The agreement outlines duties the tribes will perform at the Bison Range - which sits wholly within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation - from fiscal year 2009 through 2011.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Chairman James Steele Jr. signed the agreement Thursday morning during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Added Hall: “The Bison Range occupies a special place in the hearts of tribal members. I know the passion that they have for the land of their ancestors, and for the wildlife that sustained them. Fish and Wildlife Service employees also care passionately about the future of the Bison Range, and I strongly believe this agreement will serve to bring everyone together to accomplish great things for the refuge.”
Said Steele: “This represents the latest step in the tribes’ 14-year journey toward partnering with the Fish and Wildlife Service at the National Bison Range. We believe that, as partners, we can make a special place even more special. Our tribes’ unique history with this particular bison herd, and our ownership of the land upon which the ancillary Ninepipe and Pablo refuges are located, provides both our motivation for stewardship and our ability to add another dimension to the National Bison Range Complex.”
The annual funding agreement was negotiated pursuant to the 1994 Tribal Self-Governance Act. The act provides qualified self-governing tribes who demonstrate a significant cultural, geographic and historical connection to facilities managed by the Department of the Interior with the opportunity to assume certain programs, services, functions and activities at those facilities, including units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
The CSKT is assuming a substantive role in managing mission-critical programs at the Bison Range. The Bison Range manager will remain a Fish and Wildlife Service employee and have final decision-making authority on management direction, approval of plans, refuge uses and priorities. A refuge leadership team, comprised of wildlife and land management professionals from both organizations, will inform those decisions.
Examples of the activities CSKT will perform on the Bison Range under the agreement include the annual bison roundup; migratory non-game bird surveys; waterfowl pair counts; bird banding; vegetation monitoring; geographic information system mapping; invasive plant control; wildfire suppression and prescribed burning; dissemination of oral and written information to visitors about the Bison Range, the National Wildlife Refuge System, the service, and the CSKT’s relationship to the range and its resources; and other biological and related activities.
Thursday’s announcement came more than 18 months after the Fish and Wildlife Service unceremoniously canceled a previous management agreement, locking tribal employees out of the Bison Range after acrimony between tribal and federal workers boiled over.
Interior officials quickly entered the fray, and a visit to the Flathead Reservation by four high-level FWS and Interior administrators early last year brought assurances that tribal workers would be back on the job as quickly as possible. The ensuing negotiations lasted longer than expected, but were roundly approved at Thursday’s ceremony in the capital.
Federal officials repeatedly emphasized that the partnership between the FWS and CSKT is a government-to-government relationship and is not a move toward privatization of the Bison Range. The Bison Range will remain a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The service will maintain ownership of and management authority over all lands and buildings at the Bison Range and will retain law enforcement authorities on Bison Range lands and waters.
The annual funding agreement will be transmitted to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee for a 90-day congressional review period. Following review by the committees and any other interested member of Congress, the agreement will be phased in during the first quarter of fiscal year 2009.
The National Bison Range Complex consists of the National Bison Range, Pablo and Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuges, and a portion of the Northwest Montana Wetland Management District.
Established in 1908 to conserve the American bison, the Bison Range and ancillary properties provide important habitat for a variety of other species such as elk, pronghorn antelope and migratory birds. This agreement applies only to those units that lie within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation, including the National Bison Range, Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge and Pablo National Wildlife Refuge. Ninepipe and Pablo are overlay refuges on CSKT land and the service operates those areas through conservation easements from CSKT.
Notice of the agreement will be published in the Federal Register in the near future. The agreement can be found online at http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/cskt-fws-negotiation or by contacting the Bison Range at National Bison Range, 132 Bison Range Road, Moiese, MT 59824; (406) 644-2211; or the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, P.O. Box 278, Pablo, MT 59855; (406) 675-2700.
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