American Indian Advisory Council to help in management of Black Hills

Posted: March 04, 2005
by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today

CRAZY HORSE, S.D. - Plans for a Tribal Leaders Advisory Council to work with the National Forest Service are moving forward and memorandums of agreement will be signed in the near future so tribes will have input on the management and protection of sacred sites within their ancestral lands.

The Black Hills Forest Service brought tribal leaders, elders and officials together with National Forest Service personnel to discuss the prospect of an advisory council. More consultation will take place to work out the details.

A policy for an advisory council has been written for the Black Hills and on the national level, but neither policy has been set in stone and both are up for more discussion and input.

No detailed discussions took place at the Feb. 22 - 23 gathering, but the ideas presented by tribal elders, leaders and officials brought a more in-depth understanding of the challenges that must be overcome to create the MOA and a policy.

Conference attendees generally favored creating an MOA to form the council, but the waters became muddied when it came to deciding who would be appointed and the council's policy.

''Looking for something ... 'one size fits all' may be difficult,'' said Charles Colombe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe president.

The council could range from young people to elders, from elected officials to spiritual leaders. One goal may be difficult: keeping the council a manageable size. Colombe said the Rosebud Treaty Council is important in decision-making for the tribal government and should have input for the council. Sinte Gleska University is part of the Rosebud Reservation's overall climate and, like many other tribal colleges and universities, could offer any council quality input.

The Black Hills National Forest Service made its first attempt to include the tribal communities in 1999; bi-annual meetings took place with 14 tribal governments, and an MOA was written. The MOA wording today is flexible and a blank page could be presented to start from scratch, said Dave McKee, tribal liaison with the Black Hills National Forest Service.

Any MOA and advisory council will tackle numerous issues: timber sales, identification of cultural sites, proscribed burning, sale and gathering of herbs and plants, traditional plant identification and hunting and public access. Tim Mentz, Tribal Historic Preservation officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said it was imperative that confidentiality be protected so location and use of certain herbs and plants are not made public. Another sticking point is that Freedom of Information Act requests could uncover details that tribal spiritual leaders and medicine people try to keep quiet.

Consultation is complex and challenges to meaningful consultation could be alleviated with a well-conceived MOA, tribal and forest officials agreed.

''There is an inconsistent consultation process; everyone does it different, and I also feel the frustration. We can develop a consistent process of consultation or borrow ideas. Consistency is the key,'' McKee said.

Concerned about the level of consultation, Mentz asked whether former President Bill Clinton's executive order directing consultation at the government-to-government level was to be used. The question puzzled the Forest Service also. McKee said he hoped designated tribal members on the advisory council would provide the answer.

By virtue of the treaty of 1868, the Sioux Nation retained timber, water and rights to hunting and gathering, as do other tribes across the nation. With input on the mission of an advisory council, nationally and locally, those rights could be exercised fully.

Some culturally important sites in the Black Hills have been off-limits to the general public and tribal members. A canyon containing petroglyphs has been used as a ceremonial site, but youth and elders were turned away in recent trips to the canyon. Policy changes to allow tribal members access to sacred and cultural sites is a goal of the tribal members, and many said an advisory council could help bring that about.

This meeting and others like it add to tribal members' healing process, which will see a flood of people, elders, youth and elected tribal leaders working toward the preservation of culture and sacred sites across the country.

''This reflects dialogue and input the national team received across the nation. We heard the establishment of a national council would go a long way to healing,'' said Mit Parsons, special assistant to the deputy chief of the State and Private Forest Service division of the National Forest Service. ''It will take some courage for tribes to sign a memorandum of understanding, and it will take some courage for the Forest Service. It will require real thinking outside the box.

''What you do here will be followed nationally; how significant, when you have the Black Hills with so many tribes from such a [wide] geographic area. I'm hoping that we will hear miles from here that the MOU is signed and in place. I don't see why nationally this couldn't be a role model.''

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Last updated on March 05, 2005