A century ago, the federal
government took the Salish and Kootenai tribes’ land and
bison for a wildlife refuge. Now, the tribes want to take back
control.
MOIESE, montana — Here on the National
Bison Range, 350 to 500 bison roam a lush, mountain-hemmed prairie,
part of a rich community of wildlife that includes bighorn sheep,
antelope and migrating birds. The 18,541-acre preserve, managed by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, appears to be an unqualified
conservation success.
But the Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes see the bison range differently. The federal
government created it by more or less taking the tribes’
bison herd, and some of the land the bison grazed. Though it
happened nearly a century ago, the wounds still sting.
The government “cut 18,000 acres out of the heart of the
reservation,” and tried to sever the tribes’
relationship with bison, says Fred Matt, the tribes’
chairman.
Now, with support from a key federal law, and
the backing of the Bush administration, the tribes are negotiating
to take over many management duties at the bison range, and at
several other national wildlife refuges and federal wetlands within
the boundaries of their 1.2 million-acre reservation.
Some observers believe the Salish and Kootenai are about to notch
up another victory in the struggle for Indian sovereignty. But
others fear that if the tribes prevail here, the national wildlife
refuge system could begin to unravel.
“If this
refuge goes to the tribes,” says Marvin Kaschke, who managed
the bison range in the 1970s, “it will open the door to 40 to
50 different tribes (to claim rights) at other refuges, and we will
not have a consistent Fish and Wildlife Service policy.”
In fact, a wave of tribal take-backs is already under way
— and it extends even further into the federal estate.
Self-determination overdue
Congressional amendments in 1994 to the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act allow tribes to petition federal
agencies for permission to manage non-Indian properties where
tribes have historical, cultural and geographic ties.
In
the last decade, federal agencies have identified dozens of areas
where tribes might take over some degree of management. The Fish
and Wildlife Service has identified 19 eligible wildlife refuges,
and the Bureau of Reclamation has already made deals with four
tribes to manage water projects. The Bureau of Land Management says
tribes might manage forestry, range, minerals, and wild horses on
some BLM land. The National Park Service says at least 34 pieces of
its property are eligible, including Glacier National Park in
Montana and every national park in Alaska except Denali.
The law doesn’t actually return land to the tribes, only the
power to manage it. And the process is difficult: The Salish and
Kootenai have been negotiating since 1994. They’re close now,
partly because Paul Hoffman, a Bush appointee high in the
Department of Interior, backs the idea. “This is an example
of this administration’s respect for Native Americans,”
Hoffman says. “This is a government-to-government
relationship. We take that seriously.”
Even if the
tribes begin managing the wildlife refuges in the Flathead Valley,
the Fish and Wildlife Service will remain in charge, holding on to
oversight of “all inherently governmental duties.” The
details — and an annual funding agreement — have to be
thrashed out by June 30; after that, the deal goes to Congress and
the public for review.
Arguments for and against
Some opponents of tribal management of the bison range
are local white citizens, who see it as a tribal land-grab, and
occasionally talk in racist terms that don’t bear repeating.
Other critics are current and former wildlife agency
employees and their allies. Their concerns range from job layoffs,
loss of expertise and reduced access for research, to fears that
the tribes will focus too much on tourism and revenue production.
They see the proposal as part of the Bush administration’s
move to privatize public-land agencies.
“This
proposal has created a spirited debate within conservation
circles,” says Steve Thompson, the regional representative of
the National Parks Conservation Association. He supports the
proposal, as long as it doesn’t encourage such deals
elsewhere. “There are very few other circumstances in the
nation where this kind of claim can be made with equal
legitimacy.”
Hoffman of the Interior Department says
the tribes will have to keep the emphasis on “the
conservation of wildlife.”
And most agree, the
Salish and Kootenai manage resources wisely on their reservation,
which the federal government named the Flathead, from the name
early settlers gave the Salish.
The Salish and Kootenai
were the first tribes to set aside a reservation wilderness area.
They reintroduced peregrine falcons, trumpeter swans and leopard
frogs. They held up reconstruction of U.S. Highway 93,
Montana’s busiest road, until the state agreed to construct
wildlife passages (HCN, 8/13/01: Montana tribes drive the road to
sovereignty). They have taken over forestry from the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, and reduced the timber harvest by more than half.
They enforce water and air quality standards that are tougher than
state standards.
The tribes also treasure their heritage.
Bison aren’t native to this valley; the tribes once crossed
the Continental Divide on seasonal hunting trips. Then, in the
1870s, a Pend d’Oreille man, Samuel Walking Coyote, brought a
few calves over the mountains from the Great Plains. Even as bison
were extirpated elsewhere, the tribes’ free-roaming herd grew
to about 1,000 head by 1900. But the federal government forced them
to sell the bison in 1906, part of an attempt to turn Indians into
farmers. Two years later, the government allocated the reservation
land in 160-acre parcels to each tribal family, and sold the rest
of the reservation to non-Indians.
The government set
aside enough acres for President Theodore Roosevelt to establish
the National Bison Range in 1908, at the urging of the American
Bison Society. The tribes were paid only $1.56 per acre. Then the
government stocked the range with some of the tribes’ former
herd.
“That’s why,” says tribal chairman
Matt, “we feel so passionate about this.”
The author writes from Missoula, Montana.
National Bison Range Complex 406-644-2211, bisonrange.fws.gov The
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes 406-675-2700,
www.cskt.org.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Back on the range?.
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