Whatever you call this flu, you don't want to get it

by Terri Hansen

Environment and Science Reporter

The mouthful H1N1, or “swine flu” that everyone is talking about is spreading to states throughout the United States. But the fact that there have been no reported cases in Indian Country “speaks to our efforts” to address the issue head on, a spokeswoman for the Indian Health Service said.

The key word here is reported – there may be cases in Indian Country, but none were reported as of late afternoon April 30.

IHS and tribal leaders have mobilized and are coordinating efforts with federal and state public health departments and emergency service offices to ensure rapid influenza tests and cultures are in place along with adequate supplies of anti-viral medications, and early surveillance, said the spokeswoman, who asked she not be identified. Other calls to IHS offices were not returned.

H1N1 is an influenza A virus that can cause a range of symptoms, usually fever, cough, sore throat, headaches and muscle aches, fatigue, and occasionally vomiting and diarrhea. So far most of those infected have had mild disease, but some have had more severe illness, and there has been one death. Some groups, such as pregnant women and young children or those with chronic conditions may be at higher risk.

The current flu has not grown into pandemic proportions, but a Phase 5 alert by the World Health Organization has prompted concern that a pandemic is imminent. The U.S. has declared a public health emergency, as are a growing number of states.

Yet Karen Hunter, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says this current flu isn’t particularly virulent. “It’s just that it’s a new strain, and the human population hasn’t built up a resistance.”

But pandemics are caused by new flu strains. Hunter says 36,000 deaths are caused by the flu in any given year, “and the CDC is not expecting this flu to exceed that.”

There is confusion about whether this virus, originally said to be of swine, bird, and human origin, is only swine, as is now claimed. U.S. Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack said as of April 28 there is no indication that any pig from the United States has been affected. And whether or not this is a pig virus, eating pork won’t give it to you.

Flu is caused by airborne spread of droplets, and everyday actions, such as avoiding contact with someone with the disease, can keep you from catching it. While there’s no need for panic, families need to take sensible precautions.

Seek medical care if you or someone in your family shows symptoms of the flu. Young children may not have typical symptoms, but may show signs of low activity and have difficulty breathing.

The CDC recommends you stay home when you are sick, wash your hands frequently with soap or detergents, keep a six foot distance from people who may be sick, and use tissues or sneeze into your elbow to prevent airborne spread by droplets.

The CDC (www.cdc.gov/swineflu) and the federal government’s consolidated pandemic influenza web site (http://www.pandemicflu.gov/) are good sources of information about pandemic flu. Those without access to a computer can call the CDC’s toll-free hotline: 1-800-CDCinfo (1-800-232-4636). The number for the hearing impaired is 1-888-232-6348.

Klamath Tribes set to regain 90,000 acres of homeland

By Terri C. Hansen
Environment and Science Writer

CHILOQUIN, Ore. – It’s a new chapter in the history of the landless Klamath Tribes in southern Oregon. They’re buying back part of their lost reservation – and with that returns their tradition of caring for and being nurtured by their native land.

The Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin peoples who make up the Klamath Tribes, entered into an option agreement Dec. 18 to purchase the 90,000-acre Mazama Forest in south central Oregon near their tribal home of Chiloquin.

The forest was part of 1.2 million acres reserved for them in an 1864 treaty, but liquidated by Congress in 1954 during the now repudiated policies of the Termination Era. The tribe regained federal recognition in 1968 – but not their reservation.

"People have asked me, what will you do to get the land back? And I’ve told them, ‘whatever it takes,’" said Klamath tribal chairman Joe Kirk. "And now I’m excited." Two years ago the tribe asked the national conservation organization Trust for Public Lands for help in buying their land back. "They really beat the streets for us," said Kirk.

"The land is important to this wrongly terminated tribal nation," said Charles F. Sams, III, director of TPL’s Tribal and Native Lands Program. "It’s a major achievement in their long struggle back to cultural independence and economic self-reliance." The tribe plans to take ownership of the land this fall.

Not only will land provide the tribe with financial stability, "it’s a significant part of our spiritual and cultural identity," Kirk said. "There are culturally sensitive areas to take care of, that hopefully have not been lost to past activities."

The federal government will pay $21 million to cover part of the cost of the land, as part of the $1 billion Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, which includes the agreement last summer to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River, blamed for destroying salmon runs in the river and in the Pacific Ocean.

A handful of locals in the rural communities of the Klamath Basin don’t much like the plan. "Why should the taxpayers foot the bill to buy land to establish a separate country for the Klamath Tribes? Isn’t this fostering separatism, apartheid and racism?" asked a letter to the editor signed "we in the Basin Alliance."

And last August the group, who calls itself the Klamath Basin Alliance, Inc., placed a display ad in the local paper asking readers to sign a form that would reject the land agreement. The ad, which didn’t list any groups or people who make up the "Alliance," argued that the Klamath Tribes sold their reservation as "willing sellers," and they’ll get 92,000 acres of land bought with "taxpayer money."

But the ad was deceiving. The federal government is paying about two-thirds the cost of the yet to be appraised land. The Klamath Tribes is responsible for the rest.

In treaties with the United States, the Klamath peoples ceded 18 million acres of prime timber and farmland for guarantees in perpetuity of their sovereignty, a 2.2 million acre reservation, the protection of their natural resources, and social services that included health care, education, and housing.

By 1953, the tribe was nearly at an economic par with mainstream society. Tribal members didn’t receive land payments when they were terminated; instead they were paid for the value of the ponderosa pine on the land. The loss of land and social services for the tribe following termination is estimated well in excess of $200 million.

Racism and bigotry is hard for Kirk to understand. "I think we should maintain our identities, and emphasize our commonalties," he said. The tribe is looking to foster good will among the tribes’ non-supporters. "The tribe is the fourth largest employer in the county. It has a rippling effect. Say if our casino closed, folks working for the Pepsi plant would lose their jobs."

The tribe has developed a forest restoration and management plan for the Mazama Forest that will be a cornerstone for their economic development. Improving the health of the forest is a priority.

"Portions of the land have been over-harvested, and some hasn’t been managed well at all," Kirk said. The tribe plans to manage the forest in an environmentally sound manner to provide a steady supply of timber to their tribal enterprises planned at the tribes’ Giiwas Green Enterprise Park, 25 miles from Chiloquin.

First deaths from Ike in La.'s Terrebonne Parish Native communities

by Terri C. Hansen, Environment and Science Writer

News from Indian Country

Terrebonne Parish, La. -- Floodwaters produced by Hurricane Ike have proven devastating to the Franco-influenced Native American communities in southern Louisiana.

The first deaths caused by the hurricane were in the predominantly Native populated Terrebonne Parish. A 16-year-old Houma tribal citizen drowned on Saturday, September 13 in his Bayou Dularge home. The youth was found by his 24-year-old brother with his foot caught in a porch that apparently gave way, face down into the floodwaters. Authorities have not released his name.

Another Terrebonne resident, 52-year-old Donald Celestine was found Saturday morning with a broken neck from being blown into a pole by heavy winds.

The Terrebonne Parish, on the edge of the Louisiana delta is home to United Houma Nation, Pointe-au-Chien and Beloxi-Chitimacha tribal communities. Flooding was widely reported in coastal towns with largely Native populations. The National Guard has 150 guardsmen and a high water rescue vehicle in the parish. With the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard they responded to “a lot of calls” from citizens stranded in houses and rooftops in the towns of Dulac, Montegut, Chauvin and Theriot. 22 people were rescued.

Calls to Houma Nation sources Saturday and Sunday were unsuccessful. Houma Principal Chief Brenda Robichaux, who stayed during both Gustav and Ike, is blogging with a generator. On Saturday she wrote, “I don’t need news reports to tell me what is happening. We find ourselves with many of our communities totally covered with flood waters.” She said tribal citizens who remained in their homes told her that the flooding was worse than Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The degree of damage cannot be known until the flood waters recede. Wal-Mart has provided their community food and goods.

On Sunday, Robichaux wrote, "I am emtionally drained and look to Creator for strength and guidance to get through these difficult times."

Charles Verdin, chief of the Pointe-au-Chien tribe in Montegut was surprised when his telephone rang. “We’ve had service off and on,” he said. Their community was completely flooded. “Gustav hit us bad. Now we have a whole new set of problems.”

Verdin said at least half of their 80 or so homes were damaged or destroyed, and their roads are flooded so the people who stayed can’t get into Houma for food and other relief help, though “most of my people evacuated to Houma. “Most of our people are fishermen, and their fishing areas are flooded.” But they won’t relocate, he said. “They’ll stay with nearby relatives, and rebuild their homes to put their families back in to.”

Just off the Pointe-au-Chien Bayou live the Beloxi-Chitimacha, on a narrow ridge of land called the Isle de Jean Charles. “Hurricane Gustav hit us with a left hook, and Ike got us with a right hook,” Chief Albert Naquin said. “We’re totally under water.” Ike was the worst hurricane they have experienced, he said, with 18 homes destroyed. All island residents evacuated to shelters in Houma, except for a 69-year-old man, “who survived the ordeal.”

Naquin’s attention now is focused on getting temporary housing from FEMA. He fears their response might be no.

The Governor’s office reported that the parish of St. Mary where the Chitimacha Tribe is located has 40 National Guardsmen and a high water rescue vehicle in the parish. The guardsmen conducted door-to-door searches and rescued 18 people, and 12 Military Police are assisting the local sheriff with security efforts.

Sherry Parfait, a Houma tribal member who grew up in Terrebonne Parish, said over the past 20 years the hurricanes had caused many of the Houmas to move inland but for some families, like her mom’s family in Dulac, “It’s just the laid-back, close-knit family lifestyle and their jobs in the seafood industry that keeps them where they are.”

Naquin used to agree. “Everything here is tied to the water,” he said. “The older ones are fishermen. Others work on boats or in the shipyard.” In 2000 the Army Corp of Engineers offered to relocate the community as a whole and move them into new homes, and provide a new community center. “That was before Katrina or Rita,” he said, “and only 80 percent of the community agreed.” The Corp required that 100 percent of the residents agree. “Now,” he says, “we need to strongly consider it if the Corp proposes it again.”

Coastal Terrebonne Parish is disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico, its waters lapping closer and closer to these communities over the years. It used to be that vast marshes and swamps blocked all but the worst storm surge coming off the Gulf of Mexico. Every two miles of healthy wetlands a storm travels though knocks down the storm surge by a foot. But the levees on the Mississippi River have gradually eroded the wetlands and to save and rebuild them, the river would have to be directed back into the delta.

A gap between levees in the Pointe-au-Chenes area has left these communities unprotected from floodwaters. When a plan to build a hurricane-protection system was stymied the Terrebonne levee district began building portions of the levee themselves, only to be stopped by a $24 million dollar lawsuit filed last May by the environmental group Save Our Wetlands, who claims their lawsuit could save more than 160,000 acres of wetlands.

They allege much of those wetlands would end up behind the levees and later be developed into subdivisions eventually destroyed by storms, similar to the levees that failed New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. In a letter to then Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a group of scientists said the project "will not only destroy wetlands, acting as a hurricane tidal-surge buffer," but would "promote development into low-lying areas extremely susceptible to hurricane tidal surges."

The United Houma Nation Relief Fund, set up after Katrina, is still active. To donate visit their website

United Houma Nation communities bear brunt of Gustav

By Terri Hansen, Today correspondent

TERREBONNE PARISH, La. – Hurricane Gustav hit rural Terrebonne Parish and the non-federally recognized United Houma Nation communities southwest of New Orleans the hardest, causing heavy damage before moving into St. Mary Parish and causing wind damage to the Chitimacha Reservation.

Chitimacha Chief Lonnie Martin said Sept. 3 that some power to the reservation was returning, and most of the residents who evacuated had returned. “A lot of trees are down and there are some roofs damaged but, thankfully, no flooding,” Martin said. The BIA provided federal relief with bottled water and “meals ready to eat,” or MREs, “which our police officers are distributing to the residents as we speak.”

Martin said the Houma tribal communities in Terrebonne received the brunt of the storm with high winds, tornado activity and flooding. Hurricane Gustav has been declared a “major disaster,” meaning those residents are eligible for federal funding for housing and recovery through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

That funding could include money for home repair, temporary housing and other recovery costs, although it was reported after hurricanes Katrina and Rita that they had difficulties accessing those funds.

Houma Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux blogged Sept. 3 that they were without power, but a generator enabled their communication by Internet.

Robichaux traveled to every Houma community that was accessible by car, reporting extensive damage with power lines and trees down. The most extensive damages were to the community of Dulac, where, she wrote, “we witnessed everything from minor wind damage to total loss of use, with most homes in need of major repairs.”

“It is unknown when the people will be allowed back home. The unavailability of re-entry causes a financial burden, which has great cause for concern – compared to an unplanned vacation with lodging, gas and eating expenses. It’s heartbreaking to see the Houma Nation community going through this again just three years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” Immediately after those storms hit, the Houmas’ situation was dreadful enough that the National Congress of American Indians rented a plane to fly local leaders over their communities ... and what they saw was nothing. At the time, Robichaux said, “people’s homes looked like they never existed; their homes were simply gone. They are all fishermen, and their boats were ashore, somewhere inland.”

The United Houma Nation Relief Fund, set up after Katrina, is still active. To donate, visit www.unitedhoumanation.org/?q=node/11.

Gustav hits Louisiana tribes

By Terri Hansen
Environment and Science Writer
Indian Country Today

Gulf Coast, La. - The eye of Hurricane Gustav slammed into Morgan City on the Louisiana Gulf coast about 30 miles southeast from Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana just after noon yesterday, causing heavy damage. The center of the storm then moved northwest directly into the Chitimacha Reservation at near 15 mph, with top winds of 105 mph. Damages to the reservation in Chareton, St. Mary Parish, have not been reported but early Monday morning power outages were reported throughout the parish. Tuesday morning telephone calls to their tribal police department were not answered nor was there voice mail, indicating a power outage there.

The National Weather Service in New Orleans upgraded a Flash Flood Watch to a critical Flood Warning for the entire parish of St. Mary in a bulletin issued at 9:30 p.m. Monday night. Marked Immediate Broadcast Requested, it warns residents, ;'Do not drive through flooded areas. Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles. Turn around and don't drown.'' Residents who stayed should stay tuned to NOAA Weather Radio, and local TV and radio stations.

Gustav made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 70 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extending out 200 miles. A tropical storm warning with possible hurricane conditions was still in effect for the area as of 4:30 p.m. Monday, with winds of 45 to 55 mph with gusts to around 75 mph, decreasing to 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph after midnight. The storm is forecast to weaken as it moves inland.

The Chitimacha tribe is in the bayous on the Gulf Coast in South Louisiana, 100 miles southeast of New Orleans. About 350 of their 900 tribal members live on the reservation. The tribal council ordered a mandatory evacuation Sunday morning, and buses were provided to evacuate those with no transportation, tribal police Officer Ellen Hebert said. About 60 to 70 percent left and of those who stayed, ''They're on their own. We have no shelters open.'' Tribal members who refused to leave were told to ''bunk down; you're on your own. We will get to you as soon as it's safe to get back on the streets, after we assess damage and make evaluations.''

The tribal police force of 22 officers stayed, as did the fire department. ''We've secured the casino, and boarded up the government buildings,'' tribal firefighter Earl Tyler said Sunday, who had ''strongly'' suggested tribal members leave. The school and an assisted living center were potential shelters after the hurricane passed, though the extent of the damages is not yet known. Nor is it known when residents can safely return.

The hurricane wind warning was downgraded to a tropical storm warning as of Monday night, but a Flash Flood Warning for the inland Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana is in effect until 3 p.m. Tuesday, and a Flash Flood Watch is in effect for the further inland Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana until Tuesday afternoon. Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms are expected over the central Gulf coast, with tornados still possible. Gustav is expected to slow significantly, causing major flooding Tuesday and Wednesday across inland Louisiana, parts of Texas, and southern Arkansas.

Disappearance of indigenous baby boys tied to industrial pollution

By Terri C. Hansen
Environment and Science Reporter

In indigenous communities, babies that should be born boys are being born girls. Research released this month of only girls being born in the villages of northern Greenland has brought to light earlier studies that found indigenous mothers living in the northern most reaches of the Arctic Circle are having girls – but not boys. The studies linked the skewed sex ratios with human exposures to PCBs and other persistent organic chemicals.

The Indigenous Peoples Organization initiated the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program project in 2004, following a report that some Arctic indigenous communities are among the most exposed populations to persistent toxic substances.

The AMAP report concluded, “Any threat to continued consumption of their foods, including chemical contamination, is not only a potential threat to the health of the individual, but also to the social structures and entire cultural identity of these indigenous peoples.”

Toxic pollutants travel from industrialized countries and accumulate in the marine food chain of the Arctic region, and in the traditional diet of indigenous peoples. Blood levels of such pollutants as PCBs and mercury were several times higher in residents of Arctic Canada and Greenland than measured in residents of industrialized areas of North America.

Perhaps an even darker legacy of the industrial contamination is what has happened to the baby boys in Canada on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, an Aanishinaabek community.

Normally about 106 boys are born for every 100 girls – it’s nature’s way of compensating for males more likely to perish through hunting and conflicts. For years, scientists have been reporting declines in male births worldwide. But the most startling is the sharp drop of boys among the Aanishinaabek of Aamjiwnaang, “a greater rate of change than has been reported previously anywhere,” noted a 2005 study that was published in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

It’s the kind of attention the 850 members of their community never wanted. They could not even conceive what was happening, least of all in their tiny community. Their pain and their questions began five years ago, when the biologist Michael Gilbertson, upon finding elevated levels of PCBs, pesticides and heavy metals on the reserve asked if they had more girls than boys.

Tribal members were first baffled, and then aghast following the realization that yes, they had enough girls for three baseball teams, but not enough boys for even one team. They began to take pay attention. Their anger soon turned to action.

An accidental catalyst release from the Imperial Oil facility in 2002 had prompted Imperial Oil to sample their homes. Then they cleaned tribal homes inside and out. They even cleaned the cars inside and out. Don’t worry, they told tribal member Ron Plain while stirring up dust as they cleaned. “The dust won’t hurt you.”

But Plain did worry, asking incredulously, “If it’s harmful to our houses and cars, what’s it doing to our lungs and our bodies?” Plain and other tribal members began organizing their own environmental investigative committee, a grassroots effort. Meanwhile Imperial Oil offered $300 to each homeowner if they agreed to waive any damages and legal counsel, and many accepted their offer. Last year the company paid $125,000 in fines.

The Aamjiwnaang environmental investigation team uncovered studies done of their lands years before. One scientific report by the University of Windsor in 1986, showed that mercury, a neurotoxin, was present on their reserve at a 100 times greater amount than the Severe Effect Level, set by the Canadian government.

Soon after Sun Oil – now Suncor – announced they planned to build the largest ethanol plant in Canada across the street from the tribal community. Plain and other members of the tribal environmental committee, angry and fed up, closed their roads. For six weeks, they cut off access to the proposed site. Sun Oil trucks could not get through.

“We won,” says Plain. “They agreed not to put the plant in. We shut down a multi-million dollar industry.” The battle had begun.

The Aanishinaabek people of the Aamjiwnaang have occupied their lands at the southernmost tip of Lake Huron for thousands of years, long before the discovery of oil and the boom “oil rush.” Their homelands are integral to their social structure and their entire cultural identity. Today their land, at the border between Ontario and Michigan just south of Sarnia, Ontario lies in the shadow of Canada’s largest concentration of petrochemical and manufacturing facilities. It’s been dubbed “Chemical Valley.” Their land adjoins the St. Clair River Area of Concern, so designated because of its long history of air and water pollution.

Two new reports this month are a dramatic indictment of the industry’s impact on the Aamjiwnaang community. “Exposing Canada’s Chemical Valley,” identifies 62 facilities in Canada and the U.S. that have made the area Ontario’s worst air pollution hotspot. Particularly striking, says Ecojustice Canada, who commissioned the study, is the staggering amount of toxic pollutants released.

“What is particularly striking about the air pollution in the Sarnia area is the immense quantity of toxic chemicals emitted,” said Ecojustice senior scientist and report author Dr. Elaine McDonald. “There is growing evidence that the health of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation members and the local environment has been severely compromised.”

New findings from researchers at Ontario's IntrAmericas Centre for Environment and Health confirm that more girls than boys are born in some Canadian communities. The cause of the phenomenon is airborne pollutants called dioxins that can alter normal sex ratios, even when the source of the pollution is kilometers away.

Industry spokesmen failed to respond to the Ecojustice Canada report, while the industry-funded Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association initially responded with no comment. Following their period of silence, the association’s Dean Edwardson was quoted as saying, “We want an open and transparent process…something that is scientifically valid, peer-reviewed and is meaningful.” He said industry would help pay for such a study.

But Plain says there has already been a scientifically valid, peer-reviewed study done. “The 2005 study was reviewed by top scientists and was published in the highly regarded scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives."

Edwardson said data released in September from the County of Lambton Community Health Services Department shows that the birth ratios of the Sarnia-Lambton area are similar to those for the rest of Ontario. To that, Plain answers, “For years, we have been asking the County of Lambton for a research program establishing the birth ratios by affected regions as opposed to the blanket wide study where those farthest from the plume are blended into the ratio.” So far, the county has refused, he said.

The findings by Ecojustice Canada reveal pollutants are having significant impacts on the cultural lifeways of the Aanishinaabek, impacting hunting, fishing, medicine gathering, and ceremonial activities.

The Aanishinaabek have reported chemical releases and spills as a primary concern. Their most common concern, however, was fear.

For more information on these reports: Exposing Canada's Chemical Valley

www.ecojustice.ca/reports/chemicalvalley_oct2007.pdg

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, http://www.amap.no/

Yakama Nation buys Lyle Point, ending decades-long struggle over fishing rights

By Terri C. Hansen
High Country News

LYLE, WASHINGTON

On maps it is called Lyle Point, but to tribal fishing people it has always been Nanainmi Waki Uulktt, “the place where the wind blows from two directions.”

The rocky promontory overlooks the confluence of the Klickitat and Columbia rivers, providing spectacular views of the Columbia River Gorge as it cuts through the Cascade Range. To the west, Oregon’s Mount Hood stands sentinel over magnificent canyon walls rising to 4,000 feet above the river.

The gorge was the center of trade for tribes from the Plains to the Pacific. Lyle Point was home to a Cascade and Klickitat village, and provided an important fishery and meeting place for over 10,000 years. But like many tribal lands in the Northwest, it was lost when white immigrants moved to the area in the mid-1800s. The drowning of Celilo Falls, another traditional tribal fishing place, under the waters of The Dalles Dam 50 years ago was a further blow. Now, at least one of those lost fishing grounds will be restored to the tribes that once depended on it. On May 8, the Yakama Nation announced the $2.4 million acquisition of Lyle Point from the Trust for Public Land, ending a long-simmering battle with would-be developers.

“This is a great day for the Yakamas — to get the land returned back for access to our fishing right areas,” announced Yakama Tribal Council Chairwoman Lavina Washines. “The younger generation will continue to exercise their Creator-given right to our very important salmon.”

The same winds that made Lyle Point a primary salmon-drying area for thousands of years also made it a world-class windsurfing mecca in the late 1980s. Klickitat County approved a 33-lot subdivision in 1992, threatening to turn the area into a gated community.

Yakama Margaret Saluskin was the first to raise the alarm about the subdivision plans. One day while she was drying salmon that her husband, Douglas, caught at Lyle Point, she noticed bulldozers carving the first roads into the promontory. Protests by tribal members and environmentalists swiftly ensued. When vandals destroyed a fishing scaffold at the point, the protesters began a nine-month encampment on the site. The tribe’s access to traditional scaffold fishing, protected by the Treaty of 1855, was at stake, Saluskin said.

Conservation groups joined the protest, saying Lyle Point was a resting place for bald eagles. The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit specializing in conservation of real estate, began negotiations to purchase Lyle Point and held discussions with tribal members about ways to protect and manage the sacred site.

By 2002, the trust had purchased most of the lots, paving the way for conveyance to the Yakama. But tribal councils could not reach a consensus until the current administration, led by Washines, accomplished the acquisition.

Word spread like wildfire among Columbia River tribal peoples when the land deal finally became official. Nearly 200 tribal members and their supporters gathered at the point on May 15 to celebrate their long-awaited victory.

“Today marks the return and protection of sacred land,” said Charles F. Sams III, director of the trust’s Tribal and Native Lands Program and a member of the Cocopah, Payuse and Assinoboine Sioux tribes. “My grandfather took me up and down the river and showed me what we had lost. He told me I had a responsibility to the People, and to the salmon, to ensure their existence so they would continue to feed the People.”

Some visibly struggled to maintain composure as memories were brought to life. “We fought for this,” Cascade Chief Wilbur Slockish said. “It almost came to actual blows! So they can recreate? Make money, and windsurf? It was because we were standing in the way of economic progress. Progress.”

He brought out a chuckle when he told the crowd, “Progress always involves our homes, our cemeteries, our fishing grounds. There would have been coffee shops, cheese shops, wine tasting here.”

In 1945, Nisqually Billy Frank Jr. was arrested at age 14 for illegal fishing, starting a fight with the state of Washington that culminated in the 1974 Boldt decision affirming tribal fishing rights as reserved in treaties with the United States. “When I started singing today, I started thinking about all my partners,” he said. “All the good times here. All the bad times.” He paused in reflection. “I’m happy to be here to witness this great occasion. It feels good.”

Even as the tribes and the Trust for Public Land celebrate, the nearby town remains divided. There are those who still hope to see Lyle Point developed. “We need the tax basis for schools and fire departments and so forth,” resident Don Smith said. Others, like Pam Essling, support the return of the land to the Yakama. “We honor the historical, cultural and spiritual significance of this place,” she said. “We’re here to congratulate the Yakama people for reacquiring their land to preserve, protect and enhance their cultural and natural resources for all people. It can be a place for healing old wounds and misunderstanding.”

The purchase of Lyle Point ensures that thousands of years of tradition will continue along the river. Supporters from nearby communities will continue to be invited to tribal gatherings and feasts, Yakama leaders say, aiding cultural understanding and reconciliation.

After those who’d gathered finished a dinner of salmon and dried venison, Margaret Saluskin, who had fought so long and so hard, said with a peaceful smile, “Whatever you had in your hearts and minds for saving this land where the wind blows two ways, I want to thank you.”

© High Country News 2007