Tribes should control Bison Range

Editor,

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's efforts to scuttle cooperative management at the National Bison Range raises serious issues for all Americans. FWS's political flip-flopping suggests a reactionary agenda hostile to tribal interests and the will of Congress. Lurking beneath the cooperative management controversy is the deeper issue of federal integrity towards its trust responsibilities.

America is shedding innocent blood to supposedly promote freedoms of foreign peoples but we still haven't fulfilled treaty obligations made generations ago. Our federal government should uphold legal rights granted to Native American people before going to war in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Korea, etc. The status of the National Bison Range is a good place to start a discussion about promoting freedom for non-white peoples.

The Salish, Kootenai, and Pend Oreille people sacrificed heavily to secure a reservation homeland. Many whites prefer to dismiss tribal history and sovereignty as a relic of the past but this perspective is shortsighted. The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes has moral and legal standing to exert control over non-private land within reservation boundaries. This claim extends to lands occupied by the National Bison Range as well as Wild Horse and Bird Islands.

Anyone interested in permanently resolving political squabbles over tribal lands should contact Congress about repatriating government lands to full tribal control. The Bison Range can either exist at the discretion of the CSKT or move to other available federal land. Cooperative management is a minor issue compared to the larger issue of political justice and freedom for Native American people. Preserving tribal identity through political freedoms and treaty rights should be a prerequisite before sending troops to foreign lands. The Hellgate Treaty reserved the Mission and Jocko Valleys for indigenous people and this document cannot be reconciled with large tracts of federal or state land within reservation boundaries. Please contact federal representatives and demand repatriation of federal lands to their rightful tribal authority.

David Daniels

Berkeley, Calif.