The tribes will be reimbursed for their work by the federal government, with the money taken out of the Fish and Wildlife Service budget for the Bison Range. Both governments say the consequences to taxpayers will be negligible.
The agreement will automatically take effect in 90 days unless Congress intervenes.
A spokesman in Burns' Billings office said the senator has spoken at length with both proponents and opponents of the agreement during the last two years, as it was being negotiated. But he has yet to reach a conclusion on the agreement's merits.
He will review the proposal when it comes before Congress during the 90-day review period.
Under the terms of the agreement, the CSKT would perform some of activities at the Bison Range and other USFWS facilities on the Flathead Reservation during fiscal year 2005.
The agreement must be renewed on a year-to-year basis. The tribes' responsibilities include the biological program, fire program, maintenance program, and visitor services, involving almost half of the Bison Range work force. The agreement contains extensive provisions to protect the employment rights of current employees.
The Fish and Wildlife Service will maintain ownership of and management authority over all lands and buildings at the Bison Range, and will deal with the tribal employees through a tribally appointed coordinator.
The controversy is over whether the agreement is in the best interest of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and whether it will ultimately compromise the agency's mission at the Bison Range.
Many within the fish and wildlife agency and in some national conservation groups that work closely with the agency on wildlife issues - Ducks Unlimited, Izaak Walton League and The Wilderness Society - say it will not work.
Susan Reneau, an outdoors and wildlife writer based in Missoula, has helped muster the opposition to the Bison Range agreement over the last two years.
She said Tuesday that refuge managers and project leaders from all over the USFWS system have gone on record opposing the agreement as unworkable, despite considerable risk to their professional advancement by speaking out publicly.
"This agreement is not only onerous to most of the refuge managers and project leaders throughout the national wildlife system, but it is also onerous to many national conservation groups. None of the major concerns of the professional wildlife biologists and conservation groups have been incorporated into the agreement, which was written by the lawyers of the CSKT and Department of Interior," Reneau said.
Meanwhile, Steve Williams, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said he wants the agency to learn from the controversy occasioned by this agreement.
"While I expect some will not be happy with the final agreement, I am confident that we can make this AFA a success," he said in a memo to agency administrators e-mailed Monday and forwarded to the Missoulian.
Wednesday's signing will occur in Washington, D.C.
Reporter John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at jstromnes@missoulian.com
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