Red Lake and, I believe it is safe to say, most of the 557 federally-recognized Indian tribes across the country, strongly support CARA and the lasting benefits it will provide for conservation and future generations of Americans.
My testimony today will focus on Titles III and VI of S. 2123, as these are of critical concern to tribes. Title III of CARA, Wildlife Conservation and Restoration, provides up to $350 million annually to the states, the District of Columbia, and the territories to conduct fish and wildlife restoration projects. I am extremely concerned that Title III apportions nothing to federally-recognized Indian tribes, and I am seeking an amendment to fix this. I also want to express our requests in the strongest terms, that Title VI, Federal and Indian Lands Restoration, be kept intact as part of the final legislation. I will justify my requests momentarily, but first I want to provide some background information about Red Lake which I believe will assist you in judging the merits of my requests.
Red Lake People and Resources
Red Lake is a relatively large Tribe with 9,300 members. Our 841,000 acre Reservation, located in northwestern Minnesota, is held in trust for the Tribe by the United States. While it has been diminished in overall size, our Reservation has never been broken apart or allotted to individuals. Nor has our Reservation ever been subjected to the criminal or civil jurisdiction of the State of Minnesota. Consequently, we have a relatively large land and water area over which the Tribe exercises full governmental authority and control, in conjunction with the United States.
Red Lake Band members' lives center around a seasonal cycle of reliance on natural resources. Fishing, hunting, and gathering activities are as important today as they were 200 years ago. Time has certainly changed some aspects of this cycle. The desires of Band members to purchase modern-day products and goods has led to a resource-based cash economy of fishing and logging that began early in the 20th century and continues today. However, concerns about resource depletion in recent years have led us to seek out economic diversification.
Due in part to our Reservation's location far from centers of population and commerce, we have few jobs available in the private sector economy. While unemployment rates throughout America have dropped to historically low levels, our unemployment rate remains at an outrageously high level of 60%. The lack of good roads, communications, and other necessary infrastructure continues to hold back economic development and job opportunities. We have had limited success with gaming, but our remote location prevents the type of often-cited, large- scale gaming operations run by a small handful of tribes throughout America. The limited gaming revenues we do receive are devoted to human-services programs like meals for the elderly, our nursing home, and community-based activities. Unfortunately, given the pressing needs of people who live on the edge of survival on our impoverished Reservation, none of these funds can be devoted to natural resource protection on our Reservation.
Relatively speaking, our resources are vast and important to many people who are our neighbors beyond our Reservation borders. The resources for which the Red Lake Band, not the State of Minnesota, is responsible, include 350,000 acres of forests, 471,000 acres of wetlands (including forested wetlands), 237,000 acres of lakes, and 55 miles of rivers and streams. Title to all of these resources are held in trust status for the benefit of the Red Lake Band by the United States. Many of our resources are truly unique.
Our Reservation includes much of northern Minnesota's patterned peatlands, which have received worldwide scientific recognition because ours is the largest peatland resource outside of Alaska and because many rare and endangered species reside in these areas.
Our Tribe's natural namesake, the Red Lake, is the sixth largest natural, freshwater lake in the United States. It is larger than Lake Champlain, a lake which may be more familiar to you.
Until just recently, Red Lake was home to the largest and longest continuously operated freshwater commercial fishery in America and provided important employment for some 500 reservation families. Unfortunately, similar to the fate of commercial fisheries the world over, stocks of walleye, which were the principal commercial Red Lake species, collapsed in the mid-1990s forcing the closure of our fishery for the first time since the beginning of World War I. The Tribe has since implemented an aggressive recovery plan in conjunction with the federal government and the State of Minnesota, which represents the largest freshwater fish species recovery program in America today.
I have provided the above information to help you understand that we have been blessed with abundant natural resources, and the conservation and perpetuation of these resources is extremely important to my people and their direct survival needs.
Resource Management
Our tribal resources are managed by a small but dedicated group of biologists, technicians, and wardens. Our relatively meager natural resources funding comes primarily from Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) programs. Unfortunately, recent federal budget cuts in BIA natural resource funding has diminished our resource management capacity by 20% in just the last five years. We have attempted to make up the difference by seeking outside grant funds, but the opportunities are very limited, especially for fish and wildlife conservation. Still, we do the best we can with the limited funds we have.
Tribal Access to CARA Title III
Tribes have proposed that on the basis of fairness and equity, we should receive 2.25% of the new "wildlife conservation and restoration account" subaccount created by Title III in the federal aid to wildlife restoration fund. This percentage is based on the ratio of Indian trust land, which tribes have the responsibility for protecting and for which no Federal Aid funds go towards fish and wildlife conservation, to the rest of the land area of the United States.
Targeting such a percentage allocation to Indian tribes for the benefit of trust land and water resources is necessary in order to provide a critically needed, recurring source of funds like what the Act provides to the states and territories - one that is allocated based on equitable principles. The tribal amendment would distribute the tribal allocation among the various Indian tribal governments according to an inter-tribal formula that divides the tribal funds, one-third of which is based on the ratio to which the trust land area of each tribe bears to the total trust land area of all tribes and two-thirds of which is based on the ratio to which the population of each tribe bears to the total population of all tribes.
The argument for tribal access to these funds is based primarily on two factors. First, the underlying principles of CARA, which tribes strongly support, are to protect all of America's land and water resources. Among the most important of these resources to the American public is fish and wildlife. Like the states and territories, tribes have a critical need for a dedicated, recurring source of funds for fish and wildlife restoration, and only Title III provides this. Second, for a very long time, tribes have argued that the apportionment of other Federal Aid funds is unfair, in that tribes are not included in the apportionment formulas, even though our members, like all Americans, pay the same excise taxes on hunting and fishing equipment. Tribal attempts to amend these acts in the past have met with opposition from the states during periods of time when the Federal Aid fund allocations were not expanding and states were relying heavily on these recurring funds to finance fish and wildlife restoration projects With the new Title III fund, this basic inequity, and the frustration experienced by tribes, can be remedied by ensuring access by tribes to the new Title III Federal Aid funds through a statutory provision.
If the tribal amendment were to be extended, as a matter of equity, to the previously authorized Federal Aid in Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act base apportionment formulas, we believe that could engender state opposition since the allocations to the states and territories under those formulas are longstanding. Therefore, our proposed Title III amendment is in effect a compromise. The amendment would affect only new CARA subaccount allocations never before raised and distributed. The basic apportionment formulas under the Federal Aid Acts would remain as they currently exist, with no apportionment going to tribes.
Keep CARA Title VI Intact
Title VI of S. 2123, Federal and Indian Lands Restoration, provides up to $200 million annually for a coordinated program on Federal and Indian lands to restore degraded lands, protect resources that are threatened with degradation, and protect public health and safety. Of this amount, 60% would be allocated for Department of Interior lands, 30% would be allocated for Department of Agriculture lands, and 10% would be allocated for Indian lands. This allocation formula is based on acreage.
Like the federal government and the states, tribes have an immense wealth of natural resources under their management and care. However, tribes lag far behind the federal government and the states in our capacity to protect these resources. The development of this capacity takes time and dedicated financial resources, and tribes have long been disadvantaged in this area.
The $20 million allocated to tribes under this title is modest when you consider that it must be spread among more than 550 tribal governments and 56 million acres of Indian trust land. However, it does represent a critically important source of funds, and I strongly urge you to ensure that Title VI is kept intact in the final CARA legislation. A final request I have regarding Title VI is that language be included requiring the Secretary of Interior to consult with tribes in the development of the competitive grant program for allocation of funds to tribes. We have attached a proposed amendment that would do this.
Conclusion
The protection of America's natural resources is of immense importance. CARA represents perhaps the greatest opportunity ever to provide a lasting legacy of resource preservation for future generations of Americans. CARA is consistent with the first Americans' view of protecting Mother Earth.
The equitable inclusion of tribes in the apportionment of CARA Titles III and VI as I have described today is fair and reasonable. More importantly, if tribes hope to preserve our resources and our way of life, we need access to funds in a manner similar to other agencies charged with the protection of America's land and water. I sincerely hope that you will take my words to heart, and do the right thing on behalf America's Indian tribes.
I have attached to this testimony proposed amendment language for CARA Titles III and VI. Also attached is additional background information which justifies my request. I would be pleased to provide any additional information you need. I thank you for the opportunity to present testimony today on behalf of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.