Legislation Would Set "Targets" for Transferring Jobs and Funds to Tribal Control
Under its terms, tribes could take over any Interior programs "that are of special geographical, historical, or cultural significance to the Indian tribe" and receive federal payments covering all direct and indirect costs. The Interior Secretary would "establish programmatic targets" ensuring that "a significant portion" of federal jobs and programs are included. Assumption would be mandatory wherever a tribe "has a federally reserved right" in local fish, wildlife, water or minerals. In all other cases, Interior could refuse a tribe only where it can show a legal prohibition or "a significant danger or risk to the public health."
See Review of American Indians and National Parks for more on the subject of tribes and national parks.
7 comments:
Writerfella here --
If writerfella had put forth such a proposal in a science fiction story back in the old century, nodody would have believed it. You can bet The Sierra Club will be on its apple boxes screaming bloody murder, as well as other 'environmentalist' ilk. writerfella would not be averse to his Kiowa Tribe taking over the Wichita Wildlife Refuge near Lawton, OK., however. Think of the casino they could build in Medicine Park! And the snooty Federal rangers would get the boot in favor of tribal rangers and the Ft. Sill Army Artillery Range would be stopped dead in its half-tracks on its slow but seemingly inexorable expansion into refuge lands. One downside writerfella sees is that, if the say Blackfeet got Glacier National Park, tourists would castigate the tribe for 'mismanagement' when the glaciers all disappear by 2050...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
POSTSCRIPTUM: Forgot to say that the Wichita Mountains were the Kiowan spring camping area back when the tribe still seasonally followed the bison herds to and from what are now Mexico and Canada. Medicine Bluff, the tribal sacred mountain, is one of the Wichita peaks, BUT is held captive within the confines of Fort Sill. In 1989 on the spring equinox, the Kiowa Business Committee finally was permitted to visit the site, after 75 years of begging the US Army. They were helicoptered to the mountain and the last Wolf Clan medicine man held the 'greeting-the-sun' ceremony for his Grandmother medicine bundle. He was so happy, he wept. But he wept again when he heard the Base Commander tell the Kiowa Chairman that, for security reasons, it would be the only time it would be allowed, ever at all.
The medicine man asked, "Why not, for this is our sacred ground?"
The Brigadier General looked embarrassed but still he said, "Well, civilians are not allowed on this part of the base."
And the medicine man said, "When we were the enemy, to your army we were soldiers?"
The General nodded.
"And now that there is peace, we are civilians. But you still are soldiers?"
The General nodded again.
"Then tell me. Who decided that?"
The General blinked but could not answer the question...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
There was actually a similar proposal to this during FDR's New Deal wherein large amounds of public land would've been transferred to tribes. Vine Deloria refers in Custer Died for Your Sins to a proposal to transfer a national forest in (I think) Wisconsin to a tribe, with the proviso that it had to be used for sustainable development and couldn't be sold. WWII, unfortunately, intervened. Still, I'd be interested to know if the Black Hills are on the list. Something tells me no...
Writerfella here --
Yes, indeed, the Black Hills! Except, writerfella knows of no National Forest or National Park or National Preserve or even a National Wildlife Refuge on such lands. The Sioux now occupying that area drove out the Kiowa and the Pawnee and Arapaho and other tribes, thus preventing them from their normal treks following the bison herds into what is now Canada. Then those 'Sioux' cobbled up legends that they have been there for scores of generations. Would you believe, five generations or so at most, total? In fact, the 'Sioux' on such lands fled there from as far away as Wisconsin through North Carolina due to war with white settlers and EuroMan population pressure in the east. A single long court case on behalf of the Kiowa never reached adjudication and there the matter has stood for over seventy years...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
The book American Indians and National Parks discusses the conflicts between Indians and environmentalists. It notes they were allies on some issues but opponents when it came to the parks. Environmentalists wanted to keep the parks in pristine condition, untouched by human hands. Indians just wanted to live in them and use them as they had since ancient times.
According to the Wikipedia entry on the Black Hills:
"The region is home to Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument, Harney Peak (the highest point east of the Rockies), Custer State Park (the largest state park in South Dakota, and one of the largest in the US), Bear Butte State Park, Devils Tower National Monument, and the Crazy Horse Memorial (the largest sculpture in the world)." It also encompass the Black Hills National Forest.
If you really want to stir a controversy, let's talk about giving Mount Rushmore back to the Indians. ;-)
Writerfella here --
It matters little if there really are any Federal or state reserve designations, as the erstwhile 'Sioux' would get any and all of such transfers. And writerfella would approve of such a transfer of Mt. Rushmore ONLY if the 'Sioux' who get it AREN'T Reaganites...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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