Reznet

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Chairman James Steele Jr.Courtesy photo/Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

More Bison Range Talks

By Jasa Santos

PABLO, Mont.—A second round of meetings next week should bring the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service closer to a resolution of a controversy over tribal management of the National Bison Range.

The two groups have been in a tense dispute since late 2006, when H. Dale Hall, director of the service, abruptly terminated the annual funding agreement that had allowed the tribes a role in managing the range. It is located in Moiese, Mont., on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The U.S. Department of Interior overturned Hall's decision, but negotiations for a new funding agreement with the tribes and a joint management plan for the bison range stalled last year.

Meetings on Jan. 17-18 set the groundwork for rebuilding trust between the tribes and the service. It was decided then that the range would remain a national refuge administered by Fish and Wildlife under any new funding plan.

Actual negotiations are expected to begin at the next meeting, scheduled Feb. 4 at tribal headquarters in Pablo, Mont.

Tribal Chairman James Steele Jr., head negotiator for the tribes, stressed that tribal control of the range should not be construed as privatization of the land. "This will be a refuge that is still under the rules of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service," he said, adding that no federal policy would be ignored or overlooked in managing the range.

Steele declined to discuss specifics of the January meetings but described them as just the beginning of a process and a "good first start."

"Right now, it's a very positive first step," he said. "We made some good positive headway."

Dean Rundle, lead negotiator for Fish and Wildlife, agreed with Steele's comment that the two sides are working to rebuild trusting negotiations. "We had a productive two-day meeting," he said. "We're preparing for the next session."

Rundle supervises national wildlife refuges in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

The dispute over the National Bison Range began in December 2006. Tribal employees were locked out of the range after the Fish and Wildlife Service said the tribes had failed to perform some duties properly, neglected others and created a hostile working environment.

The tribes addressed the complaints in a 118-page report refuting the evaluation of their work.

Talks had been stalled for nearly a year until President Bush appointed Lyle Laverty as Interior's assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. He was confirmed last October and on Nov. 26 ordered Fish and Wildlife to reach a new agreement with the tribes by March 28.

Jasa Santos, Salish, is a reporter at the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune. She is a graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute and the University of Montana School of Journalism.