[env-trinity] Two Rivers Tribune- Access Hoopa

[Tom Stokely]

Access Hoopa
http://www.tworiverstribune.com/2012/01/access-hoopa/ 


The Telescope illegal dumpsite is one of many on the reservation leading officials to consider gating reservation roads. / TRT file photo.

Tribe Discusses Options to Protect Land
By Allie Hostler, Two Rivers Tribune

The Hoopa Valley Tribe is discussing options to protect its land and resources from continued degradation.

After posting no trespassing signs and locking a gate at the Tish Tang river access point, tribal representatives were inundated with calls from concerned river users, mostly fishing guides who were caught off guard about the closure.

“I’m concerned about the way this happened,” Hoopa Valley Tribal Vice Chairman, Byron Nelson said. “A lot of other things are involved that were not considered.”

Tribal Forestry Director, Darin Jarnaghan was asked by the Tribal Chairman, Leonard Masten, to create the signs and post them at eight river access locations throughout the reservation. The signs went up over a month ago and they remain up despite some councilmembers’ concerns that they were not notified about the closure.

During a meeting last week amongst the Tribe’s natural resources staff and councilmembers, it was decided that an informal committee be formed to discuss short and long term solutions. Jarnaghan is taking the lead on short term solutions and the Director of the Fisheries Program, Mike Orcutt is taking the lead on long-term solutions for recreational fishing on the reservation. A meeting is scheduled this week to continue the discussion.

The problems are not limited to river access areas, but also include the mountainous areas where garbage dumping habitually occurs and tribal resources are exploited by non-tribal members.

“The gating of arterial roads has been a last resort to a costly continuous effort to curtail illegal dumping within reservation boundaries,” said Ken Norton, Director of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Environmental Protection Agency (TEPA). “It’s very simple: when access is restricted, illegal dumping and its associated health hazards are eliminated.”

TEPA has already gated five reservation roads at Telescope, Powerline, Deerhorn, Hostler Creek and Soctish Creek. Norton said that because of their site specific characteristics, the gates on Deerhorn and Telescope roads have had the most positive effects.

Deerhorn is located on the outskirts of the reservation and is seldom patrolled, making it a prime location for illegal dumpers. Telescope Road has a dumpsite that was cleaned by TEPA a total of four times. They’ve cleaned household chemicals, hypodermic needles, refrigerators, car batteries and animal carcasses at the Telescope site. Norton said EPA funds have been exhausted to clean the site with each cleaning costing as much as $30,000.

The problems vary from vandalism, garbage dumping, illegal firewood cutting and poaching by non-tribal members.

Also, TEPA recently received $15,500, to complete phase one cleanup of an illegal marijuana grow in the Mill Creek drainage. Norton said they will need to manually carry out things like fertilizers, pesticides, plastics, litter and gasoline from the grow site that was busted in 2010. They must also ensure the items are properly disposed of.

Another grow site in the Supply Creek drainage produced larger scale damage to the resources themselves. “They terraced an entire mountainside,” Hoopa Valley Tribal Police Chief, Bob Kane said. “There’s a whole other layer of cost to this.”

Although the Tribe’s staff does not recommend gating the arterial roads of the reservation, such as Supply Creek, or Dowd Road, some do recommend gating the smaller roads in an effort to reduce abuse. Each gate would cost about $2,500 to purchase and install.

Part of the long-term solution discussed was to identify funding to employ full-time compliance, or resource officers. Councilmember, Ryan Jackson said there is already funding being received by the Tribe for that purpose, however there is currently no resource officer employed.

Councilmember Joseph LeMieux formerly worked as a resource officer for the Tribe, patrolling more than 500 miles of roads on a regular basis. LeMieux said he is a strong supporter of having more resource officers patrolling the reservation.
Tribal Attorney, Mary Jane Risling asked about the tribe’s solid waste coalition that is currently not active. An effort to revive that coalition was suggested by Risling.

Carl Smith from the Hoopa Wildland Fire Department said that if gates are installed the fire department needs full access, preferably with a master key system they could equip their fire engines and vehicles with. They also need the gates to be wide enough to fit equipment through, as large heavy equipment is often used when battling forest fires.

Willow Creek based fishing guide, Ed Duggan suggests a permit structure be developed for river access. He says fishing guides are accustomed to paying about $100 for a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) permit and $95 for a USFS permit.

“We’re willing to pay for a tribal permit. Something around $25-$50 for an annual permit.”

He explained that a BLM permit grants them access to about 40 miles of river, and a USFS permit grants them access to over 300 miles of river. A tribal permit would allow access to 12 miles of river.

Below is a complete statement issued by the Hoopa Tribe last week:

The Hoopa Valley Tribe is a federally recognized Indian Tribe with sovereign authority over its territory, including all lands within the boundaries of the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. This authority includes both the right and responsibility to manage and regulate these lands for the benefit of the tribe and to meet our sacred duty to our aboriginal territory.

In recent years the tribe has been confronted with increasingly disrespectful and destructive conduct by users of tribal lands and resources. This includes repeated incidents of illegal dumping, theft of resources, habitat destruction, contamination of lands and waterways, and other public offenses.

In response to what has reached an emergency level, action has been taken to restrict access via posting of designated roads and river access locations, together with the installation of gates in some instances.

The issues involved in addressing the problems that have required this action are broad and, in many respects, complex. The Hoopa Valley Tribe is engaged in ongoing initiatives to address these issues and to implement regulatory systems that will allow respectful access to tribal lands and waterways, by tribal members and ultimately nonmembers as well. Relative to gated river access, on an immediate basis the Hoopa Tribal Forestry Department is coordinating tribal initiatives to finalize regulatory processes that may allow for permitted access. Be assured, the Hoopa Valley Tribe takes these issues very seriously and is engaged in a comprehensive effort to address them. As an example, our tribal fisheries department is coordinating tribal initiatives to negotiate with the state of California to implement tribal fishing licenses as one possibility for facilitating access of nonmembers to waterways within the reservation.

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