.. “ 1
Spilygy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
starts at 4 p.m. at the Cam
pus.
T he Back to School
Barbecue is sponsored by
the H ealth and H um an
Services Branch.
Lost Dog - $200 Reward
Missing from
Wolfe Point
area. The dog
is a shelty,
named Rainy.
Please call
541-232-1696.
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Nez Perce protest oil sands transport
The national debate over
oil development took an un
usual turn on an Idaho high
way early Tuesday morning.
F or nearly three hours,
members o f the N ez Perce
Tribe blocked the passage o f
a g ia n t w ater e v a p o ra to r
headed for the oil sands of
Alberta, Canada.
M ore th a n a h u n d re d
tribal members and environ
m ental activists drum m ed
and chanted as they stretched
across the highw ay at the
border o f the Nez Perce res
ervation in northern Idaho.
They were there to stop a
255-foot long, two.-lane-wide
shipment they say is illegal.
O re g o n -b a se d
sh ip p e r
O mega Morgan decided to
m ove
th e
so-called
“megaload” through a pro
Page 9
U.S. gears up for land buyback for tribes
School BBQ Sept. 5
T h e W arm S prings
Back to School Barbecue
is set for Thursday, Sept.
5.
T h e b arb e c u e and
school supply giveaway
August 7, 2013
tected area o f Id ah o oyer
objections from the U.S. For
est Service.
Silas Whitman, chairman
o f the Nez Perce Tribe, was
am ong m ore than a dozen
people arrested.
“I don't look at this as a
sym bolic issue,” W hitm an
said. “Otherwise, we'd just is
sue a press statement, put up
a few signs and just let it go.
No. We've ru n out o f time
and initiatives. So that leaves
us with disobedience, civil dis
obedience.”
The “megaload” is sched
uled to travel across N ez
Perce ancestral land and a
Wild and Scenic Corridor in
the com ing days. T he N ez
Perce Tribe plans to ask for
an injunction from a federal
judge this week.
After bungling the manage
ment o f Indian lands for gen
erations, the federal govern
ment wants to make amends
by spending nearly $2 billion
to buy 10 million acres o f
land for 150 tribes across the
nation.
T hat’s roughly twice the
size o f M assachusetts and
would mark the largest expan
sion o f the U.S. government’s
land trust for tribes, which
now covers 46 million acres.
To make the plan work,
the government wants to find
willing sellers to buy back res
ervation land it first gave to
individual tribal members in
1887, often in tracts o f 80
to 160 acres.
“We can improve Indian
C ountry if peo p le will go
along with this program and
sell their interests back to their
tribes,” Kevin Washburn, the
head o f the Bureau o f In
dian Affairs, said in an inter
view.
It won’t be easy. With the
land changing hands over the
decades, many parcels now
have hundreds or thousands
o f owners.
Congress signed off on the
land buy in 2010 to settle a
lawsuit. The government had
pledged to keep track o f all
royalties generated from the
land for such things as graz
ing or logging, but that money
never Went back to benefit
tribal members as promised.
Now, with so many own
ers involved, tribes complain
that it’s nearly impossible to
get the permission needed to
develop or lease the land.
Yet even though the gov
ernm ent doesn’t expect to
make its first purchase offer
until the end o f the year, crit
ics already predict the worst.
They fear too many tribes will
be overlooked in the buying
spree and that many private
landowners will get bullied
into sales.
In California, which has
m ore federally recognized
tribes than any other state,
only one tribe stands to be
among the top 40 beneficia
ries.
“There’s no love for Cali
fornia Indian Country,” said
G abriel Galanda, a Seattle
lawyer and a member o f the
Round Valley Indian Tribes
o f M endocino County, Ca
lif. H e called the program “a
disaster” in the making.
W hen tribal leaders m et
with government officials in
Seattle, Chief James Allan o f
Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Tribe
complained that 45 percent
o f the money will go to just
seven tribes.
“W e’re all g o in g to be
fighting for scraps,” he said.
The plan calls for the U.S.
D e p a rtm e n t o f In te rio r,
which oversees the Bureau
o f In d ian A ffairs, to buy
back more than 92,000 par
cels from private landown
ers. The effort, expected to
last until 2022, will begin with
pilot projects in Washington
state, M ontana a,nd South
Dakota.
M any p roperty ow ners,
with close ties to the land, are
expected to be reluctant sell
ers.
“This is a m odern day re
taking o f the land and, given
the historical implications of
that, they don’t want to re
live it,” Les Riding-In, assis
tan t dean and director o f
graduate studies at the Uni
versity o f Texas-Arlington
an d a m em b er o f the
Comanche Tribe, said in an
interview. “It’s rem iniscent
o f how the government took
the land ba'ck when coloni
zation was happening.” ,
Riding-In said his family
has decided not to sell its land
in O klahom a because the
property represents a link to
th e p a st and “ som ething
that’s, o f value to us as an
identity issue.”
• H e predicted that federal
authorities will encounter re
sistance from many tribal
members likely to be suspi
cious o f any. offers coming
from Washington.
“It’s just a huge undertak
ing,” Riding-In said. “The
tr u s t fa c to r is n o t high
enough for m ost people to
give up what they have.” ■
All o f this will complicate
th e job facing th e BIA ’s
Washburn, President Barack
O bama’s point man on sell
ing the plan.
“This program will be suc
cessful on the ground only
to the extent that tribal lead
ers themselves get behind it
and evangelize for it,” said
Washburn, a member o f the
Chickasaw Nation o f Okla
homa. “There’s always a trust
issue, and the track record
hasn’t been very good.”
But he defended the tar
geting o f the program, say
ing, “It seems sensible to us
to go where the problem is
m o st severe and w h ere
p eo p le are su fferin g the
greatest from the problem.”
Tribal officials say it’s dif
ficult for, them to get per
mission from multiple own
ers when they propose us
ing land for economic devel
opm ent or anything else.
‘W e are in an oil boom. .
. . This is definitely slowing
dow n p ro g re ss fo r u s,”
Stoney Anketell, a council
m an w ith th e F o rt Peck
Tribes in Montana, said at
the Seattle gathering. He said
that if tribes can make more
rev en u e o f f th e ir lan d ,
they’ll need less federal as
sistance. “T hat’s the hope,”
he said.
Ron Allen, chairman o f
the Jam estow n S’Klallam
Tribe in Washington state,
called the buyback program
“a great opportunity,” both
for individuals who want to
sell their land and for tribes
that will be allowed to ac
quire more property.
“It is a real win-win op
portunity,” he said.
Most o f the $1.9 billion
will buy land in the Great
Plains and Rocky Mountain
regions. The biggest expen
diture is expected on the
Pine Ridge reservation in
South D akota, w here the
government estimates it will
cost $126 m illion to buy
back nearly 1.2 million acres.
Washburn said the pro
gram will be entirely volun
tary.
“I f we don’t have a will
ing seller,” he said, “we can’t
purchase the property.”
Diabetes Prevention
Program
Empowering individuals at high risk for developing
Type 2 Diabetes.
Focusing on lifestyle changes through education
and physical activities.
Partnering with the community.
Our next Diabetes Prevention class is
starting October 2nd.
FIRST 20 PEOPLE WHO
SIGN A CONSENT FORM
FOR CLASS WILL RECEIVE
A WATER BOTTLE
Classes will be held at noon and will be
every Wednesday for 10 weeks.
At each class you will be given great
information on topics such as healthy eat
ing, being active, stress , motivation and
much more.
A snack is always provided as well as a
take home bag with healthy food items.
Each participant is assigned a lifestyle
coach to be available to them throughout
this journey.
For more details and to find out if you are eligible please
contact
Joy Ramirez 541-553-0118 or
Stefanie Hurtado 541-553-1079
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