And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: via MarthaET Indians pressure to take over lost homelands in national forest The Associated Press 02/26/99 4:31 AM Eastern COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- The only recognized Oregon Indian tribe not yet compensated for the loss of its former homelands wants to take over 95,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in Lane and Douglas counties. Tribal members wouldn't live on the land like a reservation. But the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians would manage the forests under a land restoration plan aimed at achieving self-sufficiency, rejuvenating tribal culture and repairing the ecosystem. The 669-member tribe hopes Congress will approve of the plan late this year or early next year, said Dick Clarkson, tribal council chairman. "The main goal is to get self-sufficient," said Clarkson, who said the tribes' current budget is totally dependent on the $2.27 million it receives annually from Congress. "Tomorrow, they could cut us completely off." The plan, which was made public Wednesday, proposes three options for managing land within the tribes' ancestral homeland, a slice of Siuslaw National Forest that would be held in trust by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The size of the options range from 55,500 acres to 95,650 acres. The tribes' business plan relies on four enterprises, three linked to the forest and one centered on a proposed casino and entertainment complex that's separate from the restoration plan. The casino project is a short-term enterprise designed to generate seed money for other tribal projects, he said. It's also a higher-risk plan because changes in federal law could put a casino out of business overnight, he said. "I don't think any tribe is betting long-term on casinos," Clarkson said. "The reason why tribes get into casinos is for the benefit of the money you can make in the short term." The tribes' plan is to manage it in accordance with the Northwest Forest Plan and to obtain federal grants for watershed restoration projects to repair the damage done by decades of clear-cut logging on steep slopes, said George Smith, a Beaverton consultant who is working with the tribe. The restoration work would create jobs and income for tribal members, as would logging, which would be limited to tree thinning that promotes old growth forest ecosystems, Smith said. The tribes' business plan also proposes to generate revenue by the gathering and sale of other forest products, berry jams, mushrooms and floral materials, for example. "The blending of Native American values with concepts of modern ecosystem management is the perfect approach to managing this land," Smith said. The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians' ancestral territory covered 1.6 million acres of Western Oregon between the Siuslaw and Umpqua rivers, according to Smith. The land was taken in the mid-1850s when Indians were forcibly moved to a reservation that Congress later eliminated. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? We welcome your feedback. �1999 Oregon Live LLC http://flash.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/or_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Pa rsed/OREGON_NEWS/o0307_PM_OR--IndianLand &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
