Tribe tries to stop logging operation
Caddo Nation says area possibly site of burial ground
Sam Lewin 6/6/2005
An Oklahoma Tribe and local Native American environmental group have launched a new effort to protect what they say will be the negative consequences of logging in Lake Atoka.
The lake is located about 100 miles southeast of Oklahoma City and is surrounded by thousands of acres of ancient oak, pine, and oak-pine woodlands. Conservationists say many of the woodlands have never been logged, and are home to undisturbed forests dominated by 200- to 400-year-old trees.
Natives fear that the area possibly contains sacred burial grounds.
A plan to log in Lake Atoka has drawn fire from the Binger-based Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Indian Nations Audubon Society, with both groups maintaining that timber harvesting would “result in catastrophic environmental damage.”
To thwart a recently-approved plan to log at the lake, the two organizations have instead submitted a proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that calls for a management plan to protect both Bald Eagles and endangered Red Cockaded Woodpeckers living in the region.
"To damage a natural feature without regard to future generations of Oklahomans is not wise. To destroy the last example of a major forest type that once named a region that crossed three states goes far beyond lack of foresight. Harvesting the commercial timber from the old-growth pine/oak of the Cross Timbers Forest is not the highest and best use of this area. Replacing this resource, if possible, would take several lifetimes,” said Indian Nations Audubon Society President Jim Harman.
The Lake Atoka Reservoir Association, a branch of the Oklahoma City government, approved in March a plan to start accepting bids to log the area.
“I've seen numerous forest areas harvested, and I understand the need for lumber. But, I've never seen a cut over forest that was a better place than it was before harvest. We should think about the result before we act because it won't be rebuilt in our lifetime,” stated Donald G. Varner, Ph.D., also with Indian Nations Audubon Society.
The Caddo Nation is also protesting moves to harvest timber near the lake, saying that the property is part of an unsettled land claim, and that logging could potentially jeopardize cultural property.
“Lake Atoka and its watershed are lands of an unsettled land claim by the Caddo Nation, and by federal law, we must be a consulting party to this logging project. The Lake Atoka watershed is our Traditional Cultural Property by federal law. Logging Lake Atoka’s unaltered, pristine woods would be a monumental disservice to watershed management and to the conservation interests of the people of Oklahoma,” said Caddo Chairwoman LaRue Parker. “Lake Atoka has many known Caddo archaeological sites including Caddo burial grounds. Oklahoma City has not filed a Burial Protection Plan with the tribe. Federal regulations require independent tribal surveys of the archaeological, environmental, and historical areas prior to logging.”
Parker said a skull found near the lake in 1996 is further indication of the likelihood that there is a burial site in the area.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett is a member of the Lake Atoka Reservoir Association. A spokesman did not immediately return a request from the Native American Times for comment, but Cornett’s position is spelled out in a letter he wrote back in April to an opponent of the timber harvesting plan.
He calls the logging an “Erosion Control” program and says the “select cut pilot project will include only 310 acres out of the 15,8000 acres” at the lake.
Cornett’s letter does not make any mention of the concerns held by the Caddo Nation.
NTN Article#: 6555
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Last updated on June 08, 2005