From the Council

Last week several members of Council were traveling. Here is a report explaining the outcome of their travels. More reports will be printed in future issues.

Joe Durglo attended the Intertribal Timber Council meetings in Lakeside California. He was part of the ITC Education Committee that determined which students received scholarships. In all 19 college students and 10 high school students, all Indians, received scholarships. During the meeting, there were discussions about working more closely with a veteran empowerment group called Veterans Greens Job. The organization provides green jobs education, transition support and career and enterprise development opportunities for military veterans, empowering and supporting them to lead America’s transition to energy independence, ecological restoration, community renewal and economic prosperity. Their Web site is, http://veteransgreenjobs.org/. The Veteran Greens Job group and ITC are discussing how to get information about this program out to Indian Country.

There were also discussions about the wording of testimony to be presented to the Senate Appropriations Committee related to the BIA forestry allocation. Preparation work was completed for the 34th Annual National Indian Timber Symposium April 19-22 that is hosted by the Mescalero Apache Tribe at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico.

James Steele, Jr., attended the ITMA, or Intertribal Monitoring Association on Indian Trust Funds held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steele said the lead attorney on the Cobell case, Keith Harper, presented details on the settlement. The main point to emerge was that tribes are generally supportive of the settlement, but there were many unanswered questions. Harper urged all tribes to accept the settlement, but it was clear that reaching that level of acceptance may be a challenge, Steele said. The ITMA was organized in 1990 by tribes determined to actively monitor and have a voice in the activities of the Federal government to ensure fair compensation to tribes for the historical trust funds mismanagement. Today, ITMA is a national tribal consortium consisting of 66 federally recognized tribes, whose purpose and objectives have increased as it follows the trust reform activities of the Federal government and Congress. For more information on the settlement, go to http://www.cobellsettlement.com/.