Blackbear

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FROM: INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY NEWSPAPER

_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411805_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411805)

Gibson: Creating effective partnerships between tribes and agencies

(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: October 27, 2005 by: _Terry Gibson_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=585) / Shoshone-Paiute Tribes

Greetings from your Shoshone-Paiute brothers and sisters. For those who
don't know - we have been confined to the Duck Valley Indian Reservation that
is surrounded by the lands of Idaho, Nevada and Oregon. But we are
southwestern Idaho's Indians. We are northern Nevada's Indians. Just in case you think
we all went away somewhere else - maybe to Hawaii or, worse yet, in case you
think we never existed at all. We are this land's Aboriginal occupants.

We've done the best job we could to be left alone, locked up in one room of
the mansion our grandfathers and grandmothers once enjoyed. We've survived by
being livestock producers, just like many of our non-Indian neighbors. We
have much in common with them.

There is one major difference, however. We have special standing with the
United States. The U.S. Constitution identifies three sovereigns: the federal
government, the states and Indian tribes. The U.S. Supreme Court held in the
Marshall trilogy of decisions (ca. 1830 - 1832) that we are dependent
sovereign nations.

The U.S. government is required by a number of mandates to consult with us.
It's not exactly the same kind of consultation that agencies use with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act.

Federal case law requires federal agencies to communicate with us and take
our views into account in a sincere, good faith effort, on a
government-to-government basis for any proposed undertaking or contemplated action.

That's called special standing. It's taken a long time for this little
concept to sink in for federal agencies. Some agencies still don't get it. Others
have just taken a long time to get to it.

The aboriginal title to the land of southwestern Idaho has never been
properly ceded and conveyed. Despite the Boise Valley and the Bruneau Valley
treaties being signed by the chiefs of my people and by representatives of the
president of the United States, and the subsequent moving of my people to an
Indian reservation, those treaties were never ratified by the United States
Senate. You could say that the check bounced!

The solicitor general of the Department of Interior has issued an opinion
that aboriginal title has not been extinguished and remains with my people.

Now, before you reach for the antacids, we are not talking about the private
property rights of landowners: we simply want the aboriginal title and
compensation issue cleared up and the rights we were promised so long ago.

Now, some will say: ''Well, you lost the war. Get over it!''

But, think about this: Can you recount any war in which America prevailed
where we voided or confiscated private property title because their vanquished
government lost the war to us? America didn't do it in Germany or Japan.
Even in Russia, land title is being restored from before the time of the
Bolshevik Revolution.

A few years back, when my son Buster was around 11 or 12 and Bill Clinton
was president, a very lean Christmas came over our family. Buster decided to
write Santa Claus a letter requesting $50 so he could buy his family some
gifts. The post office didn't know where to deliver it, but our postmaster in
Owyhee decided to forward it on to the White House.

Well, Clinton read it and, being touched, took a five-dollar bill out of his
pocket and sent it along with a note proclaiming ''Happy Holiday.'' Upon
opening the letter, Buster had a long face. I asked him why the disgusted look.
He said, ''Isn't it just like the federal government? They had to skim 90
percent off of the $50 that Santa sent me, leaving me with five bucks!''

A far more efficient and rewarding relationship has been occurring between
us and the federal government: partnerships. We have been consulting with some
agencies on their undertakings. But, much more needs to be done. Ten years
ago we initiated a program called ''Wings and Roots,'' a third party,
institutionalized, government-to-government process of consultation. It is now used
in a number of federal agencies and some other tribes. It has been used to
help turn consultation into partnerships - truly spectacular partnerships, too.
And it is beginning to gain some national notoriety.

We have approached partnerships with federal agencies not simply because it
is the legal thing to do, nor do we do it simply because it is the right
thing to do. These agencies have approached partnerships because it is the smart
thing to do. I'd like to highlight a few of these agencies that have made
them work in our area.

With the help of tribal consultation through the Wings and Roots program, it
has been opportunity not for compensation, but for identification of our
grievances.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest
Service, Idaho Army National Guard and Air Guard all have made extraordinary
efforts to implement their Indian trust responsibility. I'd like to personally
thank them for being straight shooters.

These federal public servants have been in the trenches, going the extra
mile to understand the agency's trust responsibility by creating a partnership
and trust that breeds success. For example, the Idaho National Guard has
created a partnership for the co-management of the Orchard Training Area that has
functioned for almost six years. That partnership will help to save the
lives of our soldiers through better training opportunities.

The Boise and Payette national forests have worked tirelessly to explore
ways to partner with the Shoshone-Paiute tribes and bring together all forest
users, and to respect and protect our sacred sites and traditional cultural
properties.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with the BLM on a daily basis in the management
decisions of our aboriginal lands.

The Snake River office of the Fish and Wildlife Service is to be
complimented for also being vigilant, and for finding new and creative ways to seek
consensus and collaboration without the onerous burdens of ''one-size-fits-all''
mandates. Often we have learned about other agencies' plans through our
consultation with the service.

We reach out to all sovereign entities and their collective constituents.
Just as we guided the way, across what you call the Snake River, saving many of
America's ancestors from starvation, we reach out to the federal government
now as a partner. Please attempt to understand us and our desire to protect
our cultural resources, and we will work to defend your heritage as well. Let
us work to ensure that we pass along that opportunity for seven generations
to follow.

Terry Gibson is chairman of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes.

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Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song.