PhD defense (2012)

Nicolas Barbier, Université de Bourgogne, Ecole doctorale LISIT 491

Thèse de géographie--PhD dissertation soutenue le 22 octobre 2012 defended on October 22, 2012

Conflicts between Indians and non-Indians over the management of land, the environment and natural resources in the Nez Perce aboriginal territory (Idaho, Oregon, Washington) A case study of the Nez Perce in the indigenous context of America since the 1800s. The Selway River in May 2008 Nicolas Barbier 2012 – All rights reserved

(Nicolas Barbier)

OUTLINE

1.

Characteristics of the study area

2.

A study hinging on four main questions

3.

A PhD dissertation where eleven branches of geography come together

4.

Issues behind the conflicts

5.

Major concepts addressed in this dissertation

6.

Methodology and resources

7.

Causes and symptoms of the conflicts

8.

Solutions and perspectives in response to these conflicts

9.

Outlooks on the concept of sustainable development

10. First elements of response to some comments made by Mr Montès

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA Biogeography • 13.5 million acres in the eastern portion of the Pacific Northwest and Columbia River Basin. • Located in the rural Northwest; encompas-ses vast protected ecosystems.

• Through which large rivers run (Snake, Salmon, Clearwater…) • A predominance of temperate forests of middle and high elevations. • Rainfall is moderate or abundant in most mountainous areas. • A rich farmland covering 1.5 million acres on plateau, hills and valleys. • A semi-arid climate in the lowest deep valleys.

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA Population: • Low population density (3.5 inhabitants/km²). • The population in the Northwest has been rapidly growing since 1990. Growth has been slower in some areas harder to get to, such as the study area. •A regional urban network dominated by midsize cities (less than 40,000 inhab.: Moscow, Lewiston, Pullman).

Economy: • Located in the influence area of Spokane. The Pacific Rim, Portland and Seattle attract a large part of the activities of the Pacific Northwest region. • The Old West economy is still alive while the growth of the New West economy has been slowed by the 2008-2009 financial crisis and its aftermath.

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA Identity: • The Nez Perce Indians: 3,500 members (2,200 in the 1863 Reservation). Most of them live on their aboriginal territory along with about 170,000 non-Indians. • Both Indians and non-Indians usually attach great value to their roots and rights. • A part of the Nez Perce try to put into practice a core part of their traditional philosophy. Some non-Indians try to draw their inspiration from it. • Cultural and social exchanges as well as inter-marriage are frequent while identities are often evolving and disparate. • There are also continuing conflicts between Nez Perce and non-Indians related to law, the ownership of land, the environment and land uses. • The Nez Perce have been fishers, gatherers and hunters for at least 12,000 years. Today, many are attempting to combine some U.S. cultural habits with ancestral practices (such as fishing).

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA History and geopolitics: 1855: a « fair » treaty  7.5 million acres for the tribe. 1863: second treaty  The Nez Perce Reservation was reduced to 750,000 acres.  Nez Perce leaders whose lands were ceded under the 1863 Treaty did not sign it. 1893 Agreement (implementation of the Dawes Act)  The Nez Perce must adopt private property.  They ceded 70 percent of the reservation area (540,000 acres) to non-Indian settlers. In 1863 and before the 1893 Agreement, federal officials used coercive diplomacy against the Nez Perce. 2012  The Nez Perce Tribe owns less than 160,000 acres (communal lands or individual allotments scattered on and around the reservation).  It employs more than 600 people (a third non-Indians) in its government departments mostly funded by the federal government.  Despite tribal casinos (300 employees), the average 2005-2009 per capita income for American Indians on the reservation was $16,240. It was $27,040 for the U.S. population and $19,300 for the total reservation population.

1] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDY AREA Geopolitics: • The federal government owns more than 70 percent of the aboriginal territory. • On non-Indian lands, the federal (dominant) and state governments and their agencies hold the decision-making power in the co-management of land and natural resources (tribe=advisory role) as well as related laws. • On these lands, the tribe has a significant role on the ground in salmon and wolf co-management, the restoration of some riparian areas and protection of treaty rights. • Non-Indian private landowners benefit from an extensive leeway to manage their lands (24 percent of this aboriginal

2] A STUDY HINGING ON FOUR MAIN QUESTIONS  What are the roots, areas, parties, issues and decision-making processes of the conflicts between Indians and non-Indians over the management of land, the environment and natural resources ?  Under what conditions does co-management defuse, lessen or sustain conflicts ? I mostly focus on wolf and salmon management.  Can we consider evolution of the conflicts or imagine some solutions to them ?  In the United States, to what extent can these conflicts be compared with other conflicts pitting other American Indian nations against non-Indians and their governments ?

3] A PHD DISSERTATION WHERE ELEVEN BRANCHES OF GEOGRAPHY COME TOGETHER

4] ISSUES BEHIND THE CONFLICTS • Nez Perce struggles related to identity.

• Conflicts over sovereignty and governmental authority between the tribe and non-Indian governments in the 1863 Reservation, the 1855 Nez Perce Treaty Area as well as Nez Perce fishing, gathering and hunting grounds. • Problems and disputes over land ownership rights on Indian and non-Indian lands.

• The unfair sharing of powers in the management of wolves, salmon and fire between the tribe, federal and state entities, and other protagonists (environmental groups, the scientific community…)

4] ISSUES BEHIND THE CONFLICTS • The 2005 agreement on water rights in the Snake River Basin maintains uncertainty in terms of future water uses in the context of climate change and evolving U.S. law. related to ESA-listed salmon’s need for water.

• Degradation and protection of aquatic and riparian ecosystems; modest progress in their protection (2009-2011); Indian and non-Indian restoration efforts; continuing disagreements and deadlocks. • A hypothetical and highly contentious return of uninhabited public lands within the 1855 Nez Perce Treaty Area to the Nez Perce Tribe.

• Disagreements on the meaning of sustainable development and concomitant difficulties of implementing significant regional projects that would be beneficial at the economic, social and environmental levels.

5] MAJOR CONCEPTS ADDRESSED IN THIS PHD DISSERTATION

6] METHODOLOGY AND RESOURCES In terms of methodology and resources, overall my work can be divided into five main steps: 1.

Field work of three years (Idaho, Oregon, Washington) mostly based on:

   

Meetings. Filmed interviews. The filming of people, places and various actions related to my topic. The gathering of academic, governmental and media sources.

2.

A first—incomplete—version of a dissertation based on these sources and a reflection in progress; two documentary films.

3.

A more thorough research in academic, governmental and media sources; gathering of more information provided by specialists on the ground .

4.

The process of:    

5.

Selecting and synthesizing information. Refining my reflection. Building an outline for the dissertation. Integrating information and a rationale in a conceptual framework related to various branches of geography.

The writing of the dissertation; the improvement of transitions and numerous paragraphs; the reorganization of the use of certain sources; upgrades in the form of relevant syntheses, maps, charts and diagrams. The whole process is aimed at presenting a clear, coherent and complete analysis.

7] CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS OF THE CONFLICTS • Three main causes:  Continuing major violations of the 1855 and 1863 treaties by the United States and no attempt to optimize the level of respect for these treaties.  Clashing perceptions about people’s responsibilities toward ecosystems and their components.  Differing conceptions of the meaning of sustainable development. • These dissenting perceptions and conceptions express themselves in two symptoms:

 A federal and state protection of the environment and natural resources deemed insufficient by the tribe.  The flaws of projects that are aimed at restoring them. • The conflicts can result in:  Mutual animosity.  Lack of relationships and cooperation.  A high level of underlying tension during necessary meetings and negotiations or over the course of common projects.  The necessity of mediation.  Lawsuits.

8] SOLUTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RESPONSE TO THESE CONFLICTS

• Conflict of sovereignty on the reservation: there is strong opposition from non-Indian citizens and governments to increased Nez Perce jurisdiction over non-Indians and their lands.  Solution: non-Indians, States and courts delegitimize the federal use of coercion against the Nez Perce to open up the reservation to settlers in 1895. • The dominant position of federal and state agencies in the comanagement of salmon, the wolves and fire within the 1855 Nez Perce Treaty Area result in:  A tribe reduced to an advisory role.  Obstacles to the restoration of salmon: dams; degradation of salmon habitat; a strictly limited number of salmon released to spawn in rivers.  Large wolf hunting seasons launched by the State of Idaho to protect elk and livestock on public lands.  An anecdotal tribal involvement in the management of fire.

 Solution: the implementation of an equitable and sustainable co-management rallying the tribe and non-Indian government agencies.

8] SOLUTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RESPONSE TO THESE CONFLICTS The risk of future water right conflicts: • The 2005 agreement guarantees:  Substantial tribal consumptive water rights on the reservation.  50 percent of the water of 548 springs located in federal lands between the boundaries of the 1863 reservation and 1855 Treaty Area is reserved for the tribe. • But the management of water resources (minimum instream flows, groundwater exploitation, permits) falls to the State of Idaho, hence possible conflicts…

• Solutions:  The involvement of the tribe in the writing of a water resources management plan with the federal and state governments.  The establishment of a hierarchy of priority water rights (from vital to secondary rights).  The implementation of the "precautionary principle" on water resources.  Prospective studies on the impacts of global warming are taken into account.

8] SOLUTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RESPONSE TO THESE CONFLICTS •

Nez Perce claims for the return of 3.8 million acres of uninhabited public lands located within the 1855 Treaty Area to the tribe:  Solution: to rely on the 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  Goal: to return public lands “which [Indigenous peoples] have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent” (UN, 2007) .

•

There are also lots of examples of cooperation between Indians and non-Indians:    

•

Restoration of degraded aquatic and riparian ecosystems. Work in salmon hatcheries and co-management on the ground. Prevention against wolf attacks on livestock. A lawsuit filed by an environmental group—supported by other groups (fishermen…), the State of Oregon and various Indian tribes–to revamp a federal biological opinion on the impact of dams on salmon...

Similarities in conflicts and claims in other aboriginal territories in America:

 Disputes over territorial sovereignty in the Yakima (WA) and Uintah-Ouray (UT) reservations.  Conflicts related to a non-Indian exploitation and degradation of natural resources: a giant open pit gold mine in the Cortez Hills (NV) against the advice of local Shoshone Indians; water rights (Klamath Basin, OR).  Lakota Indian land claims to public lands in the Black Hills (SD)…

8] SOLUTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RESPONSE TO THESE CONFLICTS •

In theory, Nez Perce treaty rights have the same legal value as acts of Congress, presidential executive orders and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

•

But over time, the federal government has granted itself a superior authority over treaties signed with American Indian nations.

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Two examples of the countless violations of the treaties of 1855 and 1863:  Tribal projects to release salmon in rivers intended for spawning in the 1855 Treaty Area are subject to validation by a federal agency.  The tribe has no decision-making power whatsoever over the counties’ land use plans on non-Indian lands on the 1863 Reservation.

8] SOLUTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RESPONSE TO THESE CONFLICTS

9] OUTLOOKS ON THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT •

Some American Indian nations greatly rely on unsustainable means of economic development:  The use of coal to produce electricity in Navajo country.  Oil for some Indigenous peoples in Alaska.

•

Attempts to find alternatives to the current economic system are aimed at:  Reducing the gap between rich and poor and more fairly redistributing wealth among the people.  Reducing environmental degradation. But alliances between Indians and non-Indians in favor of this kind of development remain in the minority. They only have a minor impact in the American West in general.

 Solution: the creation, within the United States, of different communities living in bioregions appropriate both economically and ecologically.  A sustainable development within the framework of partial separatism and interdependence as well as a vast increase in the autonomy of communities and groups of similar communities.

10] FIRST ELEMENTS OF RESPONSE TO SOME COMMENTS MADE BY MR MONTES Of course, I am willing to improve my work following Mr Montès’ comments. Comments: « Syntheses—either partial or general–are lacking in this fundamentally analytical work. […] The approach is too seldom all-encompassing. The PhD candidate does not sufficiently master the huge collation of various sources: […] the essentials are not distinguished from minor details. The mechanisms of conflicts are ‘buried under’ a narrative or a juxtaposition of standpoints ».  My response: The scope and detailed nature of my PhD dissertation are necessary to understand the ramifications of the conflicts. This scope and detailed nature express themselves through:  Multiple examples.  A study of the historical roots of the conflicts.  Thorough analyses of legal issues.  Detailed explanations of how ecosystems work and are altered by human activities.  Sources carefully selected and located in the text in order to maintain the coherence and logical progression of my demonstration.  Numerous excerpts from filmed interviews. This combination of elements—thoughtfully organized—results in syntheses:  Located at the end of chapters.  In which the mechanisms of conflicts are summarized (they were addressed in details before in the text).  Which also take the form of summary tables, charts and diagrams. This combination of elements as well as syntheses and summary tables, charts and diagrams are necessary to comprehend the intricacies of the conflicts.

10] FIRST ELEMENTS OF RESPONSE TO SOME COMMENTS MADE BY MR MONTES Examples of syntheses in my PhD dissertation:  pp.316-317 (I-3-B: nation–sovereignty)  pp.428-433 (II-1: co-management of wolves)  pp.512-515 (II-2: co-management of salmon)  pp.624-629 (III-1: conflicts over water rights)  pp.707 (bottom)-708 (III-2: water quality issues)  pp.856-859 (III-4: Sustainable development) Examples of summary tables, charts and diagrams:  pp.353 (chart on the co-management of wolves)  pp.538 (chart on fire management)  pp.567 (chart on water rights)  pp.875 (diagram on the main conflicts)  pp.876-879 (tables on management/co-management)  pp.880-884 (tables on all of the conflicts studied)  In this powerpoint document (« Conflicts defused, lessened or sustained »)  Solutions to improve my work according to Mr Montès’ comments:  Highlighting the syntheses in the outline and within the text itself (insert, framing, color…).  Adding a synthesis in I-2-C (evolving identities and conflicts) .  Inserting the diagram on conflicts (« defused, lessened, sustained ») into my dissertation.  Question for Mr Montès: Could you please specify the pages on which your comments are based ?

Nicolas Barbier 2012 – All rights reserved