Remarks by
BG William E. Rapp
Division Commander
Northwestern Division
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians
Pendleton Oregon
22 September 2008
President Stensgar, Executive Board members, and Distinguished Guests:
It is an honor to be here with you today. I’d like to take a minute and introduce the people I’ve brought with me:
Witt Anderson, Director of Programs, SES;
Col Steven Miles, Portland District Commander;
Col Tony Wright, Seattle District Commander
LTC Mike Farrell, Wall Walla District Commander;
Kevin Brice, Portland Programs Manager;
Georgeie Reynolds from Headquarters, USACE;
Joel Ames, acting Tribal Liaison for the Division and
Two of our district Tribal Liaisons –
Paul Cloutier, Portland District and
Mary Handlin, Walla Walla District
We also have several Division and District staff members present, some of whom you may already know. I hope you have a chance to visit with them during the conference.
All of us here today from Northwestern Division join me in renewing our pledge to work with you on protecting and preserving your vital cultural and historical resources.
Let me talk a bit about my priorities for meeting our moral and legal obligations to our tribal partners -- more than 104 individual tribes within Northwestern Division boundaries alone!
Decades ago, Chief Joseph, great leader of the Nez Perce tribe said, “I have heard talk and talk, but nothing is done. . . good words do not last long unless they amount to something.”
There is little doubt that in just the past decade and a half, we have witnessed more progress in turning talk into action than we had in the entire previous century.
For example, in 1994, then Division Commander, MG Ernie Harrell, directed North Pacific region district commanders to each appoint a Native American Coordinator to develop and coordinate relevant programs and initiatives with NW tribes. Weeks later, President Clinton issued a landmark executive memorandum instructing executive departments and agencies to ensure government-to government communication with federally recognized tribes.
Following that, Chief of Engineers, LTG Joe Ballard, issued a policy letter to commanders on Indian Sovereignty and government-to-government relations with tribes.
The principles expressed then continue to guide our tribal policy today . . . recognizing sovereignty . . .our trust responsibilities . . . government-to-government relations . . . pre-decisional consultation . . . self-reliance, capacity building and growth . . . and the importance of natural and cultural resources.
When we hired our first Division-level Native American Coordinator in 1995, we took the initial steps in learning how to walk our talk in our obligations towards the tribes.
We began to explore ways to increase communications and consultation with the tribes, to promote partnerships with Native American governments, and to improve our overall working relationships with one another.
Today, our Corps Tribal Liaison program is an essential means of working together on a government-to-government basis to meet our responsibilities. These folks are very good at shaping our regional conscience concerning tribal rights to self-government and self-determination. I will speak in a moment about our ongoing process of hiring a new Division Tribal Liaison.
Across the Corps and the country, there is a greater emphasis on achieving harmony with the environment, recognition of spirituality, and of our responsibility to others.
We take this responsibility very seriously—our goal is sustainability in the actions we undertake. That requires knowledge of, and respect for, natural resources and the environment. The tribes are instrumental in helping us find solutions to the challenges we face in our missions.
I know that it is easy to become impatient with bureaucracy and that there are seemingly too many meetings, too many studies, and too many different views. But we are achieving solid, sustainable results through hard work and collegiality.
As we go forward, we look to you to:
Help us generate new ideas and problem-solving approaches.
Continue to communicate your issues and concerns to us.
Work with us to reduce misunderstandings and avoid confrontations.
Share with us your insights on cultural resources and traditional cultural properties.
In that spirit, let me share with you my imperatives for my division:
1) We will seek clear, collaborative working relationships with the tribes.
2) We will encourage team and partner-based forums through which to address the work being done.
3) We want to ensure a transparent decision-making process – one that can achieve productive results.
4) We will seek forums to continue the ongoing dialogue to achieve substantive results and avoid misunderstandings.
5) We will honor our trust responsibilities and follow the principles of government-to-government relations.
6) We will continue to seek common ground and do our utmost to properly consult and coordinate our activities with the tribes.
Please let our District and Division Tribal Liaisons know of your concerns and issues so they can get the right people involved.
I want you to know that you will always have my attention and, in turn, that of our higher headquarters. Tell us how we can improve the process for consultation and cooperation. I promise you that we will listen closely.
Lastly, I want to provide a brief rundown on some topics of general interest. If you’d like to hear more, we’ll open the floor to questions and answers afterwards or make sure that we get you the answer in a timely manner.
1) Status of NWD Tribal Liaison selection
We will be convening our interview panel this Wednesday, Sept. 24th. Don’t want to unduly influence the process except to say that we have some excellent and competitive candidates. This will be a tough choice, but a long overdue hiring.
2) Fish returns
One thing I learned quickly in my short tenure at Northwestern Division is the regional importance of salmon. They not only are spiritual and physical sustenance for Native Americans, they play an integral role in the sport, commercial and tribal fisheries as well as the health of the rivers.
The good news this year for the Columbia River Basin is the better than average returns of adult salmon heading back to spawn.
Total salmon and steelhead returns to date for 2008, as counted at Bonneville Dam, exceed 1.1 million fish!
We are also seeing near record runs of sockeye with over 213,000 fish returning this year, well over the ten year average.
There is still improvement needed, however, in the Willamette Basin as adult salmon returns are below the 10- year average for both spring Chinook and winter steelhead runs.
In addition to working very hard to improve conditions for salmon and steelhead, the Corps has an ongoing commitment to take actions to benefit other fish species such as bull trout, sturgeon and burbot.
We have never wavered from the ground truth that fish and wildlife are of paramount importance to the tribes. And we are committed to ensuring we work together in concert to sustain this vital resource to the region.
3) The Columbia Basin Fish Accords
What a success story for the tribes, states, and federal agencies that reached these agreements!
After a two-year collaborative effort, the Accords signed this past May.
They represent truly broad-based support for current recovery strategies to improve survival of threatened and endangered fish as well as other fish stocks.
The focus of the agreements shifts efforts to implementation of actions to benefit fish, rather than the distraction of continued litigation.
Last week, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes announced their intention to join the other four tribes, two states, and three federal agencies with a proposed agreement that has just been released for public comment.
Similar to the earlier agreements, these tribes will co- manage opportunities for fish and wildlife populations and their habitat over the next ten years.
We anticipate that the momentum of these agreements will continue and are currently in discussions with other tribal governments.
The changes envisioned will be sustainable and comprehensive, including basin-wide improvements to habitat, hatcheries, and harvest practices, as well as hydro.
We fully expect that the 10-year investment of more than $900 million will improve the status of both listed and non- listed fish.
We are grateful to the many tribal scientists whose expertise in species recovery and watersheds provided much of the science in formulating the recovery strategy.
4) Lamprey
Most of you know that there is a big effort underway with a comprehensive lamprey improvement plan.
At Bonneville Dam we’re installing new lamprey ramps suitable for lamprey to latch onto.
We intend to accelerate improvements for lamprey and expand research and recovery actions next year as scientists experiment with the best configuration for this species.
5) NAGPRA
We committed to completing the NAGPRA process which has gone on for too long by any measure.
Over the past 2 years, NWD has received about $393,000, or 35% of total NAGPRA funding in the Corps. Still, it is not enough to do the job in an acceptable timeframe and I will press Washington for the funds to finish it.
However, with your help and comments over the past two years, we’ve developed a plan to improve the speed in compliance and consistency among our districts in repatriating remains and cultural items.
We’ve also heard you tell us you want more frequent and detailed communication about what is happening with the implementation of these policies.
Both NAGPRA and the Section 208 Status and Implementation Plans are nearly complete and will be signed in the next month. Our goal is to begin implementation immediately.
It is time for me to bring these remarks to a close.
I’d like to say that wise men throughout the ages have argued that it is far better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle a question without debating it.
We are committed to doing both!
We may not agree on everything.
But if we look together for that common ground, and work constructively with each other, we can achieve great things.
Thank you.