<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; "><li id="art-tit" class="ftlt w100 clr-bth entry-title bt2sred mt10 fbold pt15" style="border-top-width: 2px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-type: none; float: left; clear: both; width: 2040px; font-weight: bold; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(150, 1, 0); position: static; z-index: auto; "><h1 style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 36px; line-height: 1.15; ">Collaboration v. sovereignty</h1></li><sum class="entry-summary"><h2 style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><li class="width100percent fl summary_left pt5 tleft ft15" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 5px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style-type: none; width: 2040px; color: rgb(55, 55, 55); font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.3; text-align: left; float: left; ">A watershed planning meeting between upper Sacramento, McCloud and lower Pit River stakeholders turned into a heated debate over tribal sovereignty Wednesday, when a group of activists from northern Siskiyou County traveled to Mount Shasta to intentionally disrupt it.</li></h2></sum><span style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><br><br>Read more: <a href="http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20130610/NEWS/130619998/0/SEARCH#ixzz2W78sNnVv" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; word-wrap: break-word; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); ">http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/article/20130610/NEWS/130619998/0/SEARCH#ixzz2W78sNnVv</a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><div class="header" style="width: 980px; float: left; font-size: 12px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(191, 191, 191); position: static; z-index: auto; "><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; ">By John Bowman</p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; ">June 10. 2013 9:31AM</p><h1 style="line-height: 36px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold; ">Collaboration v. sovereignty</h1></div><div class="storybody" style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 9px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 9px; padding-left: 0px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); float: left; width: 980px; position: static; z-index: auto; "><div class="print-summary" style="clear: both; font-size: 13px; width: 980px; "><li class="width100percent fl summary_left pt5 tleft ft15" style="width: 980px; line-height: 1.3; ">A watershed planning meeting between upper Sacramento, McCloud and lower Pit River stakeholders turned into a heated debate over tribal sovereignty Wednesday, when a group of activists from northern Siskiyou County traveled to Mount Shasta to intentionally disrupt it.</li></div><div class="print-image" style="float: right; padding-top: 25px; padding-right: 10px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; "><div class="img-cont" style="text-align: center; "><img border="0" align="middle" alt="Roy Hall Jr. tells upper Sacramento River stakeholders they have no authority to engage in watershed planning because his tribal sovereignty trumps all other powers." title="Roy Hall Jr. tells upper Sacramento River stakeholders they have no authority to engage in watershed planning because his tribal sovereignty trumps all other powers." style="clear: both; " id="33c90bb5-2849-4821-88b3-fac89c462e70" height="180" width="225" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:41691635-8C7D-4088-808A-596195A9DDB6@att.net"></div><div class="ext-pic" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-size: 12px; text-align: justify; width: 225px; clear: both; ">Roy Hall Jr. tells upper Sacramento River stakeholders they have no authority to engage in watershed planning because his tribal sovereignty trumps all other powers.</div></div><div style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; ">A watershed planning meeting between upper Sacramento, McCloud and lower Pit River stakeholders turned into a heated debate over tribal sovereignty Wednesday, when a group of activists from northern Siskiyou County traveled to Mount Shasta to intentionally disrupt it.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>The planning group, known as the Upper Sacramento, McCloud and Lower Pit River Integrated Regional Water Management Group, has been meeting for more than two years to develop a watershed plan that will qualify them for public money allocated for water infrastructure projects. The protesters who derailed the gathering said they believe the planning process is part of a larger government conspiracy to gain control of local water, and possibly more.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>On Tuesday, the group Scott Valley Protect Our Water (POW) posted a notice on its website calling on supporters to attend and disrupt the meeting.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“This is a good chance to get everyone there and stop one of the stakeholder processes,” the post stated, adding, “We stopped the TMDL meetings. let’s stop this one to [sic].”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>The group of about 10 north county residents was led by Roy Hall Jr., leader of one faction of the Shasta Tribe known as the Shasta Nation, and accompanied by three other members of his tribe along with several non-tribal citizens active in local water and property rights battles.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>The meeting began with independent facilitator Elizabeth Betancourt attempting to give an overview of the group’s activities and progress. However, 10 minutes into Betancourt’s introductory statements, Hall asked how tribal sovereignty figured into the group’s planning.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Betancourt, as well as a representative of the state Department of Water Resources, both explained that issues of tribal sovereignty must be handled at the state level because the planning group lacks the authority to address those issues. Betancourt also suggested that Hall submit written comments on the issue so it can be officially incorporated into the group’s planning document.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Hall replied. “This has been going on too long and the state is blowing us off.” He said a group of tribal representatives had recently met with John Laird, California’s secretary for natural resources, about their demand for recognition of tribal sovereignty over land management issues. Hall said no notable progress had been made in the meeting.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Louise Gliatto of Yreka said, “It seems to me that if the tribes are sovereign, they should not be put on the same level as the other stakeholders that aren’t sovereign.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Betancourt explained that, according to the planning group’s governance structure, “Everybody is equal in this process.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Non-tribal Klamath River resident Mike Adams argued that tribal sovereignty gives tribes ultimate authority over all land and resource management decisions, though he and Gliatto are both outspoken critics of efforts to remove dams on the Klamath River – a concept which several local tribes openly support.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“Sovereignty over the land, which the aboriginal people claim, means they get to put on the land what they choose to put on the land, and only allow you to put on the land what they choose,” Adams said. “Right now they’re saying we don’t want you to put anything on their land. Sovereignty trumps all. They are God. They’re king, and if you don’t like it, you better go find another piece of land. Simple as that. The water is theirs. The air is theirs.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>For nearly an hour, Betancourt attempted to refer Hall and his supporters to state level representatives. She said the proper way to have input incorporated into the planning process is to submit written comments through the official process. Hall repeatedly said he would not allow the meeting to move forward because, in his opinion, the planning group has no authority.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Hall told Betancourt that if the planning group could not solve the issue of tribal sovereignty, “Well, then it’s over. As a tribal chairman with powers above that of the state I can say that this is the only way we’re going to get the state to recognize that we’re thrown under the bus here. It has to stop somewhere, so this is where it’s going to stop.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“Nobody has to be here. It’s not mandatory,” said Betancourt<br>“That’s right, so why don’t you go back to where you came from,” Hall replied.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>At that point several stakeholders that have been involved in the planning process since the beginning walked out.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Several members of the planning group, including Curtis Knight of California Trout, county supervisor Ed Valenzuela and River Exchange Executive Director Dan Olstein told Hall and his supporters that the regional planning process is an opportunity for cities and communities to come together, identify water infrastructure needs and secure government funding to satisfy those needs.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“We see it as a single, achievable opportunity to bring some allocated state dollars to something that’s greatly needed for our municipalities,” Knight said.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Olstein said, “We’ve received some written input from members of the Pit River Tribe, from members of the Winimum-Wintu Tribe …”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Hall’s mother Betty Hall interrupted Olstein in mid-sentence saying, “The Wintu Tribe doesn’t count here. They’re not aboriginal to the McCloud or those other rivers. That’s ours.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>The level of civility in the room continued to deteriorate – and shortly thereafter, Olstein called for a break but the meeting was never reconvened. None of the items on the meeting agenda was addressed, and meeting organizers would not comment on when a new meeting would be scheduled.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>After the meeting, Luisa Navejas of the Winimum-Wintu Tribe told the Daily News, “The best thing to do when you have a water project is to involve the stakeholders, and the projects here have done that.” She said her tribe does not necessarily agree with everyone else in the planning group, but it has been involved in the process as a collaborator from the start.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>“Our tribe has spent a lot of time trying to get the wording right to be inclusive of indigenous people, and they have been really great about including us, rewriting it and being open,” Navejas said.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>They’re using all the right words,” said Belinda Brown, a tribal council alternate for the Kosealekte band of the Pit River Tribe. “They’re saying ‘integration, we’re all stakeholders, we’re getting our needs out there, we’re working together,’ but it’s a fatally flawed system.”<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Brown said the important thing to remember is that the water and land are sacred to local tribes – and their connection to those things has been forcibly taken away.<br class="hardreturn"></p><p style="margin-top: 9px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 9px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; "><br>Members of the Modoc Tribe were present but did not take part in the debate.<br></p></div></span></span></div></body></html>