09/20/2005

Associated Press

A proposal to compensate the Spokane Tribe of Indians for land flooded by the Grand Coulee Dam has raised the ire of Lincoln County elected officials and property owners, who claim they were not consulted.

The plan pushed by Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., would pay the tribe tens of millions of dollars and transfer management of land south of the Spokane River to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The bill recently was passed by the U.S. House without debate and awaits Senate action.

A similar agreement was reached with the Colville Confederated Tribes in 1994. Both tribes have reservations abutting Lake Roosevelt, the sprawling reservoir behind the dam.

In exchange for a change in management of the land, the Spokanes said they would accept about 29 percent of what the Colvilles were given in 1994 — $53 million up front and millions more each year.

"We want to be good neighbors," Spokane tribal Chairman Greg Abrahamson said.

During a special meeting with members of McMorris' staff on Monday, Lincoln County Commission Chairman Ted Hopkins said there are concerns that Congress needs to know about. "We want to be part of the process," he said.

The land near where the Spokane River flows into the Columbia River has been held in trust for the tribe since it was promised to the tribe in an 1881 federal order, tribal attorney Howard Funke said.

In many other Indian treaties, a tribe was given rights only to the midpoint of a stream, but the Spokanes claim the beds and banks of the Spokane River, Funke said.

The 2,300-member tribe has been negotiating off and on for compensation since the dam was completed in 1940, flooding tribal lands. A tribal delegation was in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 7, 1941, when the talks were put off by World War II.

Under the plan approved by the U.S. House, management of the tribal trust land would change.

Day-to-day management would remain with the National Park Service, but the tribe, through the BIA, would have more say on the way it was managed.

"It's not like the tribe is saying 'We're going to serve it up for our own purposes,'" Funke said. "The tribe will not deny shoreline access."

Lincoln County Attorney Ron Shepherd said he worries about who will have jurisdiction over any future crimes that occur on the land. Landowners who aren't part of the tribe said they worry about losing rights, property value and access to the lake.

McMorris' legislative director, Jack Silzell, acknowledged her staff should have involved local officials and landowners in the settlement talks.

Although a memorandum of understanding must be worked out to cover the change in management of the land, neither the county nor its residents are guaranteed to be part of that.

"We just don't want our rights taken away from us," county resident Dick Miller said.

Abrahamson disputed a suggestion that land values will go down and said the tribe is willing to discuss everything relating to the transfer.

"We're here to be friendly," he said. "Every entity the tribe has dealt with, we've come up with an agreement."

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesmanreview.com