1974-09-15 Char-Koosta News

              The Old Jocko River Just Ain't What It Used To Be
The Jocko river has always been one of the most important features of the physical and cultural lanscape of the Flathead Reservation.
The Pend'd Orielle and Kalipel Indians who lived here before the coming of the whites depended on the Jocko's pure mountain waters for much of their food. With reed and willow traps these celebrated fishermen harvested the Jocko's silvery cutthroat trout and pale whitefish to be smoked for a supplement to their winter larder. The banks of the Jocko were, and still are, some of the best big-game hunting grounds
THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SAL1SH, PEND d ORIELLES AND
on the reservation. The swales and backwaters of the Jocko were also alive with berry and root plants which the Pend'd Orielle relied on to round off a meaty winter diet.
The Jocko was a benevolent provider for the Pend'd Oreille and the Indians were deeply grateful. Along the foothills which run east of the Jocko between Ravalli and Arlee are several stone vision sites. These were built above the Jocko so that the young men of the tribe could look upon this friendly river, for help in seeking a vision for their man-
....JOCKO (Cont. on page 81_
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HAR-KOOSTA
Volume 4 - Number 10    NEW MOON OF THE HARVEST OF RIPE THINGS    September 15,1974
AUGUST PER CAPITA WILL DRY UP SEPTEMBER FOOD STAMPS
Poison: A state ruling on the recent $ 7 5 0 per capita payment to Tribal members will virtually dry up the availability of county food stamps for at least one month
Lake County Welfare worker Vivian Luke said that a letter from the Montana State Department of Social Rehabilitation set a policy of counting per capita payments to Indian tribes as a monthly income. Mrs. Luke said the letter came from Mike Caplis, the state's chief eligibility officer. In the letter Caplis said that the August 2 3 payment would be regarded as income for the month of August, which will affect the eligibility of Indian food stamp users for the September issue, and will be counted as a "resource" during the following months. The letter also stated that Tribal member IIM accounts would now be considered a resource.....money that individuals have access to.....in determining welfare and food
stamp eligibility.
Formerly, the state had agreed to a three year trial period for a so-called "Indian income disregard" policy. Under that policy, which was started two years ago, per capitas and other Tribal resource incomes would not be considered as monthly income, but would be prorated as economic resources. This meant that per capita payments would not affect the monthly eligibility of Indians for welfare and food stamp programs if they did not exceed resource guidelines ($1,500 per person).
The new ruling will mean that the few Tribal members who began using stamps when the program started July 1, will not be eligible for the September issue. There is, however, a question as to whether committed per capita payments...those withheld by the Tribe for repayment of debts or court actions...will be counted against a Tribal member's eligibility for food stamps
in September. Members who wish to recieve food stamps and who did not get a per capita check should contact county welfare for a determination.
FOOD STAMPS ....(Cont. on page 2)
MONTANA POWER TOLD NO LINES IN THE SOUTH FORK
Dixon: The Tribal Council has told the Montana Power Company to remove a series of weather gauging stations in the South Fork primitive area because "The Tribes have no intention of leasing a power right of way through that area of the reservation."
The weather stations, small data gathering transmitters, were installed in the South Fork last year by West-inghouse Environmental Systems. The Westinghouse engineers are working on routing information for two 500 KV lines which Montana Power intends to run from electrical generating plants at Colstrip to the Bonneville Power Administration terminal at Hot Springs. The two primary routes for the lines proposed in the utility's environmental assessment would have gone through the South Fork.
Earlier this year, the Tribes had notified the Montana State Department of Natural Resources, which is processing the Montana Power Company application, that the South Fork areas had been designated as a Tribal primitive area. But state resource planners and a public meeting in St. Ignatius in July were still talking about the possibility of the lines going through the South Fork. The latest Tribal action was designed to make it "abundantly clear" to the utility and the state that the Tribe would not consider leasing a right of way through the South Fork.