Tribe criticizes federal response after Nevada wildfire

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

MCDERMITT, Nev. - The Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe has criticized the federal response after an August wildfire that scorched a portion of its reservation along the Oregon border.

As Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the blaze destroyed one home and 16 sheds while blackening 3,000 acres of the reservation along U.S. 95 about 70 miles north of Winnemucca.

Members of the impoverished tribe also lost winter firewood, pasture land for horses, tools, equipment and other belongings.

"It wasn't much, but it was everything to them," said Richard Harjo, chairman of the Nevada Indian Commission. "We've never had a catastropic event like this."

Tribal members said they sought help from the federal government after the Aug. 29 fire, only to find themselves caught in a bureaucratic maze without answers.

"It's almost the same situation as the Katrina situation, with no plan in place," said Sherry Rupert, executive director of the Nevada Indian Commission.

"I think it's a shame. It's a system that needs work. The federal government has trust responsibility to them, and they should be able to get some answers," she added.

Bob Hunter, superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' western Nevada office, said it's "ingrained" in tribes to depend upon his agency but there's little it can do.

"Limited funding causes us to provide limited services," Hunter told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "We don't have the resources. We're not a cure-all agency."

The agency was only able to offer an appropriation to reseed the burned area and provide $1,000 for basic necessities to the family that lost its home, he said.

"There's no means in the BIA to replace (personal losses)," Hunter said. "That is more of a personal responsibility."

Bob Kroll, deputy administrator for Native American programs for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Phoenix, said there was no money available to help the family that lost its home.

The tribe can reapply for funds in the spring after Congress has allocated money for the next fiscal year, he said.

Two BIA officials arrived several days after the fire to evaluate the tribe's damage. Tribal leaders gave Hunter a prioritized list of needs.

"Here's comes the cavalry," Tribal Chairwoman Karen Crutcher said. "I felt confident that we were going to get help. But that didn't happen at all.

"Just because we're in a very remote area - hello, we're still here," she said.

The reservation, established in 1889, consists of 16,354 acres in Nevada and 18,829 acres in Oregon.

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com