Natural Resources Subcommittee

Report for May 2009

Subcommittee Members

• Brooklyn D. Baptiste, Chairman
• McCoy Oatman, Vice Chairman
• Julia A. Davis-Wheeler
• Tonia B. Garcia
• Joanna F. Marek
• Joel T. Moffett
• Larry M. Greene Jr.
• Rebecca A. Miles
• Shirley McCormack - staff assistant

Liaisons

• Cultural Resources - Brooklyn D. Baptiste, Joanna F. Marek, McCoy Oatman, Larry M. Greene Jr.
• In-Lieu Site/Treaty Access Fishing Sites - Rebecca A. Miles, Joel T. Moffett, Tonia B. Garcia, Larry M. Greene Jr.
• Hells Canyon - Rebecca A. Miles, Tonia B. Garcia, Joanna F. Marek
• Inter-Tribal Bison Cooperative - Larry M. Greene Jr., Delegate; Joel T. Moffett, Alternate; Julia A. Davis-Wheeler
• CERT - Joanna F. Marek, Tonia B. Garcia, Larry M. Greene Jr., Joel T. Moffett
• Inter Tribal Timber Council - Rebecca A. Miles, Delegate; McCoy Oatman, Alternate; Larry M. Greene Jr.
• ERWM - Rebecca A. Miles, Brooklyn D. Baptiste, Larry M. Greene Jr., Tonia B. Garcia
• Emergency Response Team - McCoy Oatman, Larry M. Greene Jr., Julia A. Davis-Wheeler
• CRITFC Officer - Rebecca A. Miles
• Utility Board - Julia A. Davis-Wheeler, Tonia B. Garcia, Larry M. Greene Jr.
• FERC - Brooklyn D. Baptiste, Rebecca A. Miles, Joel T. Moffett, Larry M. Greene Jr., Tonia B. Garcia, McCoy Oatman
• FARR - Joanna F. Marek, Rebecca A. Miles

CRITFC:    

Meeting Dates

The Natural Resources Subcommittee meets every first and third Tuesdays of the month at 8:30 am to 12:00 pm.  (Open to Tribal members).

Vision

To strive toward developing and improving governmental services, exercising and protecting tribal sovereignty and treaty rights, improving and maintaining the Nez Perce way of life.

Goals

Expand and protect our precious natural resources, which are fundamental to who we are as a people, including an expanded land base, access to traditional resources, and the protection of the vast family of fish, birds, vegetation and wildlife which depend on the health of an environment.

Program Components

Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Department of Natural Resources Administration, Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Committee, Environmental Restoration & Waste Management, Forestry, Water Resources, Wildlife, Land Services and Cultural Resources.

Accomplishments

• The Natural Resource Subcommittee has met in regular sessions with all of the program components and have had many federal and state agencies at the table to discuss a number of issues concerning the Tribe.
• The Department of Fisheries Management has been very active in their struggle to maintain and restore the many species of endangered fish as well as the habitat that protects them.
• Throughout the last several months, Fisheries has been engaged in numerous projects that have been approved at the Natural Resource Subcommittee and then ratified at the full NPTEC.
• From culvert replacement to riparian buffer zones, the Fisheries Department has strived to improve habitat and the quality of water that would sustain those endangered watersheds.
• The Fisheries Program also plays a key role in Columbia river issues and how they relate to the many federal and state policy working groups.
• The Pacific Lamprey (eel) is another species that has become threatened and will continue to be one of the Fisheries Programs key objectives in recovery.
• the Tourism Department has just finished the Nez Perce Tribe's signature event.  This event took many long hours of meetings in the subcommittee as well as many other locations to facilitate the needs of this particular event.  The subcommittee did meet with many of the partners who provided the funding as well as housing the larger amount of people that it took to engage each particular event.  This event provided a more diverse view of the Nez Perce Tribe as well as how the membership live to this day.
• The Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ERWM) Program provides a key resource to the Tribe by actively providing not only the technical expertise but also the many cultural aspect to waste clean-up and preservation on the Hanford Nuclear Site.  The ERWM program has also provided to the subcommittee insights to a number of growing problems to the policy related issues.  Through the programs "end Vision Statement," they have provided the Tribe with the ability to pilot that restoration effort.
• The Forestry Program continues to actively manage the Tribes valuable timber resources and provide healthier forests for the Tribal membership.  The Forestry Program has brought fort many contracts for reforestation and thinning project across the reservations many Tribal units.
• The program has implemented through the Natural Resource Subcommittee, many forestry initiatives and practices that will eventually benefit our children and their future.
• The Water Resource Program has been in constant contact with the subcommittee on pending issues like the waste treatment facility and other urban water projects.  Through the departments efforts, the Water Resources has built a strong record for the environmental troubles the Tribe faces. They have also pushed through the subcommittee a number of contracts that will help build the Tribe in to a more self sufficient entity.
• The program has also brought forth a number of key policy related issues in front of the subcommittee.  They have been in working with the federal agencies in order to maintain that trust responsibility and secure that funding needed to ensure a better water quality resource for the Tribe.
• The Wildlife Program which is charged with the responsibility of maintaining the Nez Perce Tribe's enormous wildlife population as well as protection of those resources has been busy with the continued wolf recovery and now the big horn sheep recovery efforts.  The program works with many state and federal agencies in achieving this recovery effort and brings these important key players to the Natural Resource Subcommittee for discussion and review.  They are actively involved in habitat restoration and are currently working with other natural resource programs to achieve a higher level of management for the Tribe.
• The Cultural Resource Program has also been that key resource to the subcommittee on repatriation issues and many other tribally involved topics.  The program has had many contracts pass through the subcommittee but also serves as the vehicle for the Nez Perce Tribe to assert historical and cultural presence to many of these federal agencies.  They are currently working with the Army Corp of Engineers on a large number or repatriation issues.  The program works with other tribes to facilitate these large amounts of repatriations and hopes to continues these relationships in the future.
• The Natural Resource Subcommittee has met with several federal agencies in the chambers as well as a number of state organization to better the Nez Perce Tribe's position as a major influence in the region.
• The subcommittee strives to work with the Tribe's programs as well as the Fish and Wildlife Commission in order to maintain a good working relationship which will provide the Tribe, as a whole, a better environment.