NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS
The National Congress of American Indians
Resolution #PSP-09-075c
TITLE: Endorsing the Efforts of the 10 Member Tribes of the InterTribal
Sinkyone Wilderness Council in their Stewardship of a 3,845 acre InterTribally Owned and Controlled Park located on the Northern California
Coastal Region
EXECU T IV E C OMM ITT EE
P RESIDENT
Jefferson Keel
Chickasaw Nation
F IRST
VICE - PRESIDENT
Juana Majel Dixon
Pauma Band – Mission Indians
R ECORDING S ECRETARY
Theresa Two Bulls
Oglala Sioux Tribe
T REASURER
W. Ron Allen
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
REG ION A L V IC E-PRESID ENT S
ALASKA
William Martin
Central Council Tlingit & Haida
E ASTERN O KLAHOMA
Cara Cowan Watts
Cherokee Nation
G REAT P LAINS
Marcus D. Levings
Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa Nation
M IDWEST
Matthew Wesaw
Pokagon Band of Potawatomie
N ORTHEAST
Lance Gumbs
Shinnecock Indian Nation
N ORTHWEST
Brian Cladoosby
Swinomish Tribal Community
P ACIFIC
Don Arnold
Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians
R OCKY M OUNTAIN
Scott Russell
Crow Tribe
S OUTHEAST
Archie Lynch
Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe
S OUTHERN P LAINS
Darrell Flyingman
Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes
S OUTHWEST
Joe Garcia
Ohkay Owingeh
W ESTERN
Irene Cuch
Ute Indian Tribe
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jacqueline Johnson Pata
Tlingit
NCAI HEADQUARTERS
1516 P Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
202.466.7767
202.466.7797 fax
www.ncai.org
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians
of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and
purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign
rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with
the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the
laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better
understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise
promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and
submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was
established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American
Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council is a coalition of ten
federally recognized Tribes of Northern California who banded together to create the
first Inter-Tribal Park in the nation comprised of 3,845 acres of wilderness; and
WHEREAS, the member tribes of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness
Council are: the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians; Redwood Valley Band of
Pomo Indians; Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians; Hopland Band of Pomo
Indians; Potter Valley Band of Pomo Indians; Pinoleville Band of Pomo Indians;
Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians; Robinson Rancheria; the Cahto Tribe and the
Round Valley Indian Tribes; and
WHEREAS, the InterTribal Council was founded in 1986 by, and for the
benefit of, its member Tribes and is charged with protecting the cultural-ecological
resources that constitute the heritage of the Indigenous Tribal peoples of the historic
Sinkyone Tribal Territory, which is located within southern Humboldt and northern
Mendocino Counties, from the coastline to the ridges parallel to and immediately east
of the South Fork and mainstream of the Eel River; and
WHEREAS, the InterTribal Council’s connections to the marine resources
and waters of this region are ancient and well documented, and these connections are
indisputably vital to the culture, sustenance, health, and continued well being of the
Tribal members of this region; and
NCAI 2009 Annual Session
Resolution PSP-09-075c
WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy has issued an EIS for the proposed expansion of the
Northwest Training Range Complex into an area of warfare operations which will include the
State of Washington, more areas in the State of Oregon, part of the state of Idaho, Northern
California and large areas of the Pacific Ocean along the Pacific Coast; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy published an application, as an addendum to their expanded
Warfare Testing Program, in the U.S. Federal Register, dated March 11, 2009 which, “requests
authorization to take 32 species of marine mammals during upcoming Navy Warfare Testing and
training to be conducted off the Pacific Coasts of Washington, Oregon and Northern California
over the course of 5 years;” and
WHEREAS, a portion of the proposed war game/military weapon testing proposed
expansion would be located, if approved, adjacent to the coastal property of the InterTribal
Sinkyone Wilderness Park; and
WHEREAS, the Navy Testing Program will “. . . utilize mid and high frequency sonar
sources and explosive detonations. These sonar and explosive sources will be utilized during
Antisubmarine Warfare, Tracking Exercises, Mine Avoidance Training, Extended Echo Ranging
and Improved Echo Ranging events, Missile exercises, Gunnery Exercises, Bombing Exercises
and Mine Warfare Training. . .”; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Navy’s proposed expansion of its war training area would result in
irreversible impacts to many sensitive coastal resources along the entire coastline of the historic
Sinkyone territory, including seaweeds, shellfish, rockfish and a host of other animal and plant
species that would be negatively affected by the proposed increase in training activities; and
WHEREAS, these coastal resources along with the marine resources and waters,
constitute a critical part of the cultural heritage and aboriginal rights of the Tribe of this region
who continue to rely upon them for sustenance and ceremonial usage; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. government failed to enter into government to government
consultations with the affected Tribes of Northern California; and
WHEREAS, the member Tribes of the Inter/Tribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council, as
stewards of the cultural heritage and as pledged protectors of the eco-system of the Northern
Mendocino County and Southern Humboldt County coastal region of Northern California in
which the Navy plans to expand its war testing/training activities, are adamantly opposed to the
U.S. Navy’s expansion of the Northwest Training Range Complex off the Coastal waters of
Northern California; and
WHEREAS, the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council and its member tribes are
advocating for the No Action Alternative as outlined in the U.S. Navy’s EIS for the expansion of
the Northwest Training Range Complex.
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NCAI 2009 Annual Session
Resolution PSP-09-075c
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NCAI does hereby endorse the
efforts of the 10 member tribes of the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness Council in their
stewardship of a 3,845 acre inter-tribally owned and controlled park located on the Northern
California Coastal region, in opposing the proposed expansion of the U.S. Navy’s proposed
Warfare Area Testing Expansion due to the adverse impacts that will occur to the marine
resources and waters which are vital to the culture, sustenance, health and continued well being of
Tribal members not only of the Northern California coastal region but the entire Pacific West
Coast; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it
is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2009 Annual Session of the
National Congress of American Indians, held at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm
Springs, California on October 11-16, 2009, with a quorum present.
President
ATTEST:
Recording Secretary
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