Recent USACE interaction with Tribes
Prior to spring flooding, flood packets are sent out to Tribes in multiple US Army Corps of Engineer’s (Corps) Districts. These flood packets contain information on the Corps’ Public Law (PL) 84–99 authorities, sample request for assistance letters, information on innovative flood fight equipment, a sandbag brochure and numerous other flood fight information. District Commanders, Tribal Liaisons, and Emergency Management staff meet with interested Tribes to brief on the Corps’ PL 84–99 authorities, lessons learned from previous flood events, conduct table top exercises, review sandbagging techniques, and to build the relationship between the Corps and the Tribes. Information is also placed on the Corps’ public Internet site and a 24 hour emergency operations phone line is distributed.
The following is a list of Tribes that were visited prior to this year’s flood season in the Missouri River basin:
Wyoming: Wind River Reservation
Montana: Blackfeet Nation, Rocky Boys Reservation, Fort Belknap Reservation,
Fort Peck Tribe
North Dakota: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Three Affiliated Tribe
South Dakota: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Sisseton Wahpeton Tribe, Yankton Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe
Nebraska: Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Santee Sioux Tribe, Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
Kansas: Iowa Tribes of Kansas and Nebraska, Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska, Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation
During a flood fight the Corps uses a Joint Information Center to coordinate among response agencies and communicate transparently to all external stakeholders including Tribes. The Corps has participated in national workshops held by Tribal assistance coordination groups, which provides federal, Tribal, state and local agencies an opportunity to plan for natural disasters in Native communities, learn how to work with each other during a natural disaster in Native communities, and learn about partner agency capabilities, resources, and responsibilities.
The following list is a summary of support provided to Tribes to date with regard to the Corps’ Missouri flood response.
15–18 Feb 2011—SD—Oglala Sioux Tribe at Pine Ridge Reservation: On 15 February 2011 the Oglala Sioux Tribe sent a request for technical and direct assistance to the Corps. Staff is deployed to the reservation and provided technical assistance from 16–18 February. A large area by the White River and Calico Creek was flooding. Several roads were impassible, with residents trapped in homes. Some of the residents were elders requiring medical attention. At least one school was at risk of flooding. Tribal leadership expressed concerns over limited resources. Flooding was caused by rapid snowmelt and two Tribally operated dams that had exceeded capacity. Agency coordination included the Corps, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Army National Guard (ANG),
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South Dakota Division of Emergency Services, and the South Dakota Department of Transportation.
15 Feb 2011—NE: Request for technical assistance from Ponca Tribe of Nebraska
17 Feb 2011—NE: Technical assistance provided to the Ponca Tribe to discuss potential flooding and preparedness.
17 Feb 2011—ND: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe provides notification of request to develop a request letter for obtaining assistance, the Corps assisted.
17 Feb 2011—MT: The State of Montana requested technical assistance for several communities in the State, including Fort Belknap. An initial assessment was completed by the Corps and sent to the State Division of Emergency Services as well as the Tribe. The recommendation provided was to continue to monitor the conditions in the City of Fort Belknap.
01 Mar 2011—SD: Completed a site visit to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe to discuss flood assistance and visited areas of concern in preparation for 2011 flooding.
08 Mar 2011—ND: Received request for assistance from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Corps provided requested assistance.
10 Mar 2011—MT: Initial assessment of the Fort Belknap Reservation completed and forwarded to the State of Montana. The Corps recommended that the State continue to monitor the conditions in the City of Fort Belknap. Corps staff coordinated with Tribal officials, advising them how to make an official request.
13–19 Mar 2011: The Corps conducted meetings and briefings with the Blackfeet Nation, Ft Peck, Three Affiliated, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe,
14 Mar 2011—MT: The Corps met with the Blackfeet Nation Tribal leadership and emergency management staff. During the meeting the Corps received a request for advanced measures technical assistance from the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana. They requested safety inspections and reports on the following BIA dams on the Blackfeet Reservation: Two Medicine Dam, Four Horn Dam, and Swift Dam. The Corps continued to coordinate with the Tribe from Mar through July. Agency coordination included the BIA, IHS, and Montana Division of Emergency Services.
14 Mar 2011—MT: The Fort Belknap Indian Community requested technical and direct assistance, specifically requesting sandbags and plastic sheeting. The Corps provided 2 rolls of plastic and 8,000 sandbags. At the time, the National Weather Service provided information that there was a 90 percent chance that over a foot of water would be on the water intake building with a 50 percent chance that it may go to three feet. This is a small structure located adjacent to the river. Recommendation to the Tribe was to build a temporary sandbag dike around the building. Prison labor was utilized for sandbag placement. Agency coordination included the Montana Department of Emergency Services, BIA, and IHS.
17 Mar 2011: The BIA notifies Tribes of the Corps’ PL 84–99 Tribal flood fighting capabilities.
22 Mar 2011: The Corps and BIA begin regular response coordination information sharing.
22 Mar 2011: The Corps extends coordination efforts and puts BIA in communication with staff in the Mississippi Valley Division to being coordination in the Mississippi River basin.
23 Mar 2011—MT: Ft Belknap sends an additional request for direct assistance to the Corps. An additional 10,000 sandbags were provided.
06 Apr 2011—MT: The Ft Belknap ring levee is completed. The Corps provided technical assistance for the construction of a temporary sandbag structure to protect the water intake pump station, Tribe provided labor. 8,000 Sandbags were provided.
21 Apr 2011—SD: Received request for emergency operations technical assistance for Low Head Dam in the City of Flandreau to determine potential measures that may be needed to alleviate additional flooding in the area and to increase safety. There is concern that that dam may not be safe, in need of repair, or could possibly be removed in order to increase safety and not cause flooding to residents in the area. The Corps provided technical assistance.
05 May 2011—WY: Received a request for advanced measures technical assistance to evaluate the flood threat (initial assessments) to the following areas located in the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation: Ethete, Fort Washakie, Arapaho, St. Stephens, Crowheart, Burris, Dinwoody, and Johnstown. The rivers of concern in this area are the Big Wind River, Little Wind River, and Popo Agie River and their associated tributaries. The Corps provided technical assistance in addition to the initial assessments. Fortunately, flood waters began to recede; therefore, advanced measures were not authorized.
23 May 2011—MT: The Crow Nation Tribe requested direct assistance. The Corps provided the Tribe with 75,000 sandbags.
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25 May 2011—MT: The Corps met with Crow Nation leadership to provide technical assistance. Key issues included access to roads and bridges, food for the displaced, access to medical facilities, a boil water order and water treatment plant shutdown. The Corps participated in daily EOC briefings and assisted in bridge assessments. Agency coordination included BIA, BOR, IHS, USDA, and ANG.
26 May2011—MT—Crow Nation Tribe: The Corps updated Tribal leadership, briefs EOC, continue bridge assessments, and coordinates an afternoon conference with FEMA.
26 May 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps received a request for technical assistance from the State of North Dakota EOC and the Tribe. A technical team member was dispatched to the Ft. Yates area and provided assistance to the Tribe.
27 May 2011—ND: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sent a request for technical and direct assistance to the Corps. A conference call was conducted with the Tribe and BIA on the specifics of the request. Due to the holiday weekend, the Chairman was unavailable to meet again until 01 Jun 2011.
30 May 2011—MT: Fort Peck Tribe sent a request for technical and direct assistance to the Corps.
31 May 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps deployed a technical team to Ft. Yates. The Corps held an initial meeting with Tribal leadership then participated in a public meeting. Key issues of concern included the Ft Yates roadway, Sitting Bull site, Airport Road, sewage lagoon, projected lake elevations, water flows, and erosion
01 June 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps met with Tribal leadership and provided an update on contracting actions, release plans, projected weather outlook, and participated in a public meeting. Agency coordination included the BIA, IHS, FEMA, North Dakota, US Attorney, FEMA, and BOR.
01 and 09 June 2011—MT—Ft Peck Tribe: The Corps provided a total of 51 rolls of plastic and 50,000 sandbags. Over the course of 2–3 weeks, technical teams visited the communities of Brockton, Poplar and Wolf Point numerous times responding to technical assistance requests for the sewage lagoons and the construction of a temporary levee in Poplar, MT.
02 June 2011 ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe : The Corps met with Tribal leadership, concerns expressed included the Ft Yates roadway, Ft Yates water intake, and the water intake pump house. A public meeting was held with the Corps, BOR, BIA, IHS, and ANG. The Corps participates in daily radio talk shows. The Corps awarded a contract to provide erosion protection to locations along the Sitting Bull historical site and the Ft. Yates water intake for $150,000. This contract was completed on 05 June 2011. Also, on 02 June 2011, the Corps received a request from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for direct assistance. The Corps sent 50,000 sandbags and 30 rolls of plastic.
03 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps meets with Tribal leadership and provides an update. The BIA and DOI provided the Corps with access to communications network to ensure reliable communication capabilities. The Corps participated in a public meeting, a radio talk show, and a conference call with the North Dakota and South Dakota US Attorney’s Office to address, jail, Police Department road access, potential need for evacuations and public safety issues.
03–04 Jun 2011—WY—Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation: The Corps’ technical team was on site providing technical assistance to the Tribal communities. No further assistance requested.
03 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: BOR approached the Corps about an erosion problem that required immediate attention. The agency is in the process of completing construction of a new water treatment facility and erosion around the site was placing the project at risk. The Corps expedited the permitting action for the placement of rip rap on the shoreline to stabilize the site.
04 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps awarded a second contract for the protection of the North and South causeways at Ft. Yates for $600,000.
The North side was completed on 15 Jun and the south side was completed on 02
Jul.
05 Jun 2011—NE—Omaha Tribe: The Omaha Tribe sent a request for technical and direct assistance to the Corps. The Corps sent a technical team multiple times during the construction of a temporary levee and also provided 20,000 sandbags. Staff continued to provide daily briefings and participate in radio talk shows. The team conducted a boat tour along the shoreline to evaluate erosion and the contractor begins preparatory work on the roadway site.
06 Jun 2011—MT: Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation sent a request for direct and technical assistance and the Corps provided the Tribe 10,000
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sandbags. Additional on-site technical assistance was provided in the following days to develop a safety plan while roadway work was conducted.
07 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps continues daily briefings for leadership and community members. Efforts are also underway with the Rocky Boy, Omaha Tribe, and Yankton Sioux Tribe.
08 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps conducts final briefing with Tribal leadership and a final radio show. The Tribe presents the Corps with a Star Blanket. The Corps continues to monitor conditions and construction.
08 Jun 2011—NE—Santee Sioux Tribe: The Tribe requested technical and direct assistance to maintain access to the community. The requests were fulfilled by the Corps.
09 Jun 2011—MT: The Corps met with Rocky Boy leadership. Flash flooding event had passed so the Corps is shown areas of concern. Tribe requests information on any possible sources of replacement of funding.
11 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck: The Corps met with Ft Peck representatives and toured the Wolf Point pump house to review sandbagging efforts.
12 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck: The Corps toured the sewage lagoons with Ft Peck representatives.
13 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck Tribe: The Corps meets with Tribal Council. Key concerns include potential damage to lagoons, need for rip rap slope protection for areas experiencing erosion, condition of Ft Peck Dam, water release plan, duration of releases, Tribal consultation, and protection of the pump house. Agency coordination included the BIA and IHS.
14 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck Tribe: The Corps tours the pump house, meets with Vice- Chairwoman, provides update on Ft. Peck Dam releases, weather and status of pump house sandbagging efforts, briefs Tribal Council, revisits lagoon site, and tours roadway levee construction.
15 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck Tribe: Technical assistance continues as well as sandbagging.
17 Jun 2011—MT—Ft. Peck Tribe: Pump house work placed on hold due to declining water levels. The Corps met with Tribal Council and provided an update on current projections and conditions as well as addresses rumors and concerns.
18–21 Jun 2011—MT: Monitoring efforts and briefing for Ft. Peck Tribal leadership.
22 Jun 2011—SD: The Corps participated in a conference call regarding the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe’s water intake. Key issues included water quality, change out of screens, additional costs, possible need to relocate the intake, insufficient water production, Corps releases, and Tribal consultation.
22 Jun 2011—NE—Santee Sioux Tribe: The Tribe requested technical and direct assistance. The Corps provided 30,000 sandbags to the Tribe.
22 Jun 2011—ND: The Corps met with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to discuss levee concerns. The Tribe was under the impression that they were responsible for the levee when it was really the City of Ft Yates responsibility. A site visit was conducted and meeting held with the BIA.
23 Jun 2011—ND—Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: The Corps met with Tribal leadership to brief on the latest projections and conduct a radio talk show with the Chairman and Vice- Chairman.
23 Jun 2011—SD—Crow Creek Sioux Tribe: The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe sends a request for technical and direct assistance to the Corps due to issues with their water intake at the spillway of Big Bend Dam. The Tribe along with BIA, IHS, and the Corps worked together and determined a fix to their siltation of the filters at the water intake.
26–27 Jun 2011—NE—Santee Sioux Tribe: The Tribe requested technical and direct assistance. The Corps provided numerous 1 ton sandbags to assist the Tribe and Nebraska Department of Roads.
06 Jul 2011—NE/IA—Winnebago Tribe: The Winnebago Tribe sent a request for technical assistance to the Corps. Hydrological engineers with the Corps provided a flood profile and engineering analysis on a potential road raise to allow the WinneVegas Casino to reopen as requested.
Other flood fighting/disaster response
Albuquerque District provided sand bags and flood fight training at Nambe, Santo Domingo, Santa Clara, Jemez, San Ildefonso and Cochiti Pueblos earlier this year.
Memphis District has, and continues to coordinate with a Tribal coalition led by the Mississippi Choctaw, Caddo and Osage over effects to archeological sites/human remains caused by the operation of the New Madrid/Birds Point projects, which required execution of a planned levee breach.
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New Orleans District has been in recent contact with the Chitimacha in regards to this year’s flooding.
Mr. MCMAHON. But more specifically to your question, Senator Hoeven, there are examples when roads, bridges, causeways can be undertaken as part of public infrastructure and protected as the water rises, and we have asserted that authority and used it where it is appropriate. There are other examples, and one of them involved a Native American Tribe recently, where they had surrounded their enclave, casino and some administrative buildings, with a very nice ring levee, but did not have an access road to it; they had to use a boat or other transportation. And in that case, public infrastructure wasn’t part of the equation, so that specific request had to be denied, unfortunately.
There is a set of criteria that apply, and when we can demonstrate that those criteria are met, we are absolutely out there and doing our very best.
Senator HOEVEN. Mr. Chairman, if I may continue for just a minute. I see my time is up, but if I could go on just for a minute.
I think there are some instances where we can prevent significant damage and cost for not only Tribal government, but local, State, and Federal as well, if we are proactive, and maybe the Corps has some programs in the case of roads that are better suited.
Let me switch for just a moment to homes, and come back to Director Fugate. Now for homes that have been either partially or maybe completely damaged in the flooding. On the public assistance side, your reimbursement works very well, and we are at the level where it is going to be 90 percent, then the State steps in for most of the rest, and in some cases Tribal and local. But on the individual assistance side, for individuals where their home is destroyed and they didn’t have flood insurance, take me through any help you can provide.
Mr. FUGATE. Well, you just identified probably the biggest impact is not having flood insurance, because there is no program in the Federal Government that will make you whole, take care of your mortgage or rebuild your home. The Individual Assistance Program directed by Congress, adjusted by Consumer Price Index, if you were able to max out just about everything in the impact, may get up to about $32,000.
And the example of numbers I am very familiar with because I have the final numbers. The Tennessee floods of last year that had many homes flooded and destroyed, the average amount of direct Federal assistance—and this is a grant; they don’t have to repay it back—was under $8,000. You are not going to rebuild your home for $8,000. And it was never the intention in the Stafford Act that the Individual Assistance Program made you whole or rebuilt your home, that is why there is a key step there that oftentimes gets overlooked. They go from I don’t have insurance to what assistance FEMA can provide me, and that is a Small Business Administration loan.
This is one of the caveats that, when the President declares a disaster, it not only activates the Stafford Act Individual Assistance, it activates the low interest Small Business Administration loans, and for many people that will be the avenue by which they
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can rebuild their homes. But it carries the burden that if they already have an existing mortgage, they also have now another loan on top of that to rebuild.
But if you took everything that we can do in our Federal programs, in the FEMA IA program and maxed it out, which is rare, it still will not provide sufficient funds to rebuild. That is why we work with HUD, because in the low-income—and also in Minot we had preexisting housing conditions because of the oil boom, so we already had a shortfall to begin with. So the housing we are losing is being exasperated because there are not rental properties or places we can lease while people rebuild. We work very close with HUD as they work with the States with their block grant and other dollars for affordable housing.
We really look at FEMA as the bridge. We look at our partners at HUD and others as the longer term solution to, oftentimes, preexisting conditions, but also the reality that, without insurance, we are not going to make people whole, we are not going to, oftentimes, get them back into home ownership, and we have to work very closely with HUD and the State on what some of the longer term solutions are for housing.
Senator HOEVEN. So the HUD programs are the best fit to kind of dovetail and put together the best possible package.
Mr. FUGATE. And that, again, is a reflection of the coordination between Secretary Donovan and Secretary Napolitano looking, as we came into this administration, of the situations we had postKatrina, but also demonstrating by working together and bringing Federal programs together, we can work to help the longer term issues.
But it is a mistake for people to rely upon FEMA grant assistance as the mechanism that will make them whole; it is a combination of Small Business Administration disaster loans, FEMA grant, HUD and other programs, which goes back to the core issue: of all the hazards in this Country, the one that produces the greatest vulnerability is flooding when people don’t have flood insurance.
Senator HOEVEN. And can that SBA loan be either a second mortgage behind the first or take out the first and be the full mortgage, either one?
Mr. FUGATE. Either one. And again, within the SBA program, what they will generally do is provide the coverage there, provide a much higher value than we can, our grants for rebuilding. They also offer, as part of that low interest program, again, for qualified homeowners, that they can do things such as elevation and mitigation to their homes they rebuild. This also is the only assistance we have available for businesses that flood, since FEMA programs don’t provide assistance to businesses.
Senator HOEVEN. Okay, who is the best person on your staff that I can have somebody on my staff work with to put together the best possible practice, bringing in HUD and whatever resource mix maximizes the recovery assistance? Who would be the Native person that is really good with that we can work with?
Mr. FUGATE. Our Federal coordinating officer, and I believe we have already been working with HUD on establishing long-term recovery in North Dakota, particularly in Minot, because we know we have a big housing issue, and I will have our Federal coordinating
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officer and get the person who is currently heading up long-term recovery, because that is where we really bring in our Federal partners on the interagency to work the long-term issues with the State. And because the governor had already established a housing task force pre-flood dealing with housing issues we are also integrating with that team to address both the preexisting condition that has now been exasperated by the flooding.
Senator HOEVEN. That would be great. If you could give me that person’s name, we want to make sure we are looking at every avenue available. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Hoeven.
I want to thank this panel for your responses. I also want to include in the record the material that the General had asked be placed in the record. And I want to thank you for your valuable responses that will help us in our work here to deal with emergency preparedness. Again, I want to thank you for your time; you have been very generous. Thank you, first panel.
I would like to invite the second panel to the witness table. Serving on our second panel is Governor Walter Dasheno, Governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara.
Governor Dasheno, I want to thank you for taking the time to be with us today and your patience here, as well. I know that you have a lot to do back home in dealing with the recent fire, but your testimony here today will allow us to hear of your recent personal experiences.
I would like to turn to my colleague and good friend, Senator Udall, to continue with this introduction, since I know he is well aware of the effects of your recent fire and has been out to your Pueblo to see where he can be helpful. Senator Udall.
Senator UDALL. Thank you, Chairman Akaka. I am pleased to introduce my good friend, Governor Walter Dasheno, of the Santa Clara Pueblo. I first want to thank Governor Dasheno for taking the time and the expense to testify today. We recognize his sacrifice in coming all the way during a very uncertain time for his Tribe, and I want the Committee to know that in New Mexico the fire season is closely followed by the annual monsoon season, so that in addition to losing much of the Tribe’s forest and sacred sites to the fires, Santa Clara Pueblo has already experienced many mud slides and movement of debris and damage to some of their ponds that exist in Santa Clara Canyon.
The Governor and the Pueblo have worked around the clock to protect their village and sacred sites with some 47,000 sandbags, the building of debris pools, and other precautions. Our Committee is lucky to have the Governor come and testify in the midst of a natural disaster. Governor Dasheno’s presence in the Committee today is only made possible because he was so diligent in past weeks working to ensure his community is as prepared as possible for any major rainstorms and flooding.
I have worked with Governor Dasheno for years and admire his excellent leadership skills and the dedication he has to the Santa Clara Pueblo. Governor Dasheno is currently serving his eleventh term as Governor of Santa Clara Pueblo, has worked with Tribal
Government for 38 years, he was the Director of the first Depart-
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ment of Energy contract for the Los Alamos Pueblo projects, and was Santa Clara’s first Intergovernmental and Public Relations Officer. Prior to holding that position, he served the Santa Fe Indian School for seven years as Intergovernmental Liaison and has also held the position of Director of Planning for the Eight Northern Pueblos Council.
In addition to being a member of the Eight Northern Pueblos Council, Governor Dasheno is also a member of the All Indian Pueblo Council and the National Congress of American Indians. He has been a valued contributor to Federal Indian programs through his work on the Indian Health Service Committee to assist with the Service’s consultation policy and previous service as Chairman of the Commission on Indian Affairs and a member of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Governor Dasheno studied liberal arts and theology at Donscota College, a Franciscan undergraduate school in liberal arts and theology. He also attended high school at the prestigious St. Catherine School in Santa Fe and served in the U.S. Navy and is a Vietnam veteran.
I want to again reiterate the great leadership that has come from Governor Dasheno during the Las Conchas fire. From the start of the fire Santa Clara fire teams were on the front lines protecting the safety of all New Mexicans, and as evacuees poured out, 12,000, out of Los Alamos, the Governor welcomed them into Santa Clara Pueblo facilities. Then when the fire blazed through his own Pueblo’s land, Governor Dasheno was quick to immediately engage Federal agencies to bring any needed supplies and technical assistance to ensure his community was protected from coming floods.
I welcome Governor Dasheno to our Committee and thank him for his attendance and contribution to today’s discussions. It is my sincere hope that the Pueblo of Santa Clara is able to safely clear the next several weeks of monsoons, and I look forward to working with him to ensure that this is possible.
Thank you again, Chairman Akaka, and I look forward to Governor Dasheno’s testimony and also to the questioning.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Udall.
Before we receive the testimony of the Governor, I would like to, for the record, state that I have further questions of the first panel and that I will submit them for their responses.
Governor Dasheno, we are so happy to have you here and I look forward to your testimony. Would you please proceed?
STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER DASHENO, GOVERNOR, PUEBLO OF SANTA CLARA, ESPANOLA, NM; ACCOMPANIED BY JOHN PEREA, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CRC & ASSOCIATES, LLC
Mr. DASHENO. Aloha, Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN. Aloha.
Mr. DASHENO. I was here before in a different session, in May, when the hearings were about appropriations. Seems like I always come to be asking for money or otherwise. I certainly appreciate the comments and humble statements that Senator Udall made. Just a couple of corrections. This is my twelfth year in office, and I wanted to state that it was not 40,000, but we bagged 60,000 bags of sand. So just for the record, Mr. Chairman, Secretary, Senator Udall.
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Before we start, if you could allow me, Mr. Chairman, to say a few sayings in my language, which is appropriate because of the hardships that we have gone through this last few days. I have a message from my people from Santa Clara Pueblo to convey to you, and appropriately they asked me to say it in our Tewa language so that you can feel the wording that comes from their hearts, their minds and souls. So if you would allow me, Mr. Chairman.
[Message in Native language.]
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, my name is Walter Dasheno. I am the Governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara, and thank you for this opportunity to testify. It is regrettably that Santa Clara Pueblo has developed expertise with both fires and floods. We have been devastated not only by the Las Conchas fire, which is still burning and a preclude to flooding in the Santa Clara Canyon. Flooding will likely endanger homes, our senior citizens’ center, our Tribal administration buildings, also other facilities that are adjacent to our lands. Debris and residue have contaminated our watershed and will continue to pass on into the Rio Grande.
Our traditional homelands and spiritual sanctuary, the Santa Clara Canyon have practically been destroyed, and as we all know as Native people, mountains, rivers, animals, spiritual locations are similar to churches throughout the Country, so in a sense our church has been destroyed. But we will stand up again and learn from this process of what needs to be done.
We estimate that over 17,000 acres of our forest lands have been burned. With past fires, 80 percent of our forest and a huge part of our heritage has been destroyed. This fire has also burned thousands of acres of traditional lands, including the lands of origin, the P’ opii Khanu, the headwaters of our Santa Clara Creek. Forest loss is also devastating to wildlife, recreational resources and to the purity of our water, which we have used for irrigation and many traditional purposes.
As a matter of fact, on August the 12th, which is going to be occurring in approximately three weeks, we will be celebrating our annual feast day. We used to go get the water from the spiritual location, but because of the danger that it has created, we are not sure what is going to occur at this point, so it is already affecting us in terms of what is occurring.
We have many short- and long-term concerns: one, we still need fire suppression resources; two, we face potential flooding of our homes, public buildings, and irrigation systems; three, we have water quality impacts, such as ash and debris flowing into the Santa Clara Creek, which will eventually reach the Rio Grande; four, we have physical health impacts from the smoke and the emotional impact on our community.
Matter of fact, next week Monday is going to be a day of healing for many of our community members, so it is going to be an opportunity to share the story of what has occurred on our reservation with the young and the old. Five, the cost of addressing the fire, along with the closure of Puye Cliff dwellings, the homelands of our ancestors, and the decline in visitors to our lands have caused us to suffer financially; six, we must address the long-term restoration of the forest and the lands adjacent to our reservations.
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We have been actively working with the Forest Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and others to establish a forest management program that would have prevented this catastrophe. These efforts would have eventually succeeded. For example, the back of the canyon was saved due to a 300-acre fuel break that we established with funding from the Forest Service Collaborative Forest Restoration Program. This program should be expanded. As a matter of fact, we are in the process of working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a Tribal forest protection act program, so I am hoping that we can come back to the Committee to get their support in regards to this project, because it is going to benefit all of us.
In the last decade, we have faced four fires that have threatened our forests, and none of them have originated on our lands. Because of the Federal Government’s culpability in the Cerro Grande fire, there was a robust effort to address impacts. We have been advised that because the Las Conchas fire was not started by Federal action, we should not expect as robust a response. Rather, we should look for funding only from existing programs at existing Federal levels similar to other Tribes throughout the Country.
New Mexico Governor Martinez has declared an emergency in affected counties and at the Santa Clara Pueblo and has made limited funding available through the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. While Santa
Clara is appreciative of these actions, we are also asking the governor to take an even larger measure. We are requesting that the governor request that the President declare a disaster at the Santa Clara Pueblo, Cochiti Pueblo, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Jemez Pueblo, and Santa Domingo Pueblo, and in the areas affected by the fire, including the fire at Nambe that was occurring before this fire started. Such a declaration would free up FEMA assistance, which we desperately need.
Because only a State governor can set this process into motion, we ask this Committee to address why Tribal governments who have a direct government-to-government relationship with the United States must go through State governors to request Federal disaster relief. Such relief clearly falls within the Federal trust obligation. We urge Congress to pass legislation that allows a Tribe to directly request this relief.
Our recommendations at this point are: one, an oversight field hearing to assess progress; two, emergency appropriations for Tribal mitigation, watershed restoration, and BAER plan implementation; three, an interagency task force to be created to address Indian Country emergencies; four, agencies to be directed to allocate resources to Santa Clara Pueblo for mitigation, restoration, and BAER plan implementation; and, number five, Congressman Rahall, who has introduced legislation, H.R. 1953, to allow Tribes to directly request that the Federal declaration of Federal disaster be provided for. We ask that your Committee enact similar legislation on the Senate side.
While we intend to devote the resources we can to the healing of our land and the protection of our community, we cannot do it alone. We turn in this hour of need to our Federal trustee and ask for your assistance in assuring the remediation of our sacred homelands.
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Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, I implore on the Federal Government to aid all of us as Tribal governments. There has to be equity in the process of allocation of resources. Many Tribes don’t have the means to do this. Many Tribes don’t have the means to allocate the resources that are necessary. And many times Tribes are at the mercy because they tell us that funding should be made available through gaming fund. That is not correct, Mr. Chairman. There is only limited funding in gaming and other resources. So, therefore, Mr. Chairman, I implore on all of you to assist us as Tribal governments to continue to support the needs that we face as Tribal governments.
In closing, I would like to make the statement that was made by our former governor, Michael Chavarria, who was the resource person that was identified in working on this Las Conchas fire. He stated, the Santa Clara Pueblo community, Tribal Council, governor and staff would like to extend our gratitude and lasting friendship to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team, including the Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team. The Pueblo supported the plan as developed and appreciated the consideration of our energy and concerns being incorporated into the Team’s management objective.
The Pueblo’s recommendation and at times involved in the decision-making process was valuable. The importance of protecting our watershed, P‘ opii Khanu, treasured lands and spiritual sanctuary is essential to the traditional and cultural and practices of our Pueblo. The various natural resources, including the gathering of medicinal plants and herbs within the incident area, is critical to our survival. The many TCPs, or Tribal Cultural Properties, in the incident area are of significant value and irreparably, once destroyed or disturbed, cannot come back. Incident Commander Joe Reinarz and his team took our thoughts, concerns, and issues into consideration to stop the fire from impacting our sacred lands.
At times we just couldn’t win over Mother Nature. But the Pueblo will overcome this obstacle and once again be able to utilize the many natural resources our mountains have to offer. The Pueblo would like to thank the Team for being professional, respectful, and a terrible group of individuals that have come together to form a team that is strong, dedicated, and understands the meaning of teamwork. Again, [greeting in Native language], which means thank you very much in our language. Our experience will be shared with many and will be remembered for years to come.
Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, and we certainly appreciate you being able to hear our concerns at this point. Mahalo.
[ The prepared statement of Mr. Dasheno follows :]
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. WALTER DASHENO, GOVERNOR, PUEBLO OF SANTA CLARA, ESPANOLA, NM
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The CHAIRMAN. Mahalo. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Let me ask Senator Udall for any questions.
Senator UDALL. Thank you, Chairman Akaka.
Governor Dasheno, your Pueblo has gone through, I think, four fires in recent year, and the Las Conchas is the fourth. Do you believe, in your interaction with, and your Pueblo’s interaction, your liaison officer, Mike Chavarria, do you think the Federal Government and its various agencies have gotten better in terms of communicating with you, working with you, developing plans, fighting
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the fires, preparing for the flooding afterwards? What is your sense of that? Eleven years ago you had the Cerro Grande, I think before that the Pueblo was hit with a dome fire and one other fire. So what is your sense there? Could we do things better?
Mr. DASHENO. Mr. Chairman and Senator Udall, yes, we could do things better. We need to have coordination with all of the Federal agencies that have always been considered trustees of the Tribes that they serve. It is always important to recognize the issue of sovereignty, as you said, Mr. Chairman. Sovereignty is built around the premise that the Federal trustee belongs in working with Tribal government. I believe in that.
Therefore, the trustee responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, Corps of Engineers to some extent, Bureau of Reclamation, within Interior, Fish and Wildlife, within the programs under DHHS, the programs under HUD are critical that they do coordinate and work with Tribal governments.
However, one of the things that we would suggest is that resources be given to every Tribe to develop a plan, because without a plan, when Federal emergencies or Federal assistance is required, everyone seems to be hustling to get the work done, but many times we overlook issues. If a Tribe has a plan to work from, it is easier for us to determine what the resources are needed for and how it is going to be done.
So, yes, Mr. Chairman, Senator Udall, we feel that there could be a better process that all of us can work together on, and that is the recommendation we made as part of the record in our written statement.
Senator UDALL. And, Governor Dasheno, you had a plan coming into this; whereas, I think, some of the other Pueblos didn’t. Were you better able to deal with some of the issues because of that?
Mr. DASHENO. Mr. Chairman, Senator Udall, in a humble way, yes, because we have experienced three previous fires, and with this fire we had the process in place. We had gone through an exercise of setting up an emergency management plan. We created an incident management team, so we put that into effect day one; one to deal with the fire and a separate one to deal with the flooding. Without that, we probably would be like many, many Tribes that don’t have the means to create that resource, and how quickly it can activate it.
The Federal agencies basically said that they have the resources at their level. Well, that resource should also be done for Tribal governments; they need to organize those resources. And again, because Tribal governments don’t have the means to do that, it is important for the United States Government to hear our concerns, and really put some funding available to all of us so that we can prepare ourselves for natural disasters.
Senator UDALL. Governor, you heard the testimony before you; you were here while the various Federal agencies testified. You heard the Forest Service and the BIA talk about the BAER Teams and them being out there and trying to get ready for the flooding. Do you have any comments either responding to what they said or how that BAER Team process is moving along, recognizing that is the process that prevents the flooding from happening, tries to do
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as much as it can? Is that moving smoothly? Where is that at at this point?
Mr. DASHENO. Mr. Chairman and Senator Udall, today at 1 o’clock New Mexico time we were supposed to have been given the draft of the BAER Team report for the Northern Pueblo area, specifically Santa Clara. To get a BAER Team to come in takes a lot of effort and many resources. They have been here for approximately two weeks now. Their time will end this coming Monday, when they give the final report to all of us at the northern Pueblos and then one to the southern Pueblos.
It takes a long time for many Tribal governments to really understand what that process means, and by a long time I don’t mean 60 or 90 days. We should be given the opportunity at least 15 days or 30 days, similar to what you have, Mr. Chairman, in allowing the record to be open for that time period. We should also be given some additional time to allow us to make our comments because we are supposed to now have our recommendations as early as tomorrow or no later than Saturday or Sunday at the latest.
So it does not really give us a whole bunch of time to really determine the true accuracies that we need to input into a report such as the BAER plan, because those are very, very technical reports; they address issues for the short term and for the long term. So it is incumbent on all of us as Tribal governments to be given an additional time. Although we are part of the BAER Team effort, as you said, Senator Udall, many Tribes do not have that capability to be able to be on the Team because they don’t have the resources. So, yes, Mr. Chairman and Senator Udall, we need to get a little bit more time to do that, and I am hoping that we will then get a definite quantified statement regarding that issue.
Senator UDALL. My office looks forward to working with you very closely to make sure all the interactions take place with the various Federal agencies, including the BAER Team, to make sure that you get your input, whether it is input on specific actions that should be taken with regard to the ponds in the canyon or sacred sites or anything else. So we look forward to working with you closely.
Chairman Akaka, I have other questions, but I want to make sure you get to ask your questions also, and I see I am a little bit over time here.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Udall.
I again want to thank the Governor for your testimony. Without question, it will be helpful.
This recent fire, Governor, your State did not request an emergency declaration from the President, which would have allowed you greater access to Federal programs. My question to you is what impact has that had on the Pueblo?
Mr. DASHENO. Chairman Akaka, it has had some major impact, not specifically with Santa Clara. I did meet with Governor Martinez, and we recommended that that declaration also include Santa Clara Pueblo. She didn’t make the change in terms of the declaration. The declaration that really needs to come from her office is to declare to the President, who then opens the record to allow FEMA funding to come into place.
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There are two types of declarations that are made; one is specifically by the governor of the State to make a declaration and then, secondly, the declaration to allow FEMA to come in to access resources, and that is the second one that we are concerned with. That is why we are saying that Tribes should be able to access their own resources through the issue of sovereignty.
We do have a good relationship with the governor in this issue, but I guess many times, as we all know, emergencies bring—we become strange bedfellows, so in this respect we have developed a good partnership, but once in a while we need to push her a little bit more to do that for all of us. And I am not speaking specifically about Santa Clara; I think that would include the Pueblos of San Ildefonso, Cochiti, Santa Domingo, Jemez Pueblo, and Nambe Pueblo.
The CHAIRMAN. Well, I want you to know that we are working on this emergency type of bill and we are now looking at Representative Rahall’s bill from the House side and certainly considering introducing a similar bill in the U.S. Senate. The comments at this hearing will be helpful in deciding whether we amend the Stafford Act, and I think that the responses will help us in this way, and also your testimony as well. So we have moved rather far to try to work on this so that in Hawaiian we call it so things are pono, I mean right, and you can get the kind of help that you need in the Native communities. So we look forward to working with you and others on this.
Senator Udall, do you have anything further?
Senator UDALL. Let me, Chairman Akaka, just sum up like you have. I, first of all, want to thank you the Chairman, because these fires didn’t occur long ago, and he managed through really diligent efforts and his staff’s efforts to put together the full panel here and get the invitation out to you, and he has been really, really responsive to what he knows is a devastating situation to all of the Pueblos that are involved here in New Mexico. So I just want to thank him again.
And then, Governor Dasheno, thank you for your very thoughtful testimony. As you can tell by the Chairman’s comments, you have given us a lot to chew on here and to think about, and it doesn’t just end today; I will be continuing my visits with you and learning from you and the Tribal councils, the other governors in the Tribal councils about the needs and what we need to do to put in place to make sure that we have the very, very best restoration.
So, with that, I would yield back and thank you again, Mr.
Chairman, and thank Governor Dasheno.
The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator Udall.
Again I want to say mahalo, thank you to you and to the other witnesses that appeared today at this hearing. The testimony we have heard today is very valuable, as I said, not only to the Committee, but also to the Tribal Governments and Native peoples who are faced with natural disasters. It is clear that all of the agencies we heard from today are committed to doing their part to respond when natural disasters hit Native communities. Nevertheless, I think there are ways we can improve the Federal response. I think it is important to look at what has worked out in the past and use
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those foundations to make sure we are meeting the needs of Native people.
The Committee looks forward to continuing to work with all of you to see how we can improve coordination and collaboration among the agencies and with the Tribes as well. I also encourage Tribes and other interested parties to submit their written testimony for the record. By hearing from you on this very important issue, we can determine what legislative and administrative steps are necessary to help Tribes prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
So again thank you very much for your participation here today.
Mahalo.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:42 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. CLIFFORD CULTEE, CHAIRMAN, LUMMI INDIAN
NATION
The Lummi Indian Nation appreciates the opportunity to submit a written statement for the record. We understand that for some Native Nations the issue of ‘‘Facing Floods and Fires’’ is direr than for others. There have been some very tragic floods and fires impacting Indian Country in the recent past. Most of the impacted Tribes do not have the governmental revenues or economic capacity to absorb the damages, the extensive loses, or to cover the necessary expenses to even begin planning or preparing for how to prevent the cycle from causing such immediate and lasting impacts again. We recommend that the Committee work with the various departments and agencies that can identify how to co-coordinate and meet the needs of the impacted communities on a more routine approach, with adequate staffing and financial support to accomplish coordinated responses, preparations, prevention, and recovery tasks so important to the impacted Tribes.
The Lummi Indian Nation has a government-to-government relationship with the United States, as provided by the Senate ratification and President’s Proclamation of the Treaty of Point Elliot, in 1859, as negotiated in 1855 (12 Stat. 927). This treaty is with the whole United States. This breaks down into obligations and responsibilities owed by the President, Congress, and the Courts. We believe that all the various departments and agencies that are listed to testify and submit their positions to this Committee on these two important subject matters are bound by the Sacred Trust of Civilization to respond and lend assistance to the impacted Tribes and communities.
The Lummi Nation has two rivers that were important to the people, culturally, at the time of the treaty. The first was the Nooksack River that flowed along the eastern side of the treaty established reservation. The second was the Lummi River, a distributary of the Nooksack River that flowed along the northwestern side of the reservation. At treaty times, these two rivers were full of all species of salmon. The salmon were plentiful due to the extensive reaches of healthy salmon spawning habitat. At treaty times, the river waters were not diverted away, and the flow of water from the mountains and lowlands were steady since the mountains lowlands were still forested. However, modern developments and demands upon the waters have impacted the salmon and human populations alike. Historically unregulated forest practices, levee construction along the channel that prevented flood waters from spreading out over the landscape during floods, and other land use practices have clogged the river beds with debris and silt loads that destroy the salmon’s habitat. The waters are drained for agriculture, diverted for hydro-projects, or diverted to meet the water needs of local municipal populations, the agricultural community, and local industries.
In addition, over time, the Army Corps of Engineers has failed to protect the natural flows of the rivers, instead, favoring the development and construction of ‘‘dikes and drainage districts’’ and ‘‘diking systems’’ that keep the waters rushing down river, at rapid rates to the dismay of those property owners or interests located downstream. Local and federal efforts to encourage diking as the response system to control and regulate the river flows have caused injury to the Lummi Nation.
Today, upstream diking and drainage activities increase down river flows during the rainy seasons and during times of high snow melt. During these periods of high flow, large amounts of log debris rush downstream and clog the mouth of the river, which is located on the Lummi Indian Reservation. The Lummi Nation does not have routine, annual funding to address this problem. Within two years logging debris and log jams cleared out of the river’s mouth rebuild. It becomes a ‘‘Lummi problem.’’ Legally, the upstream land owners are allowed to dike out the river waters, even though the diking causes the damages that are transferred to the land owner downstream.
However, the Lummi Nation reservation was never intended to be a dumping ground for upriver debris. The debris results from logging and clearing practices au-
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thorized by the US Forest Service, the State of Washington Department of Natural Resources, Agricultural farm land clearing, or developments in flood plains for private residences because the Army Corp of Engineers has allowed the individual impacts. There are many reasons for passing damages downstream, but in the end it is the Lummi Nation at the mouth of the river that is impacted.
Such impacts damage the Lummi’s rights to have the environment protected from such impacts. The Tribes, in the Northwest, established their rights to fish in U.S.
v. Washington, Phase I. The second part of that important Supreme Court victory was the right to have the salmon habitat protected from environmental damages, known as a ‘‘Phase II’’ right. The Culvert case is along that line of reasoning. But, the important point is that the damages done to the natural flows of the river, and the impacts to the salmon habitat, impacts our rights to our treaty property. Each year we are confronted with less and less salmon surviving to spawn, less spawning habitat, and habitat that is available is under-protected, and habitat destroyed is not likely to be recovered due to federal and state resistance to adequately fund habitat recovery efforts. Even today with limited habitat available, the struggle is to keep enough water in the stream, as in-stream flows, to meet the needs of the resident and migratory salmon populations.
It has been stated that since the Pacific Northwest became a major exporter of raw timber products, back in the early contact days when local timber was needed to build ship masts or rebuild San Francisco after the great fire, our forests have been subjected to clear cut activity and the use of splash dams to help transport the giant logs to sawmills. It was slash and burn technology. Any trees not of economic value at the time were dropped and burned or buried. The result is that the whole Pacific Northwest became a major clear cut zone. The whole biological diversity of the forest was being destroyed for the benefit of profits for the timber barons, and simultaneously the salmon canning industry barons devastated our harvestable fish resources. During this devastation of the world around us, we witnessed about one hundred thousand truck loads of silt and minerals washing down stream clogging the Nooksack and Lummi Rivers.
The Lummi Nation needs the Army Corp of Engineers, including Department of Defense, and others to come forward and help equip, train, and finance the Nation to clear the log jams, the log/tree debris, and to routinely dredge the rivers to remove the massive silt build up caused by forest practices, river channelization, and other land uses. The nation needs help to reopen the Lummi River to re-establish this channel as a migratory pathway for salmon and to use it for diversion of flood waters during peak flows. The 1920’s diversion of water flow from the Lummi River into the Nooksack River was done for the benefit of the non-Indian farmers not the Lummi Nation.
In about 1918 to 1922, the U.S. (via BIA) authorized local non-Indians to form a Diking District and dike out the marine waters that once surrounded the Lummi Reservation. The Lummi People were an island culture that depended heavily upon the salmon and other fish populations. In addition, the cedar tree was central to the cultural practices and technology. The Island was chosen as the site for our reservation because of the two rivers and the salmon resident to this system. The Lummi River is nearly completely dry, the Nooksack River bed is mostly dry and shallow, and no longer are either classifiable as navigable waters. At one time steam boats plied the waters from Bellingham to Lynden upstream. The diking stopped the mixing of the lower river waters with the marine salt water.
The diking destroyed the original ‘‘island status’’ the Lummis sought to preserve by choosing this locus for the treaty reservation. In addition, it turned out that the diking project violated treaty law and since there was no federal authorization otherwise, the congress rapidly authorized it by law retroactively. For the Lummi Indians, even though the treaty protected the lands by restriction from alienation, this ‘‘retroactive’’ law sought to make the Indians pay for the dike that violated their land ownership rights and their treaty. This has, since then, been a financial burden to Lummi land owners located in the diking district. Another impact is the incapacity to control the waters once the river dikes breach upstream, causing downstream flooding that impacts Tribal homes located in this man-made agricultural area (it was marine watered area before the dikes). The dikes, if they remain, need to be regulated for releasing flood waters rather than allowing them to become stagnant and a health threat to the resident population.
There was a major aboriginal log jam located at what is now the City of Ferndale. It was a hindrance to the development of Ferndale and for river access to Lynden upstream. In 1877 the major dam was removed. It was the identification point of where the Lummi Reservation began, according to treaty history. The removal of the log jam caused a major shift in the river flows. The waters moved to the western mouth area of the Nooksack River. This destroyed the village location at Fish Point,
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on the reservation. It caused flooding damages to the Church, Government buildings, and village homes. Thus, Lummi had to relocate those facilities. Land was donated by Chief Kwina (site of the church) and Chief August Martin (site of the school).
On the eastern mouth side of the Nooksack River the waters flowed a little more west and the original boundary of lands located in what is now considered ‘‘Marietta, Washington’’ shifted. The eastern boundary of the river was further east and most of the Marietta area was located inside the boundaries of the Lummi Treaty Reservation. A government surveyor located permanently here, with his Indian Wife from Canada, took a Land Donation Claim to lands in this area and founded the small town (Marietta) in memory of his daughter. This town has always been a dependent community of the Lummi Nation due to the original boundaries and the shifting flood waters.
Further north and east of the present reservation boundaries is the far bank that was originally the eastern bank of the Nooksack River. This bank was the eastern boundary of the Lummi Treaty Reservation. This site is a mile east of the present reservation boundary—due to an illegal boundary change that was done by Executive Order of the President (1873). When the log jam (1877) was removed then the river waters flooded more westerly and shifted the boundary of the river itself and that of the Lummi Reservation along with it.
However, in tying this part of the story together, the diking and flooding of the river, seasonally, results in the dependent community of Marietta Washington suffering severely. The Lummi Nation is expected to react since it is partly on reservation and dependent upon the Lummi Nation for police protection of the residents; although the county and Tribe often dispute who has lawful jurisdiction over the general area.
Other significant impacts from the diking actions upstream include the damages that have been done to salmon habitat in lowland streams critical to the Chum Salmon and Pink Salmon. These populations spawned in the lower streams and creeks of the river system. But, the farmers and county have constantly worked to regulate, change, and divert waters from the original lower streams and creeks to the demise of the salmonid populations. This, then, destroyed the rights of the Lummi Nation’s membership to access those species for commercial, ceremonial, subsistence harvests. The same story was repeated for upstream sites that Chinook and Coho Salmon were dependent upon until diked out.
The Lummi Nation has a water pump station that is located in the lower reaches of the river. This site is subject to damages by the increased flow carrying debris down from upstream. It is vulnerable to decreased in-stream flows during the summer months. But, it is very valuable to the water flows needed for the on-reservation Lummi salmon and shell fish hatcheries.
In addition, the Lummi Nation is on the low end of the river system. We need the water that flows to our reservation. We have underground aquifers but those do not produce enough flow to sustain reservation needs. The cities upstream (Ferndale, Lynden) are dewatering the river because they contaminated their ground waters with pesticides and herbicides as agricultural communities. The Lummi Nation needs to have help with guaranteeing access to the river, the lands located along the river, and the development of water holding and treatment facilities that can withstand times of flooding. We have a guaranteed share of the river water that has not been quantified. But, the City of Bellingham has major diversion upstream that redirects the water to Lake Whatcom for holding and which it then sells to the Lummi Nation for domestic needs.
The Lummi Nation needs to be at the interdepartmental dialogues with the Tribes when solutions are sought and proposed. We need to be there when funding needs are identified. We need to address long-term flooding problems but simultaneously mitigate impacts to our salmon populations that were caused by prior flood control measures and applied science. We need to be ‘‘consulted’’ within a meaningful way that assures that our concerns and recommendations are given credit, consideration, and not shoved aside as having low priority.
Hy’shqe Chairman Akaka, Vice Chairman Barrasso, and Members of the Committee for allowing me to share the views and comment of the Lummi Indian Nation.
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. CHAD ‘‘CORNTASSEL’’ SMITH, PRINCIPAL CHIEF,
CHEROKEE NATION
Introduction
Chairman Akaka, Vice-Chairman Barrasso, and Members of the Committee, thank you for holding the July 21st Hearing on Facing Floods and Fires—Emergency Preparedness for Natural Disasters in Native Communities and giving the Cherokee Nation the opportunity to submit testimony regarding the ramifications of disasters in the Cherokee Nation and across Indian Country. This testimony is submitted on behalf of one of the largest Tribal nations in the United States and more than 300,000 Cherokee citizens.
As the Committee is aware, 2011 has been an extreme year for weather across the United States. Like most regions, the disastrous effects of severe storms and springtime floods affected the Cherokee Nation. In addition, wildfires caused by the searing heat and drought conditions have devastated crops and put unneeded stress on our populations. Therefore, we request a Pre-disaster Mitigation funding change so that monies are better allocated from states. Additionally, we request that this body support HR 1953, which was introduced by Congressman Rahall to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (Stafford Act) so Tribes may directly request relief after a major disaster and obtain the federal benefits of a presidential emergency declaration.
Regional Disasters
Following a severe, record-breaking winter, melting precipitation from winter storms and heavy rains in the spring led to flooding across the Cherokee Nation. In late April, streams throughout eastern Oklahoma turned into raging rivers as rains continued and upstream snows melted. The economic impact was disastrous for farms, towns and cities ravaged by the rising waters.
Furthermore, storms in late spring also brought catastrophic tornadoes to eastern Oklahoma and our Tribal jurisdiction. While the Cherokee Nation often experiences inclement weather, the record-breaking storm season made emergency preparedness difficult. Straight-line winds, flooding and tornadoes destroyed homes, towns and impaired the region economically through business destruction and closures.
Additionally, drought persists in the Cherokee Nation. Besides the extremely dry conditions, scorching heat throughout this summer has taken a toll on the land and exacerbated the likelihood for wildfires. Farmers have witnessed the devastation of their crops and our citizens have faced record-setting temperatures which has already accounted for eleven (11) deaths across the State of Oklahoma. In parts of the Cherokee Nation, July was recorded as the second-hottest July in Oklahoma history, with temperatures surpassing 110 degrees.
The unrelenting heat and increased fire danger puts more pressure on the Cherokee Nation Tribal government to provide safety and emergency services. These services cost money and adequate funding is necessary to ensure no Cherokee citizen is susceptible to heat-related health concerns and personal and financial losses caused by wildfires and severe weather. Therefore, the Cherokee Nation has several suggestions and requests for this Committee that will increase emergency preparedness and disaster assistance in Indian Country.
Pre-Disaster Mitigation Funding
There must be adequate federal aid to ensure our people are safe and secure in our Tribal jurisdiction. There should be a change in the congressional set aside funding for Oklahoma in terms of the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funds. Very little, if any, of Oklahoma’s current set aside has been used and/or allocated in the last three (3) years. Therefore, Congress should create a set aside amount specifically allocated to Tribes.
The Cherokee Nation requires adequate funding to perform preparedness education, mitigation and response activities as prescribed by the United States trust responsibility. Additionally, we actively work with our county emergency managers to guarantee safety. However, communication, or lack thereof, between agencies continues to be an issue. Funding for interoperability and communication solutions would enable improved interdepartmental collaboration and emergency response.
Furthermore, Tribes need federal monies allocated more efficiently to ensure adequate staffing in rural and urban fire stations and sufficient funding for training and the continued education of staff and volunteers. Currently, the Cherokee Nation provides Incident Command Center (ICS) assistance in eastern Oklahoma Emergency Operation Centers (EOC), as well as shelters, law enforcement, debris teams, medical personnel, medicine, documentation, equipment, transportation, and staging. With efficient funding allocation and improved cooperation between federal
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agencies, Cherokee Nation aid provides to local communities and rural areas would be greatly enhanced and extended to more Cherokee citizens and Oklahomans.
Stafford Act Amendment
Although the Stafford Act authorized the PDM program to provide funding to Tribal governments in implementing cost-effective hazard mitigation activities that complement a comprehensive mitigation program, the State of Oklahoma bureaucracy often obstructs quick allocation of those funds. Therefore, the Cherokee Nation supports Congressman Rahall’s proposed changes to the Stafford Act which will give Tribal leaders the ability to submit a request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration during and after a major disaster.
Tribal leaders would have the opportunity to apply and obtain a cost share waiver for up to $200,000 for the Tribe in the unfortunate instance of a catastrophe. Furthermore, this will not preclude a Tribe from receiving assistance through a disaster declaration made at the request of a state governor. This assistance will create effective and efficient local-level response during times of need. In many native cultures, the environment is often the center of traditions and religious beliefs. By supporting this bill, you will provide Tribal governments with the opportunity to respond to natural disasters in a manner that is sensitive to the unique Native American cultures across Indian Country.
Federal Funding
Currently, as stated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), federally-recognized Tribes are not the only Tribal entities eligible for the PDM program. State-recognized Tribes are also eligible to apply for PDM funds as a sub-applicant to a state emergency management agency. Although state recognition was originally intended to provide a mechanism for an individual state to acknowledge a long-term relationship with a known Indian community, the practice often results in abuse of funds when federal agencies allocate money via the state to false Tribal entities.
Often, state recognition develops through a simple resolution sponsored by one state legislator who does not understand the magnitude of recognizing a group. Cherokee Nation’s government-to-government relationship is with the United States, not any individual state. State recognition sometimes creates issues concerning duplicative services and misuse of funds. Therefore, state recognition should not influence an entity’s federal recognition status and application for federal monies. Local, state, and national governments, their agencies, and the general public are sometimes ignorant to the differences between these entities and federally-recognized Tribes.
State recognition creates a vehicle to obtain federal funds and identify as a legitimate Native American entity. Therefore, Cherokee Nation requests that the Committee ensures federal and state funding diverted to non-federally-recognized Tribal groups does not reduce funding for the emergency preparedness services of federally-recognized Tribes. We understand that disasters can affect everyone. However, funding allocated to non-sovereign groups hinders the emergency preparedness services of legitimate Tribes like the Cherokee Nation.
Conclusion
Cherokee Nation wants to provide our people a safe homeland, and through proper emergency preparedness, this can and will be accomplished. We desire to work with all federal and state entities that play a role in bettering the future and safety of our Nation and our citizens. Adequate federal funding ensures that we may continue to enhance our services and self-reliance throughout our fourteen-county jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma. It is crucial that this body maintains its fiduciary relationship and upholds the promises made to our communities.
It is essential that the Cherokee Nation and other federally-recognized Tribes have sufficient Emergency Preparedness for natural disasters. Once again, the Cherokee Nation thanks the Chair, Vice-Chair and the Members of the Committee for their time and should you have any additional questions, please contact our Cherokee Nation Washington Office at (202) 393–7007.
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. ARCH SUPER, CHAIRMAN, KARUK TRIBE
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PREPARED STATEMENT OF KENT PAUL, CEO, AMERIND RISK MANAGEMENT
CORPORATION
Introduction
Chairman Akaka and Committee members, thank you for providing AMERIND Risk Management Corporation (AMERIND) the opportunity to present testimony on the critically important federal programs designed to assist the American population as a whole, how those programs impact Indian Tribes, and what can be done to deliver more effective emergency preparedness planning, assistance and disaster relief in Indian Country. AMERIND applauds the Committee for reaching out to, and bringing together in one room, the key federal officials whose agencies bear responsibilities to Tribes in these matters. Their testimonies no doubt confirm the need to redouble efforts to synergize their activities to develop a cohesive, cost-effective
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strategy for emergency preparedness and disaster relief for Tribes and Indian Country as a whole.
AMERIND has long been the leading Tribal organization that not only advocates for disaster relief and protection, but also actually protects the over 400 Tribes and their Tribal members of our wholly Tribal-owned self-insurance entity. We see the lack of adequate insurance protection and the high percentage of uninsured property in Indian Country as problems of pandemic proportions. For 25 years, AMERIND has been proactive in tackling these problems by providing technical assistance to Tribes and their members on various methods to protect life, property and sovereignty within their communities. We have created and administer various self-insurance plans for Tribes that partially fill the void left by the departure of all but about 5 private insurance companies providing any meaningful protection in our Native communities across the United States.
AMERIND: Wholly Tribal-Owned Risk Sharing
AMERIND was organized in 1986 as a collaborative program between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 145 Indian housing authorities to provide protection for low income housing located within Indian communities. Since 1986, AMERIND has re-organized has a federal corporation chartered under Section 17 of the Indian Reorganization Act and sponsored by the Confederated Tribes of Salish and Kootenai, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and the Pueblo of Santa Ana. The corporation is owned by more than 400 Tribes, is not-forprofit, and administers 4 distinct risk sharing pools that protect $9 billion in property replacement value, more than 8,000 Native American family homes, and more than 25,000 employees from work related injuries.
As a risk management company, AMERIND emphasizes advocacy and technical assistance to protect life, property and sovereignty. Unlike the private insurance industry that is saddled with inflexible rules and regulations, AMERIND operates under the sovereign powers of the Tribes we serve and with the flexibility and responsiveness to meet their needs and those of their members and shareholders of their Native communities. We create cost-effective and sustainable programs that address the different traditions and customs of our member Tribes. One size does not fit all. It is important that we maintain affordability and sustainability because so many Indian communities do not have alternative sources of protection.
Testimony at Hearings
The Senate Indian Affairs Oversight Hearing was very helpful in collecting information on the key federal agencies’ current activities to assist Tribes with emergency and disaster preparedness and recovery. It is extremely important that the various agencies understand how each interplays within Indian communities and who is responsible for fulfilling which responsibilities. Unfortunately for Tribes, there is no central repository of information regarding emergency management and disaster relief. Each federal agency views emergencies differently, responds with relief using a variety of methods, and has complex rules and regulations. While many hands can make light work, lack of coordination and strategy also can lead to waste of precious (and dwindling) resources and can slow response times.
We are excited that the Committee raised the prospect of amending the Stafford Act to grant to Tribes the same the opportunity long afforded to States to make an independent request to the President for a disaster declaration. Access to federal emergency relief, without having to rely on a State governor to make a request for disaster assistance, gives Tribes the full ability to exercise their prerogative as a sovereign to act on behalf of their own Tribal citizens. This is a very important first step, since a disaster can decimate a Tribe’s lands, but may not impact enough nonTribal areas to compel the state’s governor to seek a disaster declaration. The federal government’s special government-to-government relationship with Tribes certainly justifies the proposed amendment to the Stafford Act. Yet more tailoring is necessary, either administratively or legislatively, to ensure that federal disaster assistance programs actually provide more protection and relief to Tribes and other Native communities.
Having reviewed other witnesses’ testimony, AMERIND finds it curious, and troubling, how few commented on ‘‘access to insurance’’ within Indian Country or the specific issues that differentiate Tribes from States or other non-Indian communities. All the federal witnesses testified about their efforts and prowess with technical assistance, but little was said about access to credit, insurance products or other financial tools available to or used by Tribes when disaster strikes. For example:
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• U.S. Army Corps’ witness, in response to a question, mentioned that much more emphasis should be placed on insurance and encouraging people to protect their families.
• Senator Murkowski (R–AK) expressed mixed emotions about approval of a community disaster declaration, but denial of individual requests for assistance for small, rural homes.
• Senator Johanns (R–NE) noted that the rate of Tribes’ participation in flood insurance ‘‘seems abysmally low’’ and wanted to know what was being done to improve the situation.
• Senator Hoeven (R–ND) asked about homes lost to floods and FEMA Administrator Fugate commented that the biggest problem is lack of flood insurance coverage. Estimating that the average federal grant to rebuild is only $8,000, he said ‘‘it’s a mistake for people to believe that the federal government will make them whole.’’
These comments demonstrate the inadequacy of the current federal disaster response mechanisms. Federal efforts focus more on stabilizing the community than assisting individual victims of disasters. In the case of floods, if the community, including a Tribal government, is not participating in the National Flood Insurance Plan (‘‘NFIP’’), then national flood insurance is not available and small, rural homes remain unprotected. This void can result in catastrophe in Indian Country.
Over time, Congress has enacted, and the federal agencies have implemented, measures that either make no provision for Tribal governments, or contort Stateoriented programs to address Tribal circumstances that are radically different. The often remote locations and unique needs of the various Tribal communities require much more forethought to fashion appropriate, flexible solutions. Many Tribes do not have the financial capacity to comply with arduous federal requirements, such as those of the NFIP, without federal assistance. Grant assistance may be available, but the grant process is very onerous and success is limited. Furthermore, little consideration has been given to the availability and cost of private flood insurance in economically deprived Tribal areas, or the costs of planning, remediation or mitigation to adhere to the NFIP standards in order to qualify for national flood insurance.
Buying flood coverage on Tribal lands, or most other types of insurance coverage, is not as easy as it may be in other areas. Either private insurance is not available, or the carriers quote exorbitant rates. Another anomaly is that the federal agencies spend billions of dollars to build housing and infrastructure in Indian Country, yet few beyond HUD mandate insurance coverage to protect those federal investments. Some agencies seem unaware that flood and earthquake coverage is not available to Tribes in most cases. More effort needs to be made to identify problems and find viable solutions. We can no longer just assume Tribes have the same access to services that every other community enjoys.
In an earlier Senate Banking Committee hearing on NFIP reauthorization, FEMA Administrator Fugate testified that some ways to address the program’s huge challenges are to share more with the private sector, look at private policies, what the federal government share should be, and how to incentivize the private sector to step up and play a larger role. AMERIND agrees with his assessment.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing helped the witnesses and the Senators to focus on and grasp the unique challenges and inadequacies of the current federal framework for emergency and disaster assistance for Indian Country. Tribes are unlike other communities. The federal government designated their reservations, often in areas deemed unsuitable for other purposes, and with severely limited community building sites and access to water. In exchange for Tribes moving to these isolated areas, the federal government agreed to a ‘‘government to government’’ relationship and promised to provide the resources necessary for safe and sanitary living conditions. It is not that Tribes shun the responsibilities of a sovereign nation to provide for its citizens; rather, they lack access to financial resources promised by the federal government or otherwise available if they find ways to generate their own revenues. Tribal governments do not have taxation systems (unlike state and local governments) to raise revenues for economic development, management and protection. Most Tribes cannot afford to manage and mitigate risk, or engage in remediation and infrastructure improvement without federal assistance. Even when those resources are provided, either pre- or post-disaster, the rules of engagement are so onerous and complicated that it is difficult for Tribes to respond appropriately.
A good example is flood disasters, often accompanied by severe wind and hail damage. Significant flooding occurred at Spirit Lake, Appsalooka, and Chippewa Cree reservations in the Northern Plains, and severe wind and hail damaged Tribal
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property in Oklahoma, North and South Dakota. Under the NFIP, areas must be mapped and communities must participate in the NFIP to be eligible for national flood insurance. Generally FEMA’s flood mapping (the basis for flood insurance) has concentrated on highly populated areas with a goal to map 80 percent of those areas. Unfortunately for Tribes, many reservations are not located in highly populated areas and thus flood mapping has not been occurred. Without flooding mapping, the NFIP will not provide flood insurance to a community. The problem is not that most Tribes fail to purchase national flood insurance; it is that such insurance is not available to them because they do not qualify for it.
Disasters other than floods also afflict Indian Country, as the Committee heard when the Governor of the Pueblo of Santa Clara testified about the fires raging on his Tribe’s reservation in New Mexico. Other catastrophic fires in Indian Country in 2003 and 2007 in Southern California, and the White Swan fire within the Yakama Nation earlier in 2011 caused significant damage to Tribal property. Although insurance was available to many of the affected Indian communities, very few had any meaningful coverage. In Yakama Nation, for example, AMERIND arrived immediately to inspect their insureds’ damaged homes and saw to it that those homes were repaired promptly. Nearby homes not under AMERIND coverage remained damaged long afterwards. While Tribal members might want to buy coverage, they had to choose between ‘‘feeding the family or buying insurance.’’ Further, when disaster struck, various federal agencies and the Red Cross responded with financial resources. This laudable response gave some Tribal members the impression that they did not need insurance because ‘‘FEMA would provide the resources to repair or replace their homes.’’ These experiences reveal significant communication and knowledge gaps between the federal agencies and Indian communities on the roles and responsibilities of each.
For the Federal Government to fulfill its federal trust responsibilities to Tribes, there must be a fundamental shift in approach and involvement. Most Tribes have a strong desire to be self-sustaining, but they cannot achieve this goal overnight. Unfortunately there have been 200∂ years of federal intervention in Tribal communities that has led to a ‘‘hand out rather than a hand up’’ relationship. More work needs to be done to encourage Tribes (with resources and technical assistance) to establish their own ‘‘rules of engagement’’ as sovereigns in problem-solving consultations with federal, state, county and local governments and in fashioning reforms tailored to Tribal circumstances.
AMERIND’s Problem Solving Approach
For 25 years AMERIND has been a shining example of what Tribes can do when they work together without the interference of unnecessary federal intervention and oversight. When no other ‘‘for profit insurance entity’’ stepped forward to protect an Indian community, AMERIND was there. With limited resources, we have actively provided the necessary protection to Tribal governments, businesses, and individuals in most of the federally recognized Indian reservations. Not motivated by profit or market share, we work with Indian communities to design and implement insurance plans that meet their specific financial and coverage needs. We have faced significant catastrophic events and survived each and every one of them with fast and efficient responses to rebuild and replace property that we insured. AMERIND tailors its policies and works out rates that are often 25 percent lower than traditional insurance providers. Since 1986, AMERIND has repaired or replaced more than $300 million in reservation property.
In 2002, we stepped up to address the ‘‘lack of flood protection in Indian Country’’ by creating an alternative flood program for federally assisted Indian housing that offers $15,000 in flood coverage per structure insured. We determined that the average flood loss over time was $7,500 and chose to double the average as our limit of coverage. Although not as comprehensive as the National Flood Insurance Plan, AMERIND’s policy offers extraordinary coverage for a mere $10 per year borne by each policyholder in the risk pool. When Katrina struck the Gulf coast, AMERIND responded rapidly with resources for affected Indian communities. Unlike State Farm and other insurance companies that chose to go to court to determine if Katrina was ‘‘a windstorm or flood’’—before responding to claims—AMERIND remediated the damage to its insured members, regardless of the peril involved.
The insurance industry provides a very important tool for the economic engine of the United States, but it does not provide that tool for free. High risk demands high rewards, and insurance companies require significant profits to satisfy their investors. To suggest that the insurance industry lower its standards and produce less profit to provide protection against flood, earthquake, terrorism, inner city crime, pollution, nuclear radiation or other ‘‘uninsurable risks’’ is an effort in futility. For this reason, among others, AMERIND believes that its tailored, more affordable
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Tribal self-insurance risk pool approach can become part of the solution to better planning, protection and delivery disaster relief for Indian Country.
Part of the solution can be a private-federal relationship wherein the federal government provides reinsurance protection to the private sector. The Terrorist Reinsurance Act was a step in the right direction, but it only scratched the surface to incent the insurance industry to protect large structures that attract significant public events. That Act has some shortcomings, though, as it applies only to a terrorist act that is committed by a foreign national under the direction of a foreign government. Domestic terrorism (such as the Oklahoma City bombing) is not addressed, yet we have seen more of such threats recently in the United States than from foreign terrorism. Indian Country has a number of world class gaming and hotel properties that are vulnerable to terrorist acts (Foxwoods Casino, Mohegan Sun Casino, Pechanga Casino, to name just a few). Many of these properties must utilize ‘‘self-insurance’’ as a means of protection because private insurance is not readily available or lacks the capacity to underwrite the risk. A private-federal reinsurance initiative should be considered for Tribes or other large property owners. Such an initiative would be a significant improvement and would allow for more business expansion, property development and job creation. As it stands today, many large property owners must stockpile cash to fund unexpected catastrophic events—cash that could be deployed more productively to spur economic growth and recovery.
AMERIND Provides Outreach, Training, and Collaboration
AMERIND is the only Native American organization providing outreach, training, and collaboration regarding financial protection in Indian Country. Despite 25 years of continuous operation, we are still a ‘‘best kept secret’’ among Tribes and the federal government. With business relationships with more than 400 Tribes, AMERIND has so much to offer in bridging the communication and technical assistance gaps between the federal government and Tribes. We have survived this long depending upon our own resources and ingenuity. With assistance and cooperation of the various federal agencies that support Indian Country, AMERIND could help guide, protect and accomplish so much more.
AMERIND has already helped launch such a coordination initiative within Indian
Country to address disaster recovery. In conjunction with Tribal leaders in Southern California, AMERIND created the Tribal Risk and Emergency Management Association (TREMA) to provide a forum for Tribal risk managers and emergency responders to discuss specific challenges and strategies for Indian Country. A website was created to dispatch information quickly and coordinate all the federal and State emergency response agencies. AMERIND hosts the website at www.tremaonline.org. Although TREMA is in its infancy, the Association is gaining traction and working closely with such Tribal programs as the Long Term Recovery Foundation sponsored by a significant number of Tribes in Southern California in response to both the 2003 and 2007 fire disasters. TREMA is just one of many projects organized by AMERIND to address the needs of its owners, a vast majority of the federally recognized Tribes.
Over the past several years, AMERIND has expanded its outreach to include the
White House, the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce and Interior, as well as FEMA, BIA and HUD, to discuss more collaboration on insurance issues and ways to make coverage more available to Tribes and Tribal members. It is very gratifying that President Obama and his administration have taken such a strong interest in solving problems facing Indian Country. We have gone from mere words to action, and we compliment the Obama Administration for appointing more Tribal Liaisons within federal agencies and elevating many of them to advise Department Secretaries directly. These Tribal advisors actively engage in frequent, meaningful Tribal consultations and listening sessions to solve problems collectively. Great work has be been accomplished by agencies such as FEMA and USDA–RD in recent years to educate Tribes about their programs and grant support for planning, and o re-engineer federal programs to be more flexible to accommodate the cultural, geographical and legal characteristics of Tribes that differ widely across the United States. We need to continue taking such great steps forward and not keep looking back over our shoulders to see where we have been. Solutions to problems are on the horizon, not behind us.
AMERIND Recommendations
We would like offer two recommendations that we believe will answer the questions raised by the Committee and begin to address the flood and other disaster issues faced by Indian Country.
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Recommendation 1: Encourage the development of a 24/7 resource center that can facilitate communication and information sharing among federal agencies and Tribes. ‘‘Federal speak’’ is not often understood at the local and Tribal levels, and trying to navigate the federal information highway can be extremely frustrating. With limited financial and human resources, Tribes can have difficulty staying current on all the various procurement requirements, grants, rules and regulations promulgated by the various federal agencies. One single database of information regarding Indian Country would help Tribes and federal agencies in meeting their respective missions. Knowledge is power, and not having complete and accurate information diminishes our knowledge of Indian Country and reduces the power to respond quickly and efficiently.
Recommendation 2: Carve out a set aside from the NFIP funding specifically for Indian Country as a stopgap measure. As indicated previously, most of Indian Country is not yet approved for flood insurance due to lack of flood determination mapping. Until more Tribal lands are mapped so that more Tribes can begin participating in the NFIP, an alternative program should be created to protect against flood disasters and address the specific needs within rural Native communities. Organizations like AMERIND could make application to this new program to provide ‘‘Write Your Own’’ coverage to Tribes and assist them in developing the infrastructure to meet the NFIP standards. Such a program does not need to be as robust as the NFIP and could be used as reinsurance support to those few insurance companies that participate in Indian Country to provide additional flood insurance coverage. A carve out of $25–50 million, that could be leveraged to secure additional protection for flood damage, would be more than adequate to serve the needs of Indian Country while FEMA maps more Tribal areas to make them eligible for NFIP participation.
Thank you for the opportunity for AMERIND to provide its comments to the Committee. We look forward to working with the Committee members and staff on ideas and proposals as deliberations progress on these critically important issues.
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS
The National Congress of American Indians is grateful for the opportunity to provide this statement to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs for this Oversight Hearing on Facing Floods and Fires—Emergency Preparedness for Natural Disasters in Native Communities.
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The NCAI has long been involved in providing technical assistance and working with federal agencies to develop programmatic and policy solutions for Tribal governments and communities seeking to develop and enhance emergency management capacity. For decades federal statutes and regulations precluded agencies like the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency from granting Tribes eligibility for programs and grants to develop emergency management infrastructure, as well as access to training and equipment acquisition. The years of exclusion has resulted in the inability of Tribal governments to prepare for and respond to natural and manmade catastrophic events. Moreover the magnitude of recent catastrophes in Indian Country have had such a devastating impact that it may be years before Tribal communities may be able to recover if at all.
The NCAI offers some of our observations and recommendations that have come from Tribal leaders, Tribal emergency program officials and Tribal emergency responders. Some federal agencies have made positive changes to better work with Tribes. However there is still a need to modify programs, policies and statutes in a manner that in more inclusive of all Tribes so as to enable Tribal governments to receive the same types of benefits as state governments including hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to institutionalize emergency management systems and operations. Additional revisions and improvements can be brought about through statutory changes. We appreciate this committee’s concern for the safety and well being of Tribal communities and its efforts to save lives and protect property throughout Indian Country.
Department of Homeland Security—Federal Emergency Management Agency
FEMA Tribal Policy
As the lead agency in emergency management FEMA has made many positive changes in recent years such as its revision and release of the FEMA Tribal Policy in 2010 to improve consultation and consultation with Tribal governments. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate is the second FEMA Director in the agency’s history to address Tribal leaders at NCAI meetings and to conduct listening sessions. Although NCAI appreciates these efforts to improve consultation with Tribal governments, FEMA’s completion of an implementation plan for its Indian Policy is necessary for improved Tribal outreach and consultation as well as for development of Tribal emergency capacity and equitable program access.
Headquarters and Regional Tribal Liaisons
FEMA has established a National Tribal Liaison in the Intergovernmental Affairs section of the Office of External Affairs at the direction of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, however this position is currently vacant. The FEMA Intergovernmental Affairs Office recently released a vacancy announcement for the Headquarters National Tribal Liaison position that did not contain criteria for a candidate to have any knowledge of Tribal governments or experience working with Tribal communities. The NCAI communicated to FEMA that Tribal liaisons should be culturally aware and possess a significant understanding of Tribal government status and operations. The FEMA Intergovernmental Affairs Office subsequently issued a revised announcement containing Tribal experience in the criteria for this critically important position. The NCAI urges FEMA to fill this vacancy in an expedited fashion in order to assist Tribal communities particularly those who have experienced recent floods, fires, or tornadoes. In times of disasters familiarity with the functions and operations of Tribal governments will help Tribal liaisons better guide the Tribes through disaster response and recovery efforts.
Tribal governments and lands are located in nine of the ten FEMA regions. Each region has a Regional Tribal Liaison. However, it is our understanding that some of the liaisons are assigned part time to work with Tribal officials even though there may be several Tribes located within the region. We have heard that some of the Tribal liaisons do not communicate with Tribal officials directly nor do they visit Tribal lands. FEMA should appoint at least one dedicated full-time Regional Tribal Liaison with Tribal background or experience and provide support for travel and interaction with Tribal government officials. In the event of a disaster a Regional Tribal Liaison deployed to the Tribal community at the beginning of a disaster will expedite response and recovery efforts.
The NCAI believes that the Tribes would be better served by the Headquarters and Regional Tribal Liaisons if these positions were moved from the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to a separate division with director supervision and access to the FEMA Director and other agency components.
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Federal Coordinating Officers and Joint Field Offices
There are some policy barriers in regional offices that hinder Tribal officials from attending available training. For instance officials from the Mescalero Apache Tribe could not go to in-state for training at the Joint Field Office (JFO) because the Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO) would not provide travel expenses The JFO can pay for Tribal representatives to attend training to help Tribes build capability and avoid future disasters. But because Mescalero was less than 4 hours away from the site the FCO didn’t allow them to come in to the training stating initially that it was illegal to provide Tribes with travel costs but later recanting and saying that funding was not available, which shouldn’t have been the case. There is clearly an inconsistency in providing training to Tribal governments impacted by disasters which we hope this Committee will direct FEMA to address.
FEMA maintains a standing roster, or cadre, of about 45 FCOs who have undergone an agency-wide certification program with preparation for all-hazard events including terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. FCOs must participate in actual disaster response or full-scale exercises as part of the certification program. FCOs are not required to have any familiarity about basic Tribal government operations and functions. Only a few FCOs have undergone any type of Indians 101 indoctrination, but according to our information, those who have undergone such training have performed well in assisting Tribal communities for which they are responsible in disaster situations. This Committee can help by sending a message to FEMA to develop an FCO course in Tribal relations that includes interaction with the DHS and DHS–FEMA HQ Tribal Liaisons.
A Joint Field Office is a multiagency center that facilitates incident management during actual or potential situations and incidents that require a coordinated federal response. Only recently have some FCO’s invited Tribal officials into the unified coordinating JFO structure. Instead of waiting for disaster situations, FCO’s should reach out to and actively communicate with Tribal officials and automatically include Tribal officials in the JFO during a Presidential Disaster Declaration.
Tribal Cadre of Disaster Assistance Employees
Disaster Assistance Employees (DAE) are temporary FEMA employees who work in a disaster zone that can be deployed from a few weeks to several months depending on the area and gravity of a disaster. Among the duties of DAEs is to contact Tribal officials and apprise them of recovery programs and eligibility requirements as well as assist in filling out and submitting required paperwork. A few years ago under the direction of an enlightened FEMA Regional Administrator, FEMA Region VIII developed a cadre of Tribal Disaster Assistance Employees. The reason was that native peoples’ cultural and other differences are better understood by another native person who would be able to better interact and respond to questions coming from or related to Tribal community members. The Tribal cadre has ebbed since its inception but the success has been far reaching and of significant value to Tribal communities who have been hard hit by disasters. Indian Country would benefit greatly if FEMA would institutionalize a formal qualified Tribal DAE cadre. The NCAI requests that this Committee urge FEMA to establish the Tribal DAE cadre.
FEMA—Emergency Management Institute
A great cost effective measure that we hope this Committee will support is to provide a minimum of one million dollars annually to the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) in Emmitsburg, Maryland for delivery of Tribally-developed and Tribal-relevant emergency management planning and operations courses. NCAI staff and Tribal emergency managers have developed several courses including emergency management planning and operations for Tribal governments. This has been a saving grace for several Tribal communities who have been able to use the training to develop a coordinated preparedness and response program. The funding would provide EMI with an enhanced budget to conduct additional courses onsite at EMI and field delivery in Tribal communities. The NCAI strongly urges this committee to support funding and appropriations language that directs FEMA to deliver additional Tribal emergency management courses.
Non-FEMA Federal Agency Disaster Assistance
The NCAI acknowledges FEMA for its effort and accomplishments that have benefitted Indian Country with regard to recovery situations. These efforts include working with other federal agencies to assist in response and recovery efforts. Until recently if a road that was maintained by the Bureau of Indian Affairs was damaged or destroyed, FEMA disaster assistance funds could not be used to repair or replace the road because it was the responsibility of another federal agency, regardless of how critical the road might be for emergency response to aid disaster victims.
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FEMA successfully sought authority to use its funding to restore these types of roads regardless of other federal agencies’ responsibilities.
Other agencies are not accustomed to disaster response situations or familiar with the need for continuity of operations to resume operations and the negative impacts a delay can have on a Tribal community reeling from a disaster. In many instances Tribal governments and federal agencies such as the BIA, Indian Health Service, or Housing and Urban Development share office space or buildings. If such buildings are damaged, FEMA is precluded from repairing these buildings even if Tribal government offices are located there because the responsible federal agency must make the repairs. Because the building is federal property the facility cannot be included in the preliminary damage assessment for purposes of the Tribal government’s effort to request a Presidential Disaster Declaration. It is not rational for a Tribal government to have to wait for another agency to assess whether it has the resources to repair the building, which the BIA or other federal agencies are unlikely to have. If FEMA funding is provided to repair the damaged facility it is still from a federal source. FEMA should be allowed to provide funding under its Public Assistance program to restore these types of facilities so that Tribal operations can resume.
Emergency Management Performance Grants
On its Emergency Management Performance Grants (EMPG) website, FEMA states that the events surrounding Hurricanes Katrina and Rita highlighted the critical importance of effective catastrophic all-hazards planning. FEMA further states that ‘‘[A]s part of this effort, state and local jurisdictions must engage in comprehensive national and regional planning processes that seek to enhance emergency management and catastrophic capabilities through strengthened national and regional relationships and the allocation of resources toward all-hazards planning, including maintaining current hazard mitigation plans.’’ EMPG funding allows states, local governments and territories to build capability with no cost-share. U.S. territories have a built-in set aside under the EMPG program. Tribal governments are ineligible for direct EMPG funding though some Tribes have small grants obtained through state or county governments, purely at the granting state’s discretion. As a sub-grantee, a Tribe has to provide 50 percent matching funds under an EMPG. The EMPG program eligibility criteria should be altered to include Tribes with no cost share requirements.
The NCAI supports changes to the EMPG program and strongly urges this committee to create a congressionally-mandated independent Tribal emergency management non-competitive grant that would allow Tribes to develop and enhance their emergency management programs and systems. Toward this end NCAI urges congress to establish that a $50 million program with annual appropriations of $10 million annually which all Tribes could apply for up to $200,000. The grant would allow Tribes discretion in enhancing their emergency management program development priorities. Eligibility criteria could be similar to EMPG that the Tribe has to demonstrate that it manages an emergency management program yet it would not have to have the same complex or sophisticated capacity as that of a state or some counties. The proposed mount of funding for this program may seem a large amount but when placed alongside the money that sits idly by for NY and LA and the money that states have received since the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the total amount is not even a blip on the radar screen.
Hazard Mitigation, Pre-Disaster Grant Programs and the National Flood Insurance Program
Disaster Mitigation Plans form the foundation for a community’s long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. State, Indian Tribal, and local governments are required to develop a hazard mitigation plan as a condition for receiving certain types of emergency and non-emergency disaster assistance.
The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) provides grants to States and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures during the immediate recovery phase after a major disaster declaration. After a disaster, if a Tribe does not have a disaster mitigation plan, it will have to develop a plan. Tribes with a small infrastructure generally have a difficult time designing an HMGP in these situations while simultaneously engaged with recovery efforts and trying to decide whether to apply for funding as a grantee or sub grantee for funding. Once the Tribe begins the process it is faced with a 30 day deadline for a FEMA approved mitigation plan. The HMGP has been improved significantly for Tribes and we commend FEMA for this effort.
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The Pre-disaster Mitigation Grant program is available if a Tribe has not yet experienced a disaster and such Tribes have up to three years to develop a plan. FEMA has done well in expanding Tribal participation under the PDM. Grant match requirements have been adjusted as well as allowing funding from other Tribal federal programs. Many Tribes fit into the ‘‘small impoverished community’’ criteria which provide greater access. The NCAI recommends that congress provide equitable PDM funding to Tribes just as the states which receive an annual allocation for pre-disaster mitigation.
The National Flood Insurance Program is not set up well for Indian Country and, likewise, many small non-Tribal communities are unable to participate. Congress created the NFIP to protect property owners, renters and small businesses. Compliance with NFIP is the responsibility of the individual jurisdiction. If a Tribal area is hit by a flood disaster in order to be eligible for certain types of disaster assistance, the Tribe is forced to join the NFIP and Tribal citizens are forced to pay for the policy.
Tribal government and community participation in the NFIP is neither practical nor affordable. Membership requires adoption and enforcement of zoning and building codes and inspections for all new and improved construction. Property ownership is not prevalent in Indian Country, and very few Tribes have building and zoning codes. Options for relocation under NFIP plans from flood plains can be a barrier because of the unavailability of Tribal community water and sewer infrastructure. Relocation of homes also is not an option because affordable housing opportunities are virtually non-existent. An affordable indemnity program similar to NFIP could and should be designed for Tribal communities. NCAI recommends that congress direct FEMA to begin this process with an assessment of the feasibility of the current NFIP applicability in Indian Country.
The NCAI also recommends that Congress provide FEMA with funding to develop flood plain maps of Indian Country without consequence to Tribal governments or forcing Tribal members to join the NFIP. Providing flood plain maps will allow Tribal decision-makers to better mitigate flood prone areas in their communities.
DHS Tribal Homeland Security and Urban Area Security Initiative Grants
It does not make good economic sense for Tribes to apply for the Tribal Homeland Security Grant Program and Urban Area Security Grants given the burden and expense of applying, coupled with the small amount of each award. States have had years to build up their infrastructure and acquire experienced staff with federal dollars and are much better positioned to apply and manage homeland security grant funding. A better option for Tribes would be for congress to create a wholly separate non-competitive Tribal homeland security grant program under which Tribes can develop and/or enhance Tribal emergency management capacity. A minimum amount of $20 million should be available for Tribal governments for this purpose.
Tribes are eligible to receive Urban Area Security Initiative Grants at the discretion of states. UASI grants exclude Tribes even when Tribal facilities serve as venues where thousands of members of the public may attend on a daily basis or where even larger crowds attend specific entertainment events. Some urban area Tribal emergency management programs have highly trained professional responders and state of the art equipment that they may utilize in homeland security threat situations. These responder programs have been developed through Tribal community funds but are on standby to assist neighboring jurisdictions. Tribal responders are designated as ‘‘Second Responders’’ in the event of an emergency. This designation should be changed as it is conceivable they will be ‘‘First Responders’’ if Tribal communities are the prime locations of disasters and terrorism related events.
Amending the Stafford Act
Attached to this statement is a letter from NCAI to the House committee chairs in support of H.R. 1953, a bill to amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (The Stafford Act). H.R. 1953 includes procedures for Tribal government officials to directly request a Presidential Disaster Declaration on their respective Tribal lands instead of the required gubernatorial request. The inequity in the current law to deny a Tribal leader the right to seek a federal disaster declaration without going through a state governor has resulted in lost time to deploy lifesaving emergency response services and access to critical resources in Tribal communities. We support this legislation and request that the committee develop companion legislation with additional provisions for the benefit of Indian Country.
The NCAI supports the provision in H.R. 1953 exempting matching fund requirements for Tribal governments. The NCAI membership supports Stafford Act revisions include changes to the threshold formula factor in the determination of a dis-
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aster declaration. The formula utilizes a minimum amount of damages based on a dollar amount and population which automatically penalizes Tribal communities as they are less populated than other areas of the country. Historically Tribal communities have been repeatedly overlooked because they fall outside of the damage assessment threshold primarily even though the losses sustained are traumatic and long term. Tribal communities also are in economically depressed areas of the country where resources for recovery are not available.
Additional Recommendations
Tribal Emergency Management Association
Many ideas and concepts to address Tribal emergency preparedness and the lack of human and financial resources have been deliberated among Tribal emergency management officials and discussed with non-Tribal state, local, and federal emergency management officials who are aware of the shortfalls in Indian Country. Some of the ideas were attempted but neve
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