[Vision2020] Idaho tribes make case for public lands

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (October 30, 2013) Lewiston Tribune.

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Idaho tribes make case for public lands
Indian leaders say treaty rights would be affected under state control of lands
BOISE - Leaders of American Indian tribes made a historical and cultural case Monday that they should be first in line if any of Idaho's 32 million acres of federal public lands are transferred to state control.
Tribal leaders were one of several interest groups that testified before the Legislature's Federal Lands Interim Committee meeting, which is studying the pros and cons of a resolution approved by lawmakers earlier this year demanding that the federal government cede most of the public land in Idaho to state control. The committee is expected to issue a report to the Legislature in 2015.
Leaders of three Idaho tribes voiced opposition to the proposal and said keeping those lands under federal ownership prevents any state effort to sell acreage for revenue or to companies seeking to extract resources. Tribal leaders also pointed to treaty rights guaranteeing off-reservation fishing and hunting rights on the unoccupied lands of the United States.
"You've got to understand that when we made that treaty ... it means that we would have that opportunity to continue to come out into these areas," said Nathan Small, chairman of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes. "We feel that this notion to transfer it all to the state is going to diminish that right that we have made with the United States."
Helo Hancock, lobbyist for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, was more direct, telling lawmakers that tribes have more rights than the state when it comes to any ownership change in public land.
"If the federal government is going to transfer title to any lands, they should be transferred back to their rightful owner, which would be Indian tribes," he said.
Lawmakers on the bipartisan committee also took testimony from ranchers, timber officials, environmentalists and hunting and fishing groups.
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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
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Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still 
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill 
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
 

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