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Klamath Tribes head presents land quest to Headwaters group By Paul Fattig of the Mail Tribune ASHLAND -- Allen Foreman says it will take at least a century to heal his ancestral land. But Foreman, chairman of the Klamath Tribes, says that 100 years represents but a fraction of the time his people have lived in the upper Klamath Basin. "If we heal the land, this will provide spiritual healing for the people," he said. "That land was ours for thousands of years. It definitely needs healing now." The tribes, who are seeking to regain a portion of their homeland, which includes much of the Winema National Forest, presented their 100-year sustainability strategy for that land to the Ashland-based Headwaters environmental group on Friday. The tribes' goal is the return of some 660,000 acres now under federal management. Foreman, 52, of Chiloquin, who was among tribal leaders making the daylong presentation, called the meeting a "stepping off" point in which the tribes take their message on the road. "We believe their concerns and ours are the same," he said of Headwaters before the meeting. "We were the first environmentalists." They were looking for support from Headwaters as well as comments, he added. "I thought it was very successful, very professional," Headwaters board member Mary-Kay Michelsen said of the presentation. However, she cautioned that the board has not taken an official stance on the proposal. "There was an exchange of some very thoughtful ideas," she said. "We had some suggestions. It was a very good meeting." The agency now administering the land has purposefully stayed out of the issue. "The Forest Service has no position on this," stressed Frank Erickson, spokesman for the Winema forest. "Fundamentally, this is a discussion between the tribe and the people of the United States. It's a legislative issue." In an 1864 treaty, the tribes ceded 22 million acres to Uncle Sam, leaving a 2.2-million-acre reservation. Fraudulent surveys and the building of a military road cut it by 1.2 million acres, according to the tribes. By 1954, they owned 880,000 acres. Congress terminated the tribes in 1954, and eventually gave tribal members $220 million for the land. The bulk of the former reservation land became part of the Winema forest in 1961, followed by the remainder in 1974. "It was never a case of a willing seller, willing buyer," Foreman said. "It was a case of you either terminate now or you terminate in five years. And it was never brought out to everyone's knowledge that they were giving up ownership of the land." Moreover, some 60 percent of the tribe at the time was under 21 years old, yet their votes counted, he said. "It was never done properly." After Congress restored the tribes in 1986, it required the Klamaths come up with a plan for economic self-sufficiency. Returning the land would provide a stable economic base for the tribes, Foreman said. Opponents of the plans point to the $220 million already paid to tribal members in exchange for their reservation. But supporters have condemned the 1954 federal taking of the timber-rich reservation as little more than a land grab. They also note that the federal government has received more than $435 million from the sale of timber from the former reservation. Returning the Winema forest to the tribes would require congressional approval. A 100-page sustainability strategy plan for the former reservation was prepared for the tribes by Interforest, a group of foresters in Madison, Conn. "We feel the land needs to be healed," Foreman said. "We feel that we're capable of providing that healing." As a child growing up in Chiloquin, he said, he heard the oral history of the tribes' connection to the forests. "The land was our supermarket -- we lived off the land," he said. "It was important for us to take care of it and to honor it." That would require working with watersheds, timber and wildlife, he said. "It's a complete circle we are looking at." Citing the tribes' restoration act of 1986, Foreman noted that Congress required that a self-sufficiency plan be created for the 3,200 tribal members. Under the plan, logging and other activities would be allowed on a sustainable basis, he said. "This will not only provide a living for the tribes, but enhance the local communities," he said. "We want this to be a community-based effort. We want all entities to participate. We want to hear everyone's concerns and address all those concerns." The Klamath Tribes expect to meet with more groups like Headwaters throughout the region this year. "It's a hundred-year plan, but these are things we've been doing for thousands of years," he said. "We're just getting into language that everybody else understands. "We believe this plan would benefit the region," he added, noting it would serve as an example of forest restoration. Foreman, who has three children, said it would also restore the tribes' spirit. "It's important to me to pass this on to them," he said of his children. "It's the right thing to do. We've lived here always. We will always live here." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA