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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2002)
8 FEBRUARY 1, 2002 Smoke Signals Nez Perce Tribe Begins Annual Wolf Collaring BOISE, ID. (AP) The Nez Perce Tribe is again capturing and placing radio collars on gray wolves as part of an ongoing effort to moni tor the animals. "The Tribe is committed to success ful wolf recovery in Idaho," said Samuel Penney, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Commit tee. "As this year's wolf monitoring effort begins, the Tribe will continue working with local landowners and leaders to ensure accountability through education and outreach II. r - T , J I ' i ;.V . . programs. The capturing and collaring of the wolves is a collaborative ef fort of the Idaho Wolf Project that includes the Tribe, U.S. Fish and Wild life Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. Wolves are being captured from the Wildhorse and Whitehawk packs southeast of Challis. The packs were chosen as a top priority be cause they were involved in confirmed livestock dep redations last summer. Each collar emits its own unique frequency that allows biolo gists to identify individual wolves. "Having radio collars on these packs allows us to use several man agement tools that help keep wolves out of livestock and help us reach our recovery goals," said Carter Niemeyer, Wolf Recovery Coordina tor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser vice. The Service is restoring endan gered gray wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho, Mon tana and Wyoming. The recovery goal is to maintain 30 breeding pairs of wolves for three years across the three-state region. Officials said they should reach their goal by December 31, 2002 if current trends continue. Court Hears Arguments on Use of Eagle Feathers in Religion DENVER, CO. (AP) Lawyers for three people who want to use eagle feathers in religious practices recently argued before an appeals court that a law limiting the use of the feathers to members of feder ally recognized Indian Tribes is too restrictive. The cases before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weigh free dom of religion against the government's right to protect bald and golden eagles. One case in volves a descendent of the Chiricahua Apaches in New Mexico, a Tribe no longer recog nized by the federal government. The other two involve non-Indians from Utah. All say they prac tice American Indian religion. "We don't deny there is a compel ling state interest in protecting eagles," said Cindy Barton-Coombs, lawyer for Raymond Hardman of Neola, Utah. "We do not believe there is a compelling state interest in keeping Mr. Hardman or other practitioners of American Indian religion from keeping eagle feath ers." The use of eagle feathers is cen tral to American Indian religion, she added. Hardman and Samuel Ray Wilgus Jr. of Davis County, neither of Indian descent, were cited for having eagle feathers, which are restricted to Tribal members who have permits. Each appealed from U.S. District Court rulings that rejected argu ments they were entitled to the feath ers because of their religion. The New Mexico case involves Joseluis Saenz, a descendant of the Chiricahua Apaches. Prosecutors appealed a lower court ruling that seizure of his eagle feathers violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Lawyers for the Utah men said they based their claims in the lower court on the First Amendment be cause the Religious Freedom Res toration Act's constitutionality was in question at the time. The law was later found to apply only to the federal government. Lawyers for the three men con tended the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act are too restrictive. But Kathryn Kovacs, a lawyer for the federal government, argued that the demand for eagle feathers exceeds the federal government's supply. They are kept in a repository in the Denver area. "The government has to provide exemptions for religion only if it doesn't undermine the statutes' purpose," said Kovacs. Federal officials have suggested removing the bald eagle from the Endangered Species List because its numbers have increased, but Kovacs urged caution. "There are only 40 pairs (of eagles) in the southwest region, so I urge you not to overestimate its alleged rebound," she said. She argued the demand for the feathers might grow if the courts allow non-Indians to have them. E 8 1 ' A Some of the judges questioned that. Judge Bobby Baldock asked why the government couldn't just approve permits until the feathers run out. "The government doesn't have a compelling interest in who gets them. The government has a com pelling interest in how many are out there in distribution, isn't that right?," asked Baldock. In an unusual move, 11 circuit judges, rather than a three-judge panel, heard the arguments. The cases are separate but the hearings were combined because they raise the same questions. The judges will issue a ruling later. Former Official Objects to Rejection of Duwamish Tribal Status auiMO ,K fSS7f$ Itfg!'il tnm wmim mmnn tssmmv SEATTLE, WA. (AP) A former Interior Department official in the Clinton administration has criti cized his successors for reversing his order that would have given offi cial Tribal recognition to Seattle's Duwamish Indians. An administrative court has sent the Duwamish case back to the In terior Department, which decided last fall that the Tribe is extinct. The Tribe's forebears include Chief Seattle, the city's namesake. Federal recognition brings money for Tribal government, health care, housing, social services and cultural programs, as well as the opportu nity to create a reservation. Michael J. Anderson, Interior's Assistant Secretary for Indian Af fairs in the Bill Clinton administra tion, signed the order on January 19, 2001, the day before President George W. Bush was inaugurated. In September, the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, saying it was not final and a new ruling was issued against the Duwamish, dis regarded the order. The Interior Department violated procedural law and altered docu ments to make the order appear preliminary, said Anderson re cently. "Until the evening of January 19, I was the decision-maker and un der the regulations of the Adminis trative Procedures Act. The assis tant secretary has the authority to make a final decision based on the record," said Anderson from his Washington, D.C., office. "I made that decision, communi cated it to the Tribe and signed a memo on it. In my view, that was the final decision." Cecile Hansen, Chairwoman of the 560 would-be Tribal members, said the Duwamish received "shabby treatment" by the BIA. She said she would take the case to federal court if the Tribe were not granted recognition. Suing the government would be a last resort, said Duwamish Attor ney Dennis Whittlesey in Washing ton, D.C. The Tribe has appealed the September ruling. Anderson's decision to recognize the Tribe came over the objection of the BIA's Branch of Acknowledg ment and Research, which evalu ates petitions for Tribal recognition. He said he listened to concerns of research staff and to an outside con sultant. Anderson said the face page of the document was altered and stamped with the word "DRAFT. January 19, 2001," making it ap pear to be a draft rather than a fi nal decision. Anderson did not know the docu ment had been stamped as a draft until a reporter contacted him this week, he said. "I learned for the first time that my approval had been altered and falsely stated," said Anderson. His decision to recognize the Duwamish reversed a 1996 rejec tion. In 1996, government officials fo cused on the period between 1915 and 1925, maintaining that the Tribe before 1915 was different than the modern petitioners, who date from 1925. Duwamish officials, who have been pressing for federal recognition since 1979, submitted church records, oral histories, news accounts and other sources to cover the 10-year gap. The recognition was placed on hold after Bush suspended all Clinton administration rulings that had not yet been published in the Federal Register. Neal A. McCaleb, Bush's Assis tant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs, said recently the Duwamish failed to meet criteria for federal recognition.
