But tribal chairman James Steele Jr. said Tuesday he is confident the tribes will enter into another annual funding agreement that will put tribal members back at work alongside U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel at the wildlife refuge.
“The Salish, Kootenai and Pend d'Orielle people are bound and determined to see this thing work,” Steele said. “Will we reach a point where all sides are happy? I don't think so. But a best-case scenario will be a situation where there is full, fair, honest and complete participation on both sides.”
Tensions mounted at the range over a 14-month period while the tribes were contracted to perform some duties previously carried out by FWS employees. The Fish and Wildlife Service accused the tribes of failing to perform some of those duties properly, neglecting others altogether, and said that tribal employees created a hostile work environment - charges the tribes strongly deny.
Tribal employees, meantime, accused the FWS of deliberately sabotaging their work in a turf war designed to return the tribal jobs to federal employees, while the government insisted it had gone the extra mile to help the tribes succeed.
Everything came to a head on Dec. 11, when Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, abruptly pulled the plug on the annual funding agreement, citing poor job performance and hostile working conditions. Tribal employees were locked out of the range and required to turn in their gear the next day.
Just 18 days later, the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, overturned Hall's decision. In an announcement made by Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett, Associate Deputy Interior Secretary Jim Cason and Hall, the department and FWS announced their intention to re-establish a working relationship with the tribes.
“At least someone at the Department of Interior considered our concerns and saw problems with the unilateral action taken by the Fish and Wildlife Service,” Steele said. “They revisited the decision, and we appreciate it. Now potentially we can work to an agreement where we can all work together.”
The announcement also included the news that an ombudsman would be retained to assist Interior officials in identifying and resolving problems and conflicts at the range, that Cason and Hall would travel to Montana to discuss management issues and concerns with FWS and tribal personnel, and that an earlier process to phase in full tribal management at the range would be suspended for now.
The tribes' involvement is opposed by many national environmental groups, including Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which fear the move will be the first step in the weakening or dismantling of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Tribal leaders disagree.
“I don't see a national movement to privatize refuges or bison ranges,” Steele said. “Even if there is, it has nothing to do with this range. This will still be a federal bison range, on federal property, governed by federal laws. The only thing different would be tribal involvement. It would be best if both sides worked together for the betterment of the bison and the other wildlife and vegetation on the refuge, for the betterment of all American people.”
Acts of Congress allow Indian tribes to seek involvement in, and control over, many federal lands where they can demonstrate a cultural, historical or geographic connection. The bison at the refuge descend from bison brought to the Mission Valley, and owned, by Indians. The range's 18,500 acres sit within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation.
It would be one thing if opponents had stuck to their argument that the National Wildlife Refuge System needed to stay intact, Steele said. But he feels the tribes' name has been unfairly dragged through the mud in an effort to subvert tribal involvement at the refuge.
Calling the charges “a red herring,” Steele added, “PEER and others concerned with privatization have used the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as a lightning rod to stir up opposition.”
“They went after our credibility,” said CSKT spokesman Rob McDonald.
Steele repeatedly pointed to the tribes' management of a federal utility on the Flathead Indian Reservation since 1988 as an example of how CSKT can perform, given the chance.
Mission Valley Power has a $20 million operational budget and sound management, Steele said, and provides low-cost power to everyone on the reservation, both tribal and non-tribal members.
“Mission Valley Power is still a federal utility that falls under federal law and guidelines,” the chairman said. “It serves all the people on the reservation no matter what their race. If we're capable of figuring that out, we're capable of figuring out the Bison Range. I know it's apples and oranges, but our people have had an interaction with bison for hundreds of thousands of years. We have a much shorter history with electricity.”
The presence of U.S. Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officers on the day tribal employees turned in their gear was “unfortunate,” Steele said.
“It's quite indicative of the mind-set of the Fish and Wildlife Service,” he went on. “To have law enforcement forcibly remove our personnel was a humiliating thing. We've been very professional throughout this whole deal.”
Now, if the tribal council signs off on it, the deal is on again.
Tuesday was a federal holiday, and FWS and Interior Department spokespeople were not available for comment.
Reporter Vince Devlin can be reached at (406) 319-2117 or at vdevlin@missoulian.com.
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