye and 2,500 sum m er
chinook. About 4,000 of those
went to other tribes in Washing­
ton and Canada.
“For a lo t o f years, we
w eren’t a player at the table.
That’s why we started pushing
for this hatchery,” Peone said.
In a few short years, the
tribe has been able to bring
many more fish to the region,
and to the tab les o f trib al
members.
“The amazing thing is, Chief
Joseph Hatchery is not even on
line yet, and that’ll return tens
o f thousand o f ad d itio n al
salmon,” Smith added.
Spilygy Tymoo
Alaska pursuing dam
project at cost of $4.5B
JUN EAU, A laska (AP) -
Alaska is moving forward with
what would be the highest dam
built in the United States in de­
cades, a $4.5 billion project
aimed at helping meet the en­
ergy needs of the state’s most
populous region.
Gov. Sean Parnell said that
completion of the 700-foot-high
Susitna River dam is scheduled
for 2023. But m ajor hurdles
must be overcome first, includ­
ing securing the necessary per­
mits and financing. State support
is expected to be vital to the
project's prospects.
Officials say the dam, which
would be located about halfway
betw een A nchorage and
Fairbanks, would help m eet
Alaska’s goal of having half its
electricity generated from re­
new able en ergy sources by
2025. Parnell said the project
would generate about 2.6 mil­
lion megawatt hours of electric­
ity a year. It would have a reser­
voir 39 miles long and up to 2
miles wide.
A similar proposal was tabled
in the mid-1980s as the cost of
other sources of electricity re­
m ained relatively cheap. But
Parnell said hydropower has the
capacity to create jobs and new
opportunities and open up the
Judge tosses Sioux lawsuit over Black Hills money
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Indi­
vidual members of the Sioux
tribes cannot persist with a law­
suit seeking a share of hundreds
of millions of dollars awarded
in old court cases for the im ­
proper seizure o f the B lack
Hills and other land more than
a century ago, a federal judge
has ruled.
In a ruling issued last week,
U.S. D istrict Judge Lawrence
Piersol dismissed a lawsuit filed
by 19 members of Sioux tribes.
He said individual tribal mem­
bers have no legal standing to
seek the money because it was
awarded to eight tribes, and
prior court decisions have found
that individual American Indi­
ans do not have a right to tribal
property or a claim to a share
of money from the sale of tribal
land.
The Sioux tribes have refused
to accept money awarded for
the Black Hills in a 1980 U.S.
Supreme Court decision, and
instead have sought the return
of the land, Piersol noted. The
lawsuit seeking payments for
individual tribal members could
not continue without the partici­
pation of the tribes, but they
have refused to give up their
immunity to being sued, he said.
' 'That difference of position
is an internal tribal matter into
which the federal courts cannot
intrude," Piersol wrote.
A lawyer representing the in­
dividual tribal members who
filed the lawsuit did not imme­
diately return a phone call seek­
ing comment.
Terry Pechota of Rapid City,
a lawyer representing the Rose-
August 10, 2011
bud Sioux Tribe, said the tribes
welcome the decision because
any distribution of money from
the 1980 court case w ould
weaken the tribes' efforts to re­
gain land in the Black Hills. The
Rosebud Sioux filed documents
in the lawsuit stating it seeks the
return of land and rejects any
monetary settlement.
"The consensus is, the tribes
want this land back," Pechota
said Monday.
The dispute is more than 130
years old.
economy just as other major
infrastructure projects o f the
past, and even the Internet more
recently, have. And he said it’s
time to commit to this project,
which he sees as part of a larger
state energy package that also
includes oil and natural gas de­
velopment.
The Alaska Energy Author­
ity, w hich is overseeing the
project, is planning to file this
fall a notice of intent with fed­
eral regulators, essentially letting
them know the state is ready to
move ahead.
“It’s time for Alaska to make
the needed in v estm en t in
renewables that we have in abun­
dance, more than any state in
this nation,” Parnell said.
R ichard Leo believes the
project is unnecessary, in part
given the recently announced,
larger-than-believed natural gas
reserves in Cook Inlet that
could be tapped to meet elec­
tricity demands for Anchorage
and m uch o f so u th -cen tral
Alaska.
Parnell said the dam project
does not render moot the pur­
suit of an in-state gas pipeline,
saying abundant energy creates
opportunities and “you can
never have too much opportu­
nity.”
NY’s Senecas doubling
hotel capacity at casino
SALAMANCA, N.Y. (AP)
— The Seneca Indian Nation
says it will nearly double ho­
tel capacity at it’s Allegany
Casino in New York's South­
ern Tier.
The n atio n ’s gam blin g
business arm, Seneca Gam­
ing Corp., on Monday an­
nounced plans to build a sec­
ond hotel tower that will add
about 200 hotel rooms at a
cost of $53 million. The ex­
istin g 212-room tow er
opened in 2007. Seneca of­
ficials say it's been more than
95 percent full for the past
nine months.
The Seneca Allegany Ca­
sino & Resort in Salamanca
has more than 2,000 slot
machines and 30 table games.
The Senecas have projects
in the works at its two other
casino sites. Seneca Gaming
says it's begun renovating
hotel rooms at its Niagara
Falls complex and is review­
ing design proposals for a
new casino in Buffalo.
Claims Filing Assistance
Candidates for
Okla tribe’s
chief resume
campaigns
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The
candidates for Cherokee Nation
principal chief have hit the cam­
paign trail again, hoping to reach
even more voters before the
Sept. 24 election.
Incum ben t C h ief Chad
Smith and tribal council mem­
ber Bill John Baker have re­
sumed sending out emails and
mailers to registered voters, en­
couraging them to vote or send
in absentee ballot requests by
Aug 12.
The Tulsa World reports that
Smith has opened a second cam­
paign office, and an Aug. 16
fundraiser for Baker’s campaign
has been scheduled.
Last month, the tribe’s Su­
preme Court invalidated June
25 election results betw een
Smith and Baker because jus­
tices couldn't determine with a
m athem atical certain ty who
won.
The tribe is one of the larg­
est in the country, with about
300,000 members.
The chief administers a $600
million annual tribal budget.
in the $760 million Keepseagle Indian Farmer/Rancher Settlement
DATE: August 15-16,2011 TIME: Between 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Redding Ranchería
2000 Redding Ranchería Road
Redding, CA
What is this About?
The class action settles claims thatthe USDA discriminated against Native American farmers and ranchers seeking
farm loans or loan servicing.
/
Who is Included?
The Settlement includes:
* Native American farmers who:
* Farmed or ranched (or attempted to) any time from 1981 to late 1999.
° Tried to get a farm loan or loan servicing from the USDA,
° Complained about discrimination to the USDA either directly or through a representative.
* Heirs of the above.
How
Much
Money Can I Get?
You may be eligible for a payment of up to $50,000 or more and full or partial loan forgiveness.
To receive a payment, you must file a claim by December 2 7 .2011
To get help in filing a claim, attend a meeting or call: 1-888-233-5506
The next Spilyay deadline
is Friday, August19.
Thank you!
or visit: www.lndianFarmClass.com