Tribal membership updated on new projects
Ladd Edmo speaks at the afternoon session of the April 9 Called Meeting.
By DANA HERNANDEZ
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — The afternoon discussion at the April 9 Called Meeting included the recently purchased Waterwheel or Papoose Springs property.
According to the handout from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Land Use Department, the key facts are: the property is 111.51 acres of fee land that comes with a house, large shop and outbuildings; the purchase price was $4.75 million. There are 12 springs that feed directly to the Portneuf River and Bottoms, along with multiple freshwater streams and ponds with a three fourths access to the Portneuf River.
Photos were shown of the property and tribal attorney Monte Gray said it was a gorgeous piece of property. The money used to purchase the property came from the FMC Settlement money. Gray said, “remember there is about $30 million that was won and went through the tribal and federal courts and under our waste management act those monies all went into the waste management act fund. We were able to use those funds for items that help to promote the environment monitoring, assessment and evaluation of the environmental restoration and environmental equality of the reservation. Now, we believe because of the location of this and all the springs it would allow us good monitoring of FMC and Simplot. It also allows us to protect these springs for future generations.”
He added within the area, everything is skyrocketing. “I think the council made a good decision at the right time and the council was smart in protecting their sovereignty with this,” said Gray.
Some planned uses for the property are to monitor and evaluate the impacts from the Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund site, where the FMC and Simplot companies operate. The monitoring of metals and radionuclides will be done with the development of the Tribes’ Environmental Waste Management Program. There is also the potential for a future fish hatchery at the site along with some future STEM educational research for reservation students. Gray said the purchase was a way for the Tribes to protect the natural and cultural resources of the property because the buyers in competition wanted to use the property for a high end gated community. Gray added that the Tribes have an open house planned for the community to come and see the property some time in June.
A comment was made by Nolan Brown from the Language and Culture Preservation Department who said, derogatory place names are being replaced by Haaland’s Secretarial order 3404, that’s 650 derogatory place names that have the word “squaw” in them, and that within our tribal territories there are 56 river basins and original territories of our people and in total there are 250 place names that need to be replaced. Papoose springs is probably a derogatory name that also needs to be replaced. Brown said, “ I hope the council can come up with a new name for that quickly since it is under our control. I also invite everyone to help rename the derogatory place names and I also thank the 30 people who showed up the night before to come up with names. If there are known old place names in Bannock and Shoshoni, I would like to meet with you the next couple of weeks because the comments for name changes are due April 24, and I will be reaching out to some of you who may have knowledge.”
Cecil Broncho said he toured the Papoose Springs area during an open house and said it didn’t look that good and looked like it needed renovation work done on the home.
FHBC Chairman Devon Boyer said the Waterwheel property can provide lots of STEM educational activities for our kids because of the water and the fish there.
FHBC member Nathan Small talked about Treaty lands and how they are enforcing the task of getting back their original lands that was guaranteed under treaty- Camas Prairie, fishing lands, and Virginia City.
Tribal member Leeann Avila Dixey said her grandmother owned a lot of land in the outside counties, but had her land taken by the state for past taxes. She wanted to know why the Tribes don’t help families get the land back.
Tribal member Helena Hall said she had a police incident with her husband, a non-tribal member and herself and said the incident was mishandled and wanted the FHBC and the membership to be aware of the incident. She read her statement and said if anyone is being harrassed by the FHPD or has any complaints it should be reported immediately.
The next topic discussed was the Housing Update which was given by FHBC members Ladd Edmo and Elma Thompson on behalf of the Housing Oversight Committee. Ladd Edmo said, there are housing issues such as, when tribal members live off of the reservation they lose their hunting rights. The current housing ordinance was established in 1978 and they decided to make a resolution change. “A resolution change doesn’t mean to fire employees, making changes doesn’t mean we’re targeting certain individuals, making those changes is for our housing authority to be a better housing authority,” said Edmo.
Edmo said the housing authority operates in the low income and is the reason why they are able to qualify for the grants they receive, but what they should be focusing on is how many houses they can build each year. With the passing of a new resolution they have established an Oversight Committee that will review the current ordinance to make changes because since 1978 our population has grown. Edmo believes the Housing Authority has built close to 80-90% of the homes on the reservation and that's because they met the income guidelines. Those that are above the median income are left out of the housing program and that is what we want to help get established.
Thompson said she has been educating herself on the housing issues and that the median and above median income households don’t qualify for the housing program and are forced to live in town. She has heard about other tribes who are taking the initiative on their housing issues even though they are under the same type of housing as we are. “To me and the rest of the council from what we’ve discussed, we penalize our people. When they are brought into their home they are at a set amount and if they get a raise housing comes after that and we penalize them,” said Thompson.
She also added that she’s also aware of how tax credits could help leverage the mortgages and that Lorraine and Andy Weber are trying to incorporate that. “We’re trying to break down the barriers people face, like bad credit or no rental history because everyone should be able to get housing on the reservation.”
Edmo said so far they have confirmed Russ Haskett, Adam Hill, Jeffery Collman, Dan Stone, Jeanette Wolfley to be the group who gives ideas for their Housing Oversight Committee..
Donna Thompson commented and said as the COVID-19 Coordinator for the Tribe, in the past 6 months she has delivered food boxes and she has witnessed the housing situation on our reservation. “I had a real eye opener to how our people live. We’ve got people crammed into a small two bedroom home and a lot of it is sad, our elderly people are taking care of our small children. We’ve tried the best we could into getting them services and into programs that could assist them. But we really, really need housing, new housing and housing rehab and should be our number one priority. We have a lot of housing that is unsafe out there,” said Thompson.
Finally, the last topic discussed was a Hemp Ordinance by Monte Gray who explained the key facts, who can grow hemp, when members can start growing hemp and if we fall under the Idaho State law.
Gray stated a 2018 Farm Bill does allow the Tribes to oversee and regulate hemp production on reservations and in March 2022 the US Department of Agriculture issued a certificate approving the Tribes to administer a domestic hemp production program. In March 2022 the FHBC approved the Hemp Regulatory Code for the growing, producing, manufacturing, processing, and selling hemp products within the boundaries of the Fort Hall Reservation. The Land Use Department is ready to accept applications to be evaluated by the Land Use Policy Commission, but are still waiting for the funding for a Compliance Officer to be hired.
The Hemp Ordinance states criteria and says that in order to grow hemp you must be a tribal member over the age of 18, have no felony related controlled substances within 10 years, meet all federal and tribal laws related to hemp production, including the 0.3% THC limit levels and also must submit an application to the Land Use Department.
Once paperwork is done and a compliance officer is hired, growers can start. The Tribes do not fall under the Idaho State Law and are the sole authority to regulate hemp production within the boundaries of the Fort Hall Reservation, but must meet and comply with all federal laws and regulations.
Afterwards, FHBC Chairman Boyer said the membership quorum had dropped and that they have to clear the area for a concert so he ended the meeting with a raffle, Jessica James drew names for the remaining iPads for those who completed an education survey at the meeting.
