1975-05-01 Char-Koosta News

              COUNCIL TACKS A FLOOR ON FRINGE TIMBER SALE
Dixon: The Tribal Council tacked a new "minimum value" stumpage provision on its approval of the sale of 2-million board feet of west-reservation timber.
In approving the sale of the Fringe Unit, April 11, the council voted to modify the contract so that penalty provisions would be waived if the value of the timber fell below 60% of the bid price. The high bidder at an April 2 auction in Ronan was Tribal Member Kendall Dupuis, Poison. Dupuis offered $64.00 per thousand for ponderosa pine and $37. 50 per thousand for fir and other species.
Under the new provision, if market adjustments for Dupuis' stumpage decline to lower than $38. 00 for pine and $22.50 for fir, logging in the unit would stop and Dupuis would automatically be exempted from paying contract penalties.
Although the minimum stumpage provision in the Fringe unit contract will probably not be used...the contract calls for completion before July, 1976... the council included it as a pilot concept for future logging contracts. The minimum value provision will probably be included in the non-Indian preference sale of the Hot Springs u-nit which goes on the auction block May 16. The
25-million board foot Hot Springs Unit would have a contract span of four years, thus making it subject to the fickle timber market.
The council considers the "floor value" provision necessary because the price paid to the tribe for its timber is based on the current value of lumber products. This means that it is possible for stumpage values to decline far below bid prices for logging contracts.
For instance, in the 1973 Valley Unit sale, fir brought $60.50 per thousand. However, the bid price for fir was subjected to market ups and downs over an eight year period. In early 1974, the stumpage for fir from the Valley was bringing nearly $100 per thousand. But by December of the same year the timber market had collapsed and fir... if any had been sold... would have brought less than $9-per thousand.
In principle, the floor stumpage rate would protect both the tribe and the contractor. The tribe , because it would be assured of at least 60% of the bid price for its timber... and the contractor, because he would not have to pay high logging expenses for value-less timber during market lows.
BIATO STUDY HERBICIDES    BURIED
ANNIE FINLEY PIERRE IS
Dixon: The Tribal Council says it doesn't want the deadly poison Xylene used in reservation water if it is harmful to fish and wildlife, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has agreed to fund a study to find out if the chemical does affect treaty fishing rights.
BIA Area Director, James Canan, Billings, told the Tribal Council, April 15, that he would recommend an environmental assessment on the effects of Xylene and herbicide 24-d on aquatic animals, insects and plants. Canan, several BIA Billings Area irrigation engineers and Flathead Irrigation Project engineer George Moon, attended a special water meeting to resolve the long festering issue of irrigation management and wildlife rights.
Xylene, a moss killing poison which is controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency, has been widely used by FIP in reservation waters as a means for clearing algae and moss from sprinkler irrigation systems. On July 3,1973, it was responsible for a total fish-kill in the Jocko River J-canal and "probable" damage to the lower Jocko and Flathead Rivers. Later that same July, the council passage 2)
St. Ignatius: Annie Finley Pierre, 76, was buried A-pril 22 in the St. Ignatius Catholic Cemetary. She died April 19, in the St. Ignatius Hospital.
She is remembered for her fine Indian beadwork, her participation in the Indian Choir and her know ledge and practice of the Indian way of life.
She was born in St. Ignatius on Jan. 1, 1899. In the early part of this century she attended the Sisters of Charity School there. A life-long resident of the reservation, Mrs. Pierre had lived in Dixon and Hot Springs as well as St. Ignatius. Her husband, Louie died in 1961.
As a young girl, Mrs. Pierre was regarded as quite a horsewoman. In fact, at the age of 17, she jockied thoroughbred racing horses at tracks in Spokane and Missoula.
She is survived by a son...Joe, of St. Ignatius... one daughter, Mrs. Ben-ally, of Dixon...two sisters, Mrs. Christine Woodcock and Mrs. Louise McDonald, both of St.Ignatius. There are also four grandchildren.
The body was held in