by Howard Hanson
The Department of Interior appears ready to turn over management of the National Bison Range in Moiese, Montana, to the local tribal government of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, removing it from a hundred-year-old uniform management system of National Wildlife refuges. Is this a sign of things to come for our parks and refuges? Is it a dangerous precedent? Could it turn into yet another round of lawsuits and claims for water, land and game resources?
Department of Interior bureaus other than the Bureau of Indian Affairs sometimes negotiate Annual Funding Agreements with self-governing tribes (see box, p. 6), but such an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service for the National Bison Range would be a first. And we wonder why. Transferring management from the USFWS would break a century-old set of uniform operating standards and management priorities that have always put wildlife first. Why would we change? Why would we open the door to different administrative priorities and management policies? Why would we risk producing a checkerboard system of refuge and park management?
Grady E. Hocutt is the Refugekeeper for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Recently he wrote Montana's Sentator Conrad Burns, This issue is not even one of whether the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes could or should have management responsibility for the National Bison Range. Rather, it is more a question of the establishment of far-reaching precedents for fragmentation and eventual dissolution of the rich history and legacy of the National Wildlife Refuge System as we know it today.
The NWRS represents a legacy of wildlife habitats unlike anything seen on our planet. The NBR complex is one of the crown jewels of the system, and is emblematic of our nations turn from waste and non-conservation of many species of plants and animals You and your other elected federal colleagues in Montana are truly at a decisional crossroads where we believe the long-term welfare and integrity of the NWRS lies in the balance. Because of the precedent setting nature of your decisions, your handling of this complex issue will have a major impact upon the sort of NWRS that is passed on to Montanans and the nation as a whole. Consequently, we sincerely ask you to view this issue, and similar ones, from the larger perspective of a truly national system of wildlife refuges. It would be helpful and statesmanlike if you and other elected officials were to appeal to officials in the Office of the Secretary of Interior to withdraw these proposals, and all work together to maintain and strengthen the functional integrity and mission of the NWRS."
Another interesting dilemma will present itself if the transfer of the Nation Bison Refuge administration happens. The National Wildlife Refuge system is currently an Equal Opportunity employer, and the Tribal Chairman has admitted that future hiring will give tribal members preference. It's federal land, a federal payroll, yet there will be racial discrimination in hiring?
There is a petition and letter posted on the CERA website (www.citizensalliance.org) for you to download, sign and send to your representatives requesting that all programs currently operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, including the National Bison Range, continue to be operated by USFWS because it affords the best possible stewardship of the wildlands heritage of all U.S. citizens and continues equal employment opportunity for all.
Tribal
Management. Coming to a site near you?
The following is a partial list of programs eligible for inclusion in Fiscal Year 2003 Annual Funding Agreements (AFA's) with self-governance tribes by Department of Interior Bureaus other than the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This does not indicate that tribes have requested to take management, only that the DOI considers them eligible if a tribal government should ask.
FEDERAL
REGISTER/ Vol. 67, No. 66/ Friday, April 5, 2002
Eligible
Programs of the Reclamation:
1. Klamath Project CA, OR
2. Trinity River Restoration Program CA
3. Central Valley Project (Trinity Division) CA
4. Newlands Project NV, CA
5. Washoe Project NV, CA
6. Colorado River Front Work/Levee System AZ, CA, NV
7. Lower Colorado Indian Water Management Study AZ, CA, NV
8. Yuma Area Projects AZ, CA
9. Central Arizona Project AZ, NM
10. Middle Rio Grande Project NM
11. Indian Water Rights Settlement Projects as Congressionally authorized
Eligible
Programs of the National Park Service:
1. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve AK
2. Kamai National Park and Preserve AK
3. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve AK
4. Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park AK
5. Sitka National Historical Park AK
6. Kenai Fjords National Park AK
7. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve AK
8. Western Arctic Parklands AK
9. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve AK
10. Yukon Charlie Rivers National Preserve AK
11. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument AZ
12. Joshua Tree National Park CA
13. Redwood National Park CA
14. Whiskeytown National Recreation Area CA
15. Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument ID
16. Bear Paw Battlefield, Nez Perce National Historical Park ID
17. Boston Harbor Islands, a National Park Area MA
18. Cape Cod National Seashore MA
19. New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park MA
20. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore MI
21. Voyageurs National Park MN
22. Grand Portage National Monument MN
23. Glacier National Park MT
24. Great Basin National Park NV
25. Bandelier National Monument NM
26. Fort Stanwix National Monument NY
27. Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area OH
28. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park OH
29. Chicksaw National Recreation Area OK
30. Effigy Mounds National Monument IA
31. Olympic National Park WA
32. San Juan Islands National Historic Park WA
33. Mt. Rainier National Park WA
34. Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve WA