The Klamath Indians

Located near the Oregon and California border, and comprised of three historically separate tribes: the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin. The Klamath Tribes have inhabited the Klamath River Basin for thousands of years, with lifestyles and heritage revolving around the natural resources of the area. Multi-tribal and multi-village gatherings have been important traditions, including those celebrating fish runs. Salmon have been vital to the physical, economic, and spiritual health of the Klamath tribes for generations. Though the U.S. government initially recognized the rights of Oregon natives to live on their 20 million acre settlement, European colonizers recurrently pushed land boundaries, creating tension between farmers and natives. In 1864,
the Klamath tribe united to sign the Treaty of the Lakes, in which the newly merged Klamath Tribes would retain almost 2 million acres of land. The timber resources were to provide the Klamaths with a solid economic foundation and a reliable source of income for tribe members, allowing the tribe to become self-sufficient and sustainable. For many years, the Klamath Tribe was regarded as the richest self-supporting Indian Tribe in the United States. Since, natural resources management has become a pressing issue for Native American nations and communities. The Klamath Tribes experienced the depressing termination policy of the 1950s. The termination which stripped them of their federal status as an Indian tribe, the government services offered to recognized tribes, and their 1.2-million-acre reservation.

Self-determination Klamath Tribes surrendered 15 million acres of their homeland in 1864 while keeping 2.8 million acres for their private use as the Klamath Reservation. Differences in interpretation by the Klamath Tribes and the US Government of the treaty’s boundary description and errors made by government surveyors reduced the size of the reservation to 1.2 million acres in 1901. Shortly after the 1864 treaty was signed, US Congress approved allocation of public land along a route that ran through the Reservation. Over the objections of Tribal leaders and after litigation, 87,000 acres within the Reservation boundary were stripped from Tribal ownership and conveyed to a private company in 1906. After the transfer of 248,000 acres to Tribal members under the Dawes Allotment Act, which was completed in 1910, the Klamath Tribes reserved title to only about 865,000 acres of land. In 1954, the U.S. government elected to “terminate” the Klamath Tribe, without input from tribal members. The government essentially stripped the Tribe of its sovereign status, took over and sold the land, and offered only cash or trust payments. The unpredicted loss of federal identification and land left the Klamath unable to continue their way of life, which also left them unprepared to assimilate into American society. After the U.S. government overthrow of the Klamath lands, the land and natural resources were nearly decimated. Following the termination, the Tribe’s people were left with nothing “28% died by age 25, 52% died by age 40, infant mortality was 250% the state average; 70% of adults had less than a high school education; 56% of those over 40 had no health insurance.” Being stripped of status and resources did immense damage to the Klamath people. Many Klamath survived by learning English and assimilating into American society. Some involved themselves with damaging behaviors, resulting in diminishing of cultural knowledge. Loss of cultural knowledge introduces a loss of cultural identity: “Once the stewardship of the Land was taken from the Tribes they lost federal recognition as an Indian tribe and many experienced the loss of identity.“ While the termination did not specifically remove tribal governmental authority, the loss of a reservation land meant that tribes no longer had legal authority over a definable piece of land.
Terminated tribes may have maintained their legal status as sovereign governments, but they no longer passed or enforced laws and were unable to exercise their power to act as governments. The Klamath tribes were assimilated into the state body politic for fourteen years after termination. There was no governing body for the Klamath tribes from 1961 to 1975. The majority of members removed themselves from affiliation with the tribes as a “legal entity”, these removed members were still Klamath, but they had no legal status either as Klamaths or as Indians. Remaining members of the Klamath tribes occasionally conducted meetings and resolved disputes concerning their common interests; they elected an executive committee from their ranks to enable interaction between themselves and the trustee that managed the tribes' remaining assets. Only one political body continued to represent the entire Klamath population during the 1960s and early 1970s, which was the Executive Committee on Claims. That committee was left in place to deal with the federal government on outstanding claims, but it had no authority outside its narrow
responsibility.
The U.S. government considered 14 percent of the adults on the reservation and almost 13 percent of the adults living off the reservation to be incompetent to manage their own affairs. Although most adults were considered capable of managing, they were not deemed competent to manage their children's affairs, and essentially all minors were placed under guardianship. On August 26, 1986, official federal recognition of the Klamath Tribes was restored under the Klamath Restoration Act. Although the land base of the reservation has not been restored, efforts are underway to reacquire property and continue building governance. Since, core capabilities have been strengthened through the general council, tribal council, tribal courts, and various commissions, departments, and services. Among the more than fifty departments and programs operated by the tribes is a natural resources department, which works with environmental protection pursuant to treaty rights and various intergovernmental agreements and local partnerships.
Tribal activism to demonstrate tribal sovereignty Tribal sovereignty is a principle that tribes have pleaded over for years through interaction with other political entities, particularly the U.S.
Government. This principle recognizes the right of tribal governments to “determine citizenship and laws, govern, and otherwise act as nation-states.” Tribal sovereignty historically has been undermined by the fact that many tribal assets are held in trust by the U.S. government. The trust relationship has deteriorated the tribes voice by making numerous barriers and giving the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) the final say in contracts. The high number of poor and unemployed American Indians, combined with scarce tribal funds to treat these problems, has weakened tribal sovereignty and self-sufficiency as tribal governments are forced to turn to other governments for aid. This aid often includes specific guidelines that successfully decrease tribal voice and their cultural
integrity. Reinforced and active tribal sovereignty affects a tribal member's overall perception in a positive way that improves moral and increase chances for work. “Individuals are likely to be negatively impacted when they are members of an ethnic group that historically has had little political, cultural, and economic voice.” Some evidence suggests that “weakened tribal voice” negatively affects individuals. Indian Health Service reports that from 1994 to 1996, “the age-adjusted suicide rate for American Indians was seventy- two percent higher than the U.S. average … the age-adjusted alcoholism death rate for Indians was over seven times the U.S. rate, with higher rates in those regions that contain the poorest reservations.” These health issues are just added obstacles for the Klamath people trying to move from welfare to work. The Klamath Tribe has worked to reduce these issues through tribal ordinances, “The purpose of this ordinance is to regulate the sale, distribution and possession of liquor on the Klamath Indian Reservation and other lands subject to tribal governance.”
Sovereignty would allow Klamath Tribes to engage in business opportunities that create jobs in Indian Territory. Sovereignty allows increased revenue exercised through gambling and increased individual welfare through less need for assistance. “Since 1990 welfare participation has grown less on reservations with casinos than those without. And, since the passage of the Indian Gaming Act in 1988, tribal gaming revenues have grown from $100 million to $8 billion.” Because of this banks are starting to take an interest in Indian reservation. Banks coming to reservations can potentially make capital available for more business opportunity for the Tribes. Tribal nation garnered a political position in which it could both indirectly influence and directly organize natural resource management within and outside of its sovereign boundaries. Historically tribes have been isolated from direct interaction with private industries and states because contracts involving assets in trust had to be approved by the BIA. Now tribes are being encouraged to deal directly with these entities. An advantage of this is that local opportunities for job placement and obstacle removal are beginning to take shape. In time, tribes will be able to utilize these new contacts to benefit individual tribal members.
Treaty rights protections and environmental issues/natural resources management The Klamath River Basin, a region along the California-Oregon border that has become a focal point for local, national, and international conversation on issues including water, policy, dirty politics, environmental governance, and indigenous sovereignty. Environmental issues in the basin were brought to attention when severe drought conditions in 2001 intensified competition for scarce water resources, which caused a high profile issue of policy implementation with the Endangered Species Act as well as Sovereignty rights issues for Natives. This intensified water and dam conflicts among several stakeholders including: farmers, anglers, recreationists, federal wildlife refuge managers, environmental organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments.
While the courts have had varying interpretations of the extent of sovereignty powers, it has been recognized that tribes are distinct political entities. For example, in 2013 President Obama expressed a strong commitment to tribal communities in Executive Order 13647, which established the White House Council on Native American Affairs: “Respecting the sovereignty of tribal nations is critical to advancing tribal self determination and prosperity … the ability of tribal governments to determine how to build and sustain their own communities—is necessary for successful and prospering communities. We further recognize that restoring tribal lands through appropriate means helps foster tribal self-determination.”
After years of intense struggle, a comprehensive and final settlement agreement proposing to remove four dams on the river, restore basin water resources, and create economic opportunities for tribes was signed on April 18, 2014 by more than forty signatories, including the Klamath Tribes, US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell, and federal and state leaders. Among others, the Klamath Basin Task Force, the irrigation community, fishermen, and federal, state, and local representatives approved it. It represents a monumental step in the long history of water wars in the American West. Their treaty and water rights, and employed careful political, legal, and social tactic; they litigated, appropriated science, participated in democratic national environmental policy processes, and have been awarded grants through EPA to preserve and improve ecosystems along 45 miles of the Klamath River.