PETITION #1
Request to Elected and Agency Officials to Maintain Intact the Winema and Fremont National Forests as part of our National Heritage for the use of all citizens.
Whereas: The Klamath Tribes of Oregon are attempting to have 690,000 acres of our National Forest given to them.
Whereas: The Klamath Tribes have filed claims for water which would prevent virtually all surface irrigation in the Upper Klamath Basin.
Whereas: The Klamath Tribes voted to introduce the voluntary withdrawal act, in Congress allowing their members to sell the reservation for cash (February 2, 3, and 9th 1950 tribal council meeting). The voluntary withdrawal act did not pass Congress but evolved into the Act Providing for Termination of Federal Supervision of the Klamath Tribes allowing the Tribes to sell the reservation in exchange for cash, for the withdrawing members.
Whereas: As reported at the July 29, 1954 General Council meeting the elected Tribal delegates, wrote the following about the Termination Bill “In conclusion, we desire to advise the tribes that we believe one of the most desirable features of the bill, and one which has encouraged us to agree upon the bill as reported by the House Committee, is that which provides for a complete and accurate appraisal of tribal property.”
Whereas: 1,659 tribal members voted to sell and 80 voted to remain with 394 did not vote (source the Federal Register and the list of Persons Electing to Remain), and the Tribal Members received over 220 million actual dollars compensation for the various sales (around 990 million in today’s dollars).
Whereas: If this new reservation is granted thousands of landowners will be in the middle of a sovereign nation, property values will likely plummet, access may be denied or curtailed for woodcutting, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, hiking, snowmobiling, boating and other recreational opportunities.
Whereas: The Tribes receive millions in federal funding. These monies have been used in part to fund legal and scientific efforts to claim all of the water of the Klamath Basin. If successful these efforts would ruin communities and the agricultural economy.
Whereas: If funding to the Klamath Tribe was to be eliminated, individual members would still receive health, education and welfare benefits from BIA as part of a federally recognized Tribe.
Therefore I request that the Klamath Tribes of Oregon not be granted any new lands. We also request the elimination of all federal funding of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, making the tribe self-sufficient, as envisioned in the act restoring federal recognition.
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