The Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1995 A Confluence of sovereignty and conformity : the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness Diane L. Krahe The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Krahe, Diane L., "A Confluence of sovereignty and conformity : the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness" (1995). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 8956. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/8956 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A CONFLUENCE OF SOVEREIGNTY AND CONFORMITY: THE MISSION MOUNTAINS TRIBAL WILDERNESS by Diane L Krahe BA Bridgewater College, 1986 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science The University of Montana 1995 Approved by; Chairperson Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP39757 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMT OiSiMflAtion Pubiishrig UMI EP39757 Published by ProQuest LLC (2013). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code uesf ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Krahe, Diane L, M.S., December 1995 Environmental Studies A Confluence of Sovereignty and Conformity: The Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness (157 pp.) Director ^ n L Flores Today, Montana's Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness stands alone as the only alpine wilderness designation on an American Indian reservation. But in the 1930s, the west slope of the Mission Range was just one of 16 tribaHy-owned areas throughout the West deemed *Yoadless" by Indian Affairs (Commissioner John Collier and his chief forester, wOdemess advocate Bob Marshall. This singular policy, imposed without tribal consultation, kept neariy five million acres of private Indian land off limits to development for over 20 years. The dozen tribes affected by these restrictions finally protested when eariy versions of what would become the Wilderness Act of 1964 proposed that these roadless areas be included in a national system of wilderness protected in perpetuity. Indians successfully lobbied Congress to drop reservation lands from the wilderness bill, and all but one of the tribes saddled with roadless designations effectively demanded their declassification. In 1982, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation created their own independent wilderness area of 90,000 acres, from what was left - after two decades of intensive timber harvest on the most accessible slopes - of the former 125,000-acre Mission Range Roadless Area. Logging threats to the most scenic Mission slopes prompted the designation. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai value the Mission Mountains largely for aesthetic reasons and for the intrinsic worth of the range's wildlife, trees and water. Original, innovative policies of their tribal wilderness management plan reflect these and other culturally-spedfic priorities. But true to their cultural affinity to borrow and adapt, the Tribes model the Mission Mountains Tribal Wilderness after the federal law that ordains the preservation of sublime, untrammeled landscapes. This American ideal has little traditional grounding to these Indian people whose ancestors did not separate themselves from the land, for the good of the land or the good of the people. Our nation's first Indian wilderness embodies a mix of forces within this one native community - tribal economics, politics, culture, and spirituality, as well as environmentalism - all of which remain influenced by, if not entrenched in, dominant society. 11 Acknowledgments I extend many and varied thanks to my thesis committee Rich Qow, Dan Flores, Dan Pletscher and Tom Roy. To Rich, for his invaluable guidance to primary sources and his steady moral support throughout To Dan P., for turning me on to the brave new worid of environmental histoiy. To Dan P. for his cheerieading and to Tom for signing on the dotted line. Many folks on the Flathead Reservation lent their time, memories and expertise to this project. To them all, 1 am grateful. I'd like to thank Tom McDonald and David Rockwell, especially, for their patience, their humor and sharing their wealth of knowledge on the Mission Mountains with me. Althougih the four photographs included in this publication are my own, I have appreciated the use of Jack Greenlee's and Ted Wood's fine photography in several presentations I have made on this topic. I owe big thanks to family and friends for their offerings of encouragement and accommodations, whether 1 accepted or not. Special thanks to Jeny Anne Kines for her graphics assistance, and to Nick Wakeman for his editing prowess and follow-up phone calls. And, to lisa, Ben, Jack, Kelsey, Sandy, Dan and Sego for their good company on hikes into the Missions. Ill Tableof Contents Page A bstract............................................................................................. ii Acknowledgments ............................................................................. iii list of Illustrations ............................................................................. v Chapter I The Whiteness of Wilderness ............................................ 1 II Wilderness Lost, 1900-1964 ................................................. 21 III Wilderness Found, 1965-1982 .............................................. 65 IV Wilderness Apart, 1983-1995 ............................................... 93 V Indian Wilderness: Converging Ideals ................................. 121 Appendix 1 Indian lands included in the Office of Indian Affairs' 1937 order "Establishment of Roadless and Wild Areas on Indian Reservations" and their subsequent declassification dates... 139 2. Annual timber harvests on the Flathead Indian Reservation, 1911-1990, with timeline of events relevant to the reservation's timber industry and the Mission Mountains ........................ pocket 3. Timber sales in the northern section of the former Mission Range Roadless Area, 1966-1976 ......................................... 141 Map A Flathead Indian Reservation ................................................ pocket B. Mission Mountains, Part I of III .......................................... pocket C Mission Mountains, Part II of III .......................................... pocket D. Mission Mountains, Part III of III ........................................ pocket N otes................................................................................................... 142 iv mustiatîons Page Lower Riddell Lake reflecting Gray Wolf Peak ....................................... 20 Post Creek............................................................................................ 64 Bear prints, Mollman Pass ..................................................................... 92 Mount Calowahcan, from the Mission Valley ............................................. 120 To Dad 1 The Whiteness of WOdemess Budding his knees and tucking his hooves beneath him, as bighorn sheep do, the old ram reclined on a rocky ledge for a nap in the bright sunshine. Mountain Slieep's wanderings that day had brougjht him to the highest point above the valley, when his mornings misdeeds against the tribes of animals, birds, fish and Indians called for a rest. Among other heinous acts, he had shamelessly knocked twin bear cut)s off a canyon rim, and catching sight of hunters in a drainage below, he had kicked loose a few tx)ulders to start an avalanche in their direction. Mountain Sheep's heartless behavior was seasonal and opportunistic At spawning time, he would divert streams so that the fish would get trapped in shallow pools of the old, familiar channels and die. And he could not a let a ripe huckleberry patch go untrampled, just to see the disappointment on the faces of the Indian women when they arrived with their baskets. But his random tasks of chaos proved to be hard work, even for Mountain Sheep. Now he breathed easily as he lay overlooking the valley. His gaze slid down 1 2 steep forested mountainsides and past dark canyons to a wide expanse of lowlands, where a scattering of ponds, like a handful of beads tossed across the plain, caugjit the glare of the afternoon sun, and beyond to where the land begins to roll skyward again in low, solemn waves. Mountain Sheep's droopy eyelids finally drew a shade of sleep over the scene below. Meanwhile, the subjects of his ruthlessness were recovering from his latest round of terror and scheming their revenge. Here Mountain Sheep would remain forever captive, under the weight of rocks stacked upon him as he slept that day by all able-bodied animals, birds, fish and Indians. The hateful