Source:
The OregonianA landmark agreement to be announced Thursday will return to the Klamath Tribes about 90,000 acres of their one-time southern Oregon reservation that the federal government sliced up and sold off more than 50 years ago. The government's strategy at the time was to integrate the tribes into mainstream society. But the opposite happened: The once-prosperous tribes descended into poverty, with many members giving up school and dying alcohol-related deaths.
The land deal scheduled for unveiling Thursday restores only a small slice of the tribes' former 2.5-million-acre reservation. But it's one of the largest pieces of land to be returned to Northwest tribes that once controlled it. And it gives tribal members renewed control over some of their historic resources -- and their destiny.
Careful management of the forested land, known as the Mazama Tract, also promises to improve the quality and quantity of water flowing off the land and into the Klamath Basin, where water is often in short supply and has been the source of pitched, sometimes emotional, struggles.
"There're a lot of contributions this property can bring to the tribes and the Klamath Basin," said Jeff Mitchell, a tribal councilman who helped develop the agreement.
Read more:
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2008/12/land_deal_returns_slice_of_kla.html