LINDA A. REYNOLDS Inyo National Forest Bishop, California 10 The Role of Indian Tribal Governments and Communities in Regional Land Management ABSTRACT Indian tribes and other Indian communities in the Sierra Nevada INTRODUCTION Ecosytem Project (SNEP) study area are its original stakeholders. the relationship of the Indians to the United States Their current and future effect on land management is larger than is marked by peculiar and cardinal distinctions which simple demographics would suggest because federally recognized exist as nowhere else. Indian tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the Chief Justice John Marshall, United States; therefore, in most matters they are not subject to state Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) or county jurisdiction. Because this unique relationship is poorly un- derstood by the general public, this chapter presents certain key con- The Issue cepts of Indian law. The purpose of this assessment is to provide a basis for un- Throughout the centuries of conquest and attempted assimilation, derstanding the effect of Indian tribes and Indian communi- Native Californians have maintained their cultural identity and ties ties on land-use management. The Indian people in the Sierra with the land. Today there are thirty-five recognized tribes with tradi- Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP) study area are the one so- tional territory in the SNEP study area, sixteen tribal communities cial group with both ancient roots in the ecoregion and a con- seeking federal recognition, and two tribes seeking restoration. There tinuing stake in its future. It goes without saying that they are also a number of increasingly influential intertribal organizations are culturally and historically distinct from other rural com- focused around particular issues. munities. Less obvious, and certainly less well understood In the past thirty years, federal Indian policy has shifted from as- by the general public, are the constitutional and legal distinc- similation and termination to promotion of self-governance for tribes tions that comprise the impetus for the assessment in this and, recently, toward strengthening the government-to-government chapter. Federal Indian law (U.S. Code title 25) is not directly relationship. Tribal efforts at economic development, reassertion of analogous to any other body of federal law. It is based on aboriginal rights, repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural items, Western European international law, colonial precedents, con- recovery of traditional cultural lands, and protection of sacred sites stitutional provisions, treaties, and U.S. Supreme Court and have been fostered by contemporary federal legislation. Examples of lower court decisions (AIRI 1988; U.S. Commission on Civil involvement in land management are offered, along with a discus- Rights 1981). sion of future trends. In today’s world the status and rights of native peoples is a global issue. Here in the United States the issue takes on its “peculiar” character through the sovereign status of tribes and the trust responsibilities of the federal government to them. It is also a local issue: in the Sierra Nevada ecoregion, where Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final report to Congress, vol. II, Assessments and scientific basis for management options. Davis: University of California, Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, 1996. 207 208 VOLUME II, CHAPTER 10 over half the land base is managed by federal agencies, the 121.5 ha (300 acres) or less, creating a reliance on federal lands unique legal status of tribal governments ensures they will for exercise of reserved rights, access to traditional resources, be a factor in future land-management decisions. ceremonial use, economic development, and land acquisition This fact is contrary to the general public’s perception. Ac- that is far greater than in other states. cording to the congressionally chartered American Indian Another important consideration is that Indian people re- Policy Review, “One of the greatest obstacles faced by the late to and use the land differently than other members of Indian today in his drive for self-determination and a place society. Whether they live there or not, Indian people have a in this Nation is the American public’s ignorance of the his- spiritual connection to their ancestral lands that derives from torical relationship of the United States with Indian tribes and traditional cultural teachings about the use and management the lack of general awareness of the status of the American of nature. They feel that they are the original land managers Indian in our society today” (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and have ongoing responsibilities and rights. 1981). The active participation of tribal governments and Indian In addition to this pervasive lack of knowledge about the communities and individuals in developing and implement- history and legal position of Native Americans in contempo- ing land-use plans is not only important, it is mandated by rary American society, there are a number of commonly held federal law. Tribes are not special interest groups, they are myths that often interfere in the development of working re- part of the family of governments in the United States. Fur- lationships between native people and other segments of so- thermore, the well-being or lack thereof of tribal governments ciety. One of the most enduring is that the Sierra Nevada was and Indian communities will directly affect the well-being and a pristine wilderness before non-Indians arrived to exploit capacity of the larger community aggregates (Doak and Kusel its resources. Another is that California Indians were all “dig- 1996). As detailed in the “Future Trends” section, land acqui- gers” with no historical differences or cultural complexity, that sition/recovery plans, water rights, tribal economic develop- they were simply small, roving bands of hunter-gatherers ment, and related issues will figure prominently in the future with, at best, a localized presence. The term digger itself is a of the Sierra Nevada ecoregion. demeaning racial pejorative that has been used in history books and school texts, misrepresenting Native Californian Methods of Data Collection cultures and perpetuating the myth of racial inferiority. A ca- sual conversation at any local gathering in the Sierran eco- For this chapter, government documents and published le- region will demonstrate that many of the people who were gal, anthropological, and historical sources were supple- taught from these books still hold negative images of Native mented with input from all tribal governments and Californians. There are others who think that most Indians communities in the SNEP study area by means of a letter dis- are gone from their ancestral homelands in the Sierra and have seminated through the U.S. Forest Service’s Tribal Relations been acculturated into the “melting pot” and therefore ab- Program (TRP). (The text of the letter is provided in appen- original rights to lands and resources and ongoing traditional dix 10.1.) The letter was followed up by personal contacts, cultural activities need not be considered. Some people feel telephone calls, and presentations to tribal councils. Group that Indians receive “special treatment” through minority presentations about SNEP and this assessment were made by racial status. In many Sierran communities these myths exac- the author and Connie Millar of the SNEP Science Team to erbate a national problem of racial prejudice against Indian twenty-four tribes and communities at a TRP workshop in people (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 1981). Fresno and by Sonia Tamez, TRP Region 5 program manager, to the Native American Heritage Commission and to the Relevance to Other SNEP Issues Council on the Status of California Indians. All persons and organizations cited herein were given an opportunity to re- The Indian’s preservation of the land and its prod- view the first draft of this chapter. ucts for the ten thousand or more years of their un- Written and verbal responses were received from members disputed occupancy was such that the white invaders of the Kern Valley Indian Community, Chico Band of Me- wrested from them a garden, not the wilderness it choopda Indians, Big Pine Tribal Council, Pit River Tribe, salved their conscience to call it. Native American Heritage Commission, California Indian Kroeber and Heizer 1968 Basketweavers Association, Fort Independence Reservation, Tribal governments, Indian communities, and individual In- California Indian Legal Services, Maidu Bear Dance Commit- dian people must be considered separately from the general tee, Tuolumne Me-wuk Tribe, Lone Pine Band of Paiute Indi- population under a suite of federal and state laws dealing ans, Tule River Reservation, Tyme Maidu, Commission on the with environmental analysis, religious freedom, archaeologi- Status of California Indians, Native American Heritage Pres- cal sites, and protection of Native American human remains. ervation Council of Kern County, Holkoma Mono, Calaveras This being the case, they have an effect on land management Miwok Tribal Group, and Shingle Springs Rancheria. Those greater than simple demographics would suggest. individuals who were comfortable being quoted are cited in In California, the land base of most tribal governments is the text. 209 The Role of Indian Tribal Governments and Communities in Regional Land Management These responses clarified issues, provided examples of land Organization uses, and identified the need for changes in terminology. In all cases where there was a preference for one term over an- The next section presents key concepts of Indian law neces- other, for example, unacknowledged rather than unrecognized, sary for understanding the contemporary situation and fu- this chapter uses the term preferred by native people. An- ture trends. The sections that follow provide an overview of other term that was repeatedly corrected is traditional insofar the history of Native Californians and their contemporary as respondents feel that traditional by itself is insufficient and presence in the SNEP study area and a discussion of contem- needs to be accompanied by cultural and/or heritage.