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Tribe that helped Lewis and Clark may lose status
U.S. is reviewing recognition of Chinook
Thursday, November 8, 2001
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
PORTLAND -- The American Indian tribe that welcomed the Lewis and Clark expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River is in danger of being declared extinct as a people by the Bush administration.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton told the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tuesday to review the Chinook Indian tribe's federal recognition, which was tentatively granted in the last days of the Clinton administration. Kevin Gover, outgoing U.S. assistant secretary of Indian affairs, made it is his last official act to re-establish the Chinook tribal status on Jan. 3, overturning his staff's recommendation to deny recognition.
But Gover's action did not become final because of an appeal by the Quinault Indian Nation. The Quinaults, who could lose both membership and control of land if the Chinook become a recognized tribe, brought a challenge to Gover's ruling on April 6 to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.
The appeals board affirmed part of Gover's ruling but referred nine questions to Norton. Tuesday, Norton asked Neal McCaleb, the assistant secretary for Indian affairs, to reconsider eight of those questions.
The action puts the matter back in the same office that had recommended to Gover that the Chinook not be recognized, said Dennis Whittlesey, attorney for the Southwest Washington tribe.
McCaleb has 120 days to make a decision. If he reverses tribal recognition, the Chinook could appeal to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. Recognition would allow the Chinook to get federal dollars and to seek land for a reservation.
In 1851, the Chinook signed a treaty with the United States, but it was never ratified by Congress. Gary Johnson, the Chinook tribal chairman, said Norton's decision also brings into question how much the Chinook will be involved in the celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which begins in 2003.
Chinook tribal members gave the Lewis and Clark expedition food and valuable information as the explorers spent the winter of 1804-05 near the mouth of the Columbia.
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