1974-06-01 Char-Koosta News

              THE NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND d ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
15 C
HARKOOSTA
Volume 4 - Number 3    NEW MOON OF THE CAMAS    (June 1 , 197 4)
No State Plans To Route MP Lines Through Jocko
Helena: A controversial Montana Power plan to build two highly potent 500 kilavolt lines between Colstrip and Hot Springs was short-circuited four months ago by the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes. But how will their action affect the plans for the project?
The utility had requested state approval of a route for the two high-powered lines to carry electrical energy from proposed generating plants in the eastern part of the state to the Bonneville Power Administration terminal at Hot Springs on the Flathead Reservation. The two favored routes for the transmission lines would have gone through the tribal hunting and gathering grounds on the south fork of the Jocko River.
But on February 15, the Tribal Council passed a resolution which would maintain the southfork as a primitive area and exclude all logging and development from the area. The Montana State Department of Natural Resources, which is administering the Montana Power Plan, was informed by the Tribe that the transmission lines could not be constructed through the southfork area.
So how has the Tribal Council's resolution affected the proposal to span the state with the high powered lines? Char-Koosta contacted Ted Doney, of the Department of Natural Resources, to find out whether the Department or Montana Power would attempt to fight the Tribe's closure of the southfork, or if they would seek alternate routes around the area.
Doney, who is responsible for determining the need for the lines and the exact routing under a new Montana State Law, said that there are currently no plans to attempt federal condemnation of the tribal lands involved.
"As far as we are concerned," he said" The (Montana State) Utility Siting Act does not apply to Indian Reservations. We do not feel we have the power to condemn Indian trust lands under the Act. In other words, if the tribes do not want the route to cross their lands, and the federal government agrees, there is nothing we can do."
Under the Utility Siting Act, the Dept. of Natural Resources must first decide whether resource or power-related projects such as the Montana Power transmission line would benefit the State. If the project is deemed necessary, the Department must then select a route which would have the least amount of environmental impact. The Department would then seek easements through the route and, if necessary, condemn the lands as needed. However, as Doney
POWER LINES (Continued on page 16)
BIA Study Will Cut Forest Harvest 22%
Ronan: The Bureau of Indian Affairs Forestry Department has recommended that the harvest from the reservation forest be reduced by about 22 percent.
In a Forest Growth Analysis released last month, the agency recommended to the Tribal Council that the Annual Allowable Cut for the forest be reduced from 76 million board feet per year to 56 million. The reduction in the target AAC is reflected partially in a cutback in the number of harvestable forest acres. The old figure was based on a total commercial forest figure of 3 8 7,0 0 0 tribally owned acres. The new study accounts for only 337,481 acres.
The 7 4 page document is the result of a three year study of tree growth in timber stands which have undergone intense management. The study was an attempt at comparing the production of various forms of timber management. The study will probably be a major consideration in formulating
GROWTH ANALYSIS (Continued on page 5)
Congress To the Rescue
Commodities May Be Extended For Year
St. Ignatius: Don't throw away your commodity recip e book, you may still be able to use it.
Last month, Char-Koosta reported that it was curtains for the commodity distribution program on the reservation The latest scoop at that time indicated that commodities would dry up like an open can of spam by June 3 0 and folks were going to be using food stamps by Pow-Wow time.
But in Washington, D.C., where both programs are planted and nurtured, things have been changing faster than the items in the monthly commodity issue. Both houses have dug up old legislation to keep the commodity program alive and improve the service of the food stamp program.
In the Senate, a bill introduced by South Dakota Democrat George McGovern a year ago has been passed by the Agriculture Committee. The bill would continue distribution of the commodities until 1976 and would provide 100 percent funding for tribal takeover of the food stamp pro-
CDMMODITIES (Continued on page 3)