New law to let tribes expand tree-thinning

By SUSAN GALLAGHER
The Associated Press

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The legislation, which President Bush signed this week, creates a framework for tribes to work with the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management on proposals to reduce trees and brush along tribal-federal boundaries.

"Fires have a tendency to get rolling, and when they build a head of steam, it doesn't matter what the (land) ownership pattern is," Mike LeBrun, a forester for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Billings, said yesterday. "They're going to go right over the line."

That's what occurred last year in parts of the West.

California fires that advanced from federal land last fall swept onto 11 Indian reservations, where they burned 30,000 acres, said Adam Vogt, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. She and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., sponsored House Resolution 3846, which Bush signed Thursday.

Offered as the Tribal Forest Protection Act, it has been likened to the 2003 law that expanded Forest Service authority to thin trees. That law also was promoted as a way to lessen fire risk.

The new measure will "put logs in the log yard and create jobs on the reservation," said Barrett Kaiser, a spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. "It's an important economic-development tool for the tribes."

Those undertaking forest projects may be paid or receive trees that are cut in compliance with restrictions on tree size and age.

Federal officials will consider treaty rights and cultural affiliation with the land as they weigh which tribal proposals to approve.

The Forest Service already had a few tribal stewardship contracts before the legislation was passed. They included one between Ottawa National Forest and the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, in Michigan.

The contract called for thinning some stands of red pine trees. In return, the Lac Vieux Desert Band was to receive the trees for use in constructing a building for spiritual ceremonies.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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