Why Should You Be Concerned? America's National Parks, Wildlife Refuges and BLM lands are under attack by the Department of Interior political Appointees, some US Senators, Congressmen, energy companies and tribal lobbyists. They have an aggressive agenda to sell off our National public lands to corporate interests, commercialize our "last best places" and outsource inherently Federal jobs.
There is an alarming trend among current elected politicians and top-level Appointees at the Department of Interior to circumvent laws and make sweetheart deals with some Native American tribes, all the while completely ignoring the requests of other Tribes.
Conversely, the Tribes who initiate corrupt arrangments with politicians and the DOI, do so to the detriment of other Tribes.
For a prime example of this, on December 13th, 2004, the Associated Press ran a story about the DOI's BLM Agency approving gold exploration on lands that are of cultural significance to the Te-Moak tribe.
http://www.rgj.com/news/printstory.php?id=87507
“We are outraged,” said Te-Moak Tribal Council member Jody Abe. “Once again, the tribes have been left out of the decision making process that affects our people and our environment".
TWO days later, on December 15th, 2004, the DOI signed a deal with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to take jobs away from Federal employees at the National Bison Range (NBR).
In the media, the DOI's Paul Hoffman lauded government to government relationships and how the DOI works so well with Tribes.
http://www.newwest.net/index.php/topic/article/4727/C43/L37 Both the DOI and the CSKT have been playing politics with USFWS employees and their jobs.
In secret meetings closed to the public, the DOI and the CSKT intentionally excluded the local US Fish and Wildlife Service and made a deal much like a corporate "hostile takeover".
Public input was clearly ignored.
As a result, in 2005, many of the longtime FWS Bison Range staff had their positions outsourced to the CSKT in an abrupt and cruel manner, with no apologies from either the CSKT or the DOI.
In addition, four FWS employee's jobs simply disappeared and this was not mentioned to the media.
The Bison Range staff were "kicked to the curb" and the wages for those positions were applied to a new Tribal Coordinator position instead.
Then, the CSKT and the political Appointee's at FWS and DOI offered self-congratulatory statements in the media about forging partnerships between governments based on mutual respect, all the while disregarding and disrespecting the USFWS employees and their families.
INTENDED GOAL:
It needs to be known that the CSKT isn't interested in partnership with the local FWS staff.
They once had their intentions spelled out on their website, indicating the desire to get as much land as possible in the local area. That information was pulled from their website after a Montana PBS special brought it up to former Tribal Chairman, Fred Matt, who ultimately admitted on the program that acquisition of the National Bison Range was a goal of the CSKT.
Through their actions, the CSKT have made it clear that, while acting in a very hostile and aggressive manner to the local FWS staff, they play the victim to the upper levels of the DOI.
The CSKT wants all Federal, non-Native employees off the Bison Range and the Bison Range given over to them. It's very important to note that the CSKT was already paid fair market value for the land in the early 1900's and incredulously, given millions more dollars in the 1970's for the same property.
What the public doesn't know, is that the CSKT already had plans drawn up long ago for a development project and new roads on the Range.
Former Montana US Senator, Conrad Burns had the power to intervene on behalf of fellow Federal workers, but didn't.
The Missoulian Newspaper reported on October 30th, 2004, that:
"Burns, R-Mont., has opposed such a funding agreement in the past, which effectively killed the plans. But he has remained neutral during this latest effort, which unlike the previous one in the mid-1990s, has been promoted and supported by Republican political appointees such as Hoffman in the Department of Interior".
Lisa Morris's website reports:
"A top aide to Senator Conrad Burns lobbied for The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes during the same years that the federal government was negotiating with the tribe over managment of the National Bison Range. Senator Burns was in the position to decide the outcome of the negotiations , yet, despite local petitions and national outcry by environmental organizations and federal workers who showed very good cause for concern, he allowed the management transfer to occur. Why?" See more on the Bison Range at Lisa's website:
http://www.accessmontana.com/morris/page14.html
Many believe this has everything to do with either the Eloise Cobell Lawsuit, Haliburton interests or the Jack Abramoff Scandal.
The political manueverings have created a nightmare work scenario at the Bison Range. The Annual Funding Agreement created a forced marriage and a hostile work environment, full of tension and the Bison Range has noticeably suffered.
For more background on this issue, read these links: http://www.peer.org/news/print_detail.php?row_id=431 http://www.refugenet.org/New-Centennial/CentStory8.html http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2003/08/03/news/mtregional/news08.txt http://www.refugenet.org/New-issues/bisonprinciples.html http://www.refugenet.org/new-issues/NBRoct.html http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/899ccuwk.asphttp://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/burns.php http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/12/23/CU2005122300939.html http://www.indianz.com/News/2005/011468.asp http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/003817.html |
