Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 79 would transfer almost 2,640 acres of land currently within the Six Rivers National Forest in California to the Hoopa Valley Tribe to be held in trust for the tribe. This language includes an operating campground that is adjacent to the southern boundary of the reservation. There is question as to whether or not this land was intended to be part of the original reservation boundaries, but by looking at a map of the area one can conclude that may have been the case. Regardless, the Forest Service has testified that it supports this transfer and believes that the tribe has the resources and expertise to effectively manage the area. In fact, the Hoopa Valley Tribe is well-known as environmentally sensitive toward the stewards of their land. The tribe operates under a forest management plan which was adopted for the years 1994 through the year 2003. This management plan was developed with the collaboration of the World Wildlife Fund. In March of this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion finding that the Hoopa forest management plan would not jeopardize the northern spotted owl or any of the other listed endangered species.”