More News from I notion Country
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Tribes soon to approve land leases
W A S H IN G T O N , D .C .
(AP) — A bill giving Native
A m erican tribes authority
over agreements to lease their
lands for development awaits
the president’s signature.
Supporters say the legisla
tion, called th e 'H E A R T H
Act, will hasten housing con-
Ex-council
member
receives
one-month
sentence
S IO U X FALLS,
S.D. (AP) - A form er
C row C reek trib a l
council m em ber was
sentenced on accusa
tions he concealed in
fo rm atio n from au
thorities investigating a
bribery conspiracy on
the South D akota res
ervation.
L o re n “ R o ck y ”
Fallis pleaded guilty
earlier to m isprision
o f a felony. The U.S.
attorney’s office says
the 58-year-old Fallis
lied about a meeting in
2008 where a contrac
tor allegedly divided
cash between several
cu rre n t and fo rm er
m em b ers o f th e
council. U.S. District
Judge Roberto Lange
sentenced Fallis to one
m o n th in custody.
F o u r o th e r p a rtic i
p a n ts in th e 2008
m e e tin g w ere se n
te n c e d ea rlie r to
prison terms ranging
from 15 m onths to 10
years.
struction, clean energy and
business or industry develop
m ent on tribal lands.
It allows tribes to approve
their own land leasing agree
ments rather than the Bureau
o f In d ia n A ffairs, if they
choose.
T h e N av ajo N a tio n al-
ready has this’ sort o f author
ity.
The Interior Secretary still
m ust approve the tribes' leas
ing regulations.
T he bill does n o t apply to
oil and gas leases. T he ad
ministration issued new leas
ing regulations last N ovem
ber that set deadlines for ap
proval o f leases to end long
delays.
The H ouse approved the
bill in May. T he Senate ap
proved it last week by voice
vote. T he president’s signa
ture would make it law.
community.’’
Bull tro u t are listed as a
threatened species in Idaho
and
W ash in g to n ,
an d
westslope cutthroats are con
sidered a species o f concern.
Fish biologists typically link
health populations o f b oth
species with pristine, healthy
watersheds.
Some older anglers can
recall the days o f reefing in
tro p h y bull tro u t and cu t
throat from the Pend Oreille
system , acco rd in g to Jim
Fredericks, regional fisheries
manager for the Idaho D e
partm ent o f Fish and Game.
Lake Pend Oreille holds the
world record for the largest
b u ll tro u t: a 3 2 -p o u n d e r
caught in 1949.
Idaho officials cheer the
idea o f restoring the species
in numbers that would enable
anglers to keep a limited num
ber. Rules now require anglers
to. p u t b ack b o th species,
ev en th o u g h L ake P en d
Oreille supports one o f the
W est’s healthiest rem aining
bull trout runs.
In 2008, th e lake’s bull
tro u t p o p u latio n was esti
m ated at 8,000 spaw n in g
adults. But that total is a frac
tion o f its historic, pre-dam
levels, w hen the bull tro u t
had access to more than 200
S IO U X FALLS, S.D.
(AP) - The U,S. D epart
m ent o f Justice is support
ing N ative American in
mates in their lawsuit chal
lenging South D a k o ta ’s
ban on tobacco in religious
ceremonies.
Inm ates Blaine Brings
Plenty and Clayton Creek
in their 2009 federal law
suit against the South D a
kota D epartm ent o f Cor
rections co n ten d th a t a
prison policy that bans the
use o f tobacco during re
ligious ceremonies is dis
criminatory. T he state said
ceretaonial tobacco inside
the state penitentiary was
b e c o m in g increasingly-
abused, and the policy is
n o t overly restrictive be
cause it allows other bo-
tanicals such as red willow
bark to be burned.
T h e Ju s tic e D e p a rt
ment, in a brief filed last
Friday, said the state’s p o
sition runs contrary to the
Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons
A ct an d U.S. S u p rem e
Court precedent.
“The-court should de
cline this invitation to de
term ine the im portance
o f tobacco use to practi
tioners o f Native Ameri
can religions,” the Justice
D e p a rtm e n t a tto rn e y s
w rote. “Accordingly, the
co u rt should also reject
defendants’ argument that
they have not placed a sub
stantial burden on plain
tiffs’ religious exercise. ” !
T h e S o u th D a k o ta
p riso n system w ent to
b acco -free in 2000 b u t
made an exception for to
b acco u sed in N a tiv e
miles o f spawning streams,
said Jo a n Je w e tt, sp o k e s
woman for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
A c e n tra l g o al o f th e
project is restoring fish pas
sage over or around the 90-
fo o t dam , O sterm an said.
The dam was built w ithout
fish ladders an d p rev en ts
young gull trout from migrat
ing upstream to Lake Pend
Oreille, where the fish histori
cally have matured into adult
hood before swimming back
downstream to spawn.
The dam also altered river
flows, creating w arm er pools
o f water. As part o f the ac
cord, the tribe and federal
agencies will collaborate on
data operations, hoping tp
manage flows in a way that
sends cooler w ater'into the
system for bull trout in late
summer and fall.
Money also will be spent
on acquiring and protecting
habitat, researching the viabil
ity o f building a hatchery and
removing non-native, preda
to ry fish fro m trib u ta ry
spawning, streams.
The three federal agencies
involved in th e accord in
clude: the Bonneville Power
A dm inistration, U.S; A rm y
Corps o f Engineers and the
Bureau o f Reclamation.
Remains found in W is. construction project
ONALASKA, Wis. (AP) -
A rchaeologists are finding
ancient remains that might be
o f Native Americans beneath
the reconstruction o f High
way 35.
Scientists from the Missis
sippi Valley Archaeology Cen
ter have found alm ost two
d o zen likely skeletal frag
m ents. T hey’ve also found
hundreds o f food and gar
bage pits, cooking hearths,
tools and other artifacts o f
the O neota people who in
habited the O nalaska area
b e tw e e n a b o u t 1300 an d
1600 A.D.
All burial sites are p ro
te c te d by sta te law. Jim
Becker, the archaeology p ro
gram manager for the Wis
consin D epartm ent o f Trans
portation, told the La Crosse
T rib u n e th a t any tim e re
mains are discovered during
construction, the' state m ust
D O J supporting
inmates in ceremonial
tobacco lawsuit
Feds, Kalispel sign deal for trout
SPO K A N E (AP) - Three
fed eral agen cies an d th e
Kalispel Tribe have reached
an agreement to spend $39.5
million oyer the next decade
to im prove stocks o f native
bull trout and westslope cut
th r o a t tr o u t in n o rth e rn
Id a h o ’s Lake P en d O reille
watershed.
The money will be spent
on a variety o f projects in
tended to im prove popula
tions o f trout species whose
n u m b ers have d im inished
since the 1950s, w hen the
Albeni Falls D am was built on
the Pend Oreille River.
But the accord aims to do
more than restore fish num
bers and im prove angling.
Tribal officials point to the
cultural significance tied to the
fish and to rekindling the cen
turies-old fishing traditions
used by their ancestors on
Lake Pend Oreille, the Pend
Oreille River and tributaries.
“A t some point in the fu
ture, we w ant our people to
be able to harvest these fish
again, and everyone else to be
able to harvest them , too,”
Deane O sterm an, executive
d ire c to r fo r th e K alisp el
T rib e’s N a tu ra l R esources
Departm ent, said.
“We w ant the im p ro v e
m ents to benefit the entire
stop work and consult with
the Wisconsin Historical So
ciety.
, “We knew that we had a
burial site in there and that
there was going to be more
coordination,” Becker said.
In accordance with federal
law, state officials m et with
interested parties, including
the historical society and the
Ho-Chunk Nation to agree on
a process for monitoring con
struction and looking for ar
chaeological and hum an re
mains.
. , .
The site was previously a
village occupied by ancestors
o f the Ho-Chunk, Ioway, O to
an d M issouria trib es, said
laboratory director Connie
A rzig ian . In m an y c a se s,
A rzigian said, they've only
found bone fragments, which
will be sent to a skeletal ana
lyst to verify w hether they
are human.
When remains are found,
archaeologists usually try to
leave them in place, b ut the
road, project makes that dif
ficult, Arzigian said.
“I f th e re are rem ain s
found, we want them placed
back in the ground,” said Bill
Quackenbush, historic pres
ervation officer for the Ho-
C h u n k N a tio n . H o w an d
where those remains are in
terred, he said, will be deter
mined at the end o f the pro
cess. /
Last week, archaeologists
u n earth ed a b iso n scapula
shaped into a hoe blade that
would have been grafted on’to
a stick. T hey also found a
bone sharpened into an awl
used to make clothing from
animal hides;
The O neota people were
farmers, growing mostly corn,
squash and beans, b u t also
h u n te d d eer an d elk an d
caught catfish, drum, north
ern and other fish. Arzigian
said the bison hoe was likely
acquired th ro u g h trade or
crafted during a winter hunt
on the w estern plains.
Archaeologists knew there
was a native settlem ent un
der the road, but Arzigian said
they’ve been surprised by the
density o f features found—
more than 400 pits in a four-
block area. Unlike other lo
cal sites, this one hasn’t been
plowed or eroded.
“O ne o f the nice things
about this is it’s m ore undis
turbed,” she said. “T he road
has actually protected it.”
Spilygy Tyrrcoo June 25, 2012
American ceremonies. But
officials in O ctober 2009
eliminated that exemption,
saying tobacco was being
sold or bartered and in
m ates h ad been caught
separating it from their
pipe mixtures and prayer
ties.
M em bers o f p riso n -
based N ative A m erican
Council o f Tribes sued,
arguing th a t for N ative
American prayer to be ef
fective, it m ust be em bod
ied in tobacco and offered
within a ceremonial frame
work.
B rings P le n ty and
Moore in their suit said the
policy change violates their
U.S. Constitutional rights
ensuring that no prisoner
be penalized or discrimi
nated against solely on their
religious beliefs or prac
tices.
Their attorney, Pamela
Bollweg, argued befo re
U.S. D istrict Judge Karen
S chreier in M arch th a t
prison officials have to
show there’s a compelling
interest in limiting access,
and even if there is a com
pelling interest they have
to use the least restrictive
alternative.
Jam es M oore, the at
to r n e y
r e p r e s e n tin g
p riso p officials, argued
th a t S o u th D a k o ta ’s
policy change follow ed
m o re th an 10 years o f
conversations w ith tribal
e ld e rs a n d tr a d itiq n a l
healers, som e o f w hom
perform pipe cerem onies
w ithout tobacco. H e said
prison officials stopped
short o f banning the use
o f pipes.
r
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