Federal judge’s ruling kicks tribes out of Bison Range
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MOIESE — Just days before the annual bison round-up was set to begin at the National Bison Range, a federal judge rescinded an annual funding agreement between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the U.S. Department of the Interior, effectively firing all tribal employees from their jobs at the Range.
On Sept. 28, United States District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in favor of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that filed a lawsuit over the AFA in December 2008, citing a violation of the National Environmental Policy Act in the agreement between the tribes and the Department of the Interior.
“We are most gratified that this agreement has been rescinded,” PEER senior counsel Paula Dinerstein said in a news release. “We expect the government to act quickly to put Fish and Wildlife Service staff back in place to repair the ongoing damage to the Bison Range.”
Under the AFA, signed in June 2008, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the tribes partnered to manage the Range, with a refuge leadership team comprised of the FWS refuge manager, CSKT and FWS deputy refuge managers and the tribes’ lead biologist.
Last week’s decision was the latest setback in what’s been a long fight for the tribes, who want to be involved with managing the Range and its bison because of their great cultural and historical significance to Native peoples.
“We’re extremely disappointed,” CSKT spokesman Rob McDonald said. “It’s not been an easy road.”
Negotiations between CSKT and the FWS over management of the Bison Range began in 2003, and the first AFA between the two groups went into effect in March 2005. By December 2006, the Service terminated the agreement, citing “CSKT’s failure to comply with bison management standards, failure to meet FWS wildlife monitoring and reporting standards, failure to complete biological study plans, and failure to timely and properly maintain vehicles, equipment, and property,” Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her decision.
Then it was back to the drawing board, and a new AFA for fiscal years 2009-11 was signed in June 2008. The tribes and FWS had co-managed the Range since Jan. 1, 2009.
“It had been working so well the past two years … a true partnership was forming,” McDonald said.
He noted that the judge’s decision was based solely on an environmental procedural rule, and Kollar-Kotelly made no mention of CSKT job performances.
“The tribes were not called deficient in this,” McDonald said.
FWS referred all calls to the U.S. Justice Department, where spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said, "We're still reviewing the court's decision and consulting internally within the Justice Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine the practical ramifications of this decision.”
McDonald said Friday although Tribal Council had already met several times to discuss the issue, the tribes hadn’t decided how to move forward. The 13 CSKT employees at the Range were put out of work immediately.
McDonald also noted that the Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling “did not discourage these sort of partnerships” between the federal government and Indian tribes.
