Smoke Signals November 1989 Page 9
TRIBE SETS UP
CORPORATION
Puyallup Council Prepares for
Claims Settlement
TACOMA, Wash. - The Puyallup Tribal Council has
set up an independent corporation to oversee its
potentially huge economic development program.
The move, strongly resisted by past tribal councils,
comes as the tribe is about to realize the largest land
claims settlement outside of Alaska.
Saturday, the $162 million settlement cleared its final
congressional hurdle when the Senate approved the
federal government's $77 million share. The measure
now heads to the president for his signature, and the
tribe could see the money as soon as January.
Because the majority of the new corporation's seven
member board of directors would be chosen from
outside the tribe, the effort reflects an attempt to move
economic development away from the tribe's personal
political system, tribal administrators said.
The corporation could have millions of dollars from
the land-claims settlement to invest in new businesses.
Tim Thompson, an aide to Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.,
said the corporation has the potential to become one of
I the largest in the country or even the state.
Across the country, a handful of tribes, frustrated by
the failures of federal programs, have created similar
corporations whose profits are being spent on pressing
social needs.
"This is the very essence of self-determination," said
Randy Harrison, a lawyer for the Puyallup Tribe.
The tribe, which over the past 150 years saw its land
stripped away, now lives in dire poverty. Tribal mem-
bers have annual incomes that hover around $7,000 a
year, and unemployed rates are as high as 80 percent.
The land-claims settlement, under which the tribe
relinquishes its claim to disputed lands, is considered an
innovative mix of economic development money, land,
$20,000 cash payments to members and funds for social
service programs. Tribal members approved it last
summer.
"It's scary," said Dennis Gibb, the tribe's acting chief
executive officer., "There's so much to do, it's over
whelming. But on the other hand, the potential s so
enormous."
In a 52-page draft report, tribal administrators detail
the tasks each Puyallup governmental department needs
to do under the settlement, said John Bell, head of the
tribe's legal staff. The report includes a call for entirely
new governmental entities, such as a land-use depart
ment, and spells out the amount of money each depart
ment will need.
For the first time ever, high-quality timber from the
Warm Springs block is being exported for foreign
market use, creating revenue that is, say officials, upto
ten times greater than if it were taken to Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries for processing.
After thorough examination and discussion of the
proposal over the last two years, Tribal Council decided
early this year that exporting a portion of the unit would
be "more profitable" than taking the entire harvest to
WSFPI.
The multi-species timber is being taken from the
Vantage sale unit, 28 miles from Warm Springs. Prime
old-growth Douglas and noble firs and white woods are
being exported, primarily to Japan, while the remaining
less valuable species, including ponderosa pine, are
being delivered to and manufactured at WSFPI.
A total of 18 million board feet (mbf) is available in the
451-acre unit with approximately 10 mbf being taken this
year. Of the 10 met, approximately half will be delivered
to WSFPI.
The altitude of the Vantage unit ranges from 3,700 feet
to 5,000 feet. Sixty-two percent of the stand is Douglas
fir and western larch; 25 percent is grand fir and other
species; six percent is noble fir while the remaining
seven percent is ponderosa pine and white pine.
Purchasers of th exported timber are Caffel Brothers,
Points West, International Paper, Vanport Manufactur
ing, Inc, Hannel and James River.
The entire 451-acre plot has been clear-cut. Logging on
the unit are tribal contractors Wissie Smith and Johnny
Guerin. Harold Barclay is constructing roads in the
area and Vern Reisch, of Mollala, is conducting high
lead logging.
This initial venture will help determine if exporting will
be a viable and realistic endeavor in the future. If
successful, further such activity will probably occur, said
BIA forest manager Bill Donaghu. In addition,
experience gained in this operation will be useful when
McQuinn Strip management is turned over to the Tribe
in 1992.
"The Tribe is going into this very slowly and cau
tiously," said special projects manager Doug McCleland.
"The Tribe wants to produce a material in a way that s
acceptable to buyers, to get full value of the product and
to understand, over time, the marketing strategy...Simply
put, we cut less, cut it entirely differently and we receive
a lot more money for it."
The reservation Douglas fir is of exceptionally high
quality because of its slow growth. Japanese home
builders want this type of wood, said McClelland,
because of its color and fine grain. "It appealls to their
sense of perfection." Because of this unique quality, this
wood is much more valuable on the foreign market than
on the domestic market.
In response to any concerns that exporting timber off
the reservation would cause a reduction of jobs to tribal
members at WSFPI, management is confident that no
job loss will occur. In fact, some jobs could be created
with exporting.
To ensure fair market value, an independent scaling
bureau out of Portland is scaling the logs before they're
shipped out. The BIA randomly check scales the third
party scaler, thus meeting their trust responsibility.
The profit margin of exporting is great enough that
WSFPI could purchase logs from off the reservation to
keep the mill running when their supply is low.
The Vantage unit is just one of 20 active units under
contract this year. Ten of the units had some clear
cutting, three had a combination of clear-cutting and
shelter-wood applications while one unit was cut with
shelterwood being left. The remaining six units were
selectively cut.
-Courtesy of Spilyay Tymoo
NATIVE AMERICAN VETS
MEMORIAL TO BE BUILT
ROCK RAPIDS, IOWA - A memorial statue to
American Indian veterans will be placed on the capitol
grounds in Des Moines in 1990, if fundraising efforts are
successful.
The memorial statue, to be named "Warrior" will be
the first of its kind to honor the contributions of Ameri
can Indian veterans.
A Native American Veteran's Memorial commission
was established to raise money to have the statue
constructed in bronze. Willard van Hoorn of Rock
Rapids did the preliminary design concept for the statue.
The commission needs to raise between $150,000 and
$200,000 for the project to become a reality.
TRIBES SEEK RULING
ON TREATY RIGHTS
Despite notable progress in negotiations with the state
over shellfish harvesting by tribal members, Western
Washington treaty Indian tribes were forced to file suit
recently in Federal District Court to obtain a legal
determination on their shellfish harvesting rights as
guaranteed in treaties between the tribes and the U.S.
Government.
The suit was filed under U.S. v. Washington, which
upheld treaty Indian fishing rights and ruled that treaty
Indian tribes were entitled to an opportunity to share
equally in the harvest of salmon and steelhead returning
to their traditional fishing areas. The decision also con
firmed that the treaty Indian tribes do have a shellfish
harvest right. The U.S. Supreme Court had specifically
confirmed this right as early as 1905 in U.S. v. Winans.
The court action seeks to remove stumbling blocks to
continued negotiations between the tribes and state,
which have resulted in the recent development of a
proposed shellfish management plan that offers stability
in the harvesting of shellfish by Indians and non-Indians,
as well as an orderly and biologically sound management
of the resource by the tribes and state.
Indian tribes of Western Washington have harvested
and depended on shellfish for thousands of years. The
right to harvest shellfish was specifically reserved by the
tribes when they signed treaties with the federal govern
ment in the mid-1800's.
Unfortunately, the tribal right to harvest shellfish in
off-reservation areas has been consistently challenged
and often denied by local governments, beachfront
property owners, and others.
As a result, the tribes have been forced to seek a court
ruling to implement the terms of their treaties with the
United States.
At the heart of the tribes' move to obtain a legal
determination of their shellfish rights is a concern that
enough tidelands and shellfish resources are available to
meet the subsistence, ceremonial and commercial needs
of tribal members.
Access to enough tidelands to meet tribal needs has
been stymied by the state's insistence on making
available only certain limited tidelands, excluding
privately owned tidelands and those leased by the state.
When private tidelands (which make up about 80
percent of all tidelands in Puget Sound) are eliminated,
and other tidelands are ruled out because they are
contaminated, unsuitable, inaccessible,or otherwise
unavailable, the amount of tidelands available to the
tribes is extremely small.
"Before the state turned over the title to most of Puget
Sound's tidelands to private owners, all residents of the
state, both Indians and non-Indians, had equal access to
beaches in order to harvest shellfish," said Bill Frank,
Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Com
mission. "Today, Indians and non-Indians are prevented
from harvesting the resource from all but a tiny fraction
of tidelands in the region. Surely, the shellfish resources
that belong to all were never intended to be put in the
private hands of a few individuals who own beachfront
property," he said.
"The tribes simply want to continue harvesting shellfish
in the areas where we have always carried out that
tradition," Frank said. "The total number of shellfish
harvested by Indians is only a small percentage of that
taken by non-Indian sport and commercial harvesters."
"Based on our experience in cooperative management
of the salmon resource, it is clear that increased coop
eration will lead to more shellfish for Indian and non
Indians alike," Frank said.
WARM SPRINGS ENTERS
TIMBER EXPORT MARKET