Colville Reservation (2018)

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Confederated

Tribes of the

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource

Management Plan

2015

Table of Contents

Introduction

Resource Management Planning

Tribal Codes and Federal Laws

The 2014 Community Survey

Holistic Goal

Desired Future Conditions

Integrated Resource Management Planning�� 7

National Environmental Policy Act Requirements�� 8

Community Input�� 10

Enhancements and Improvements in the 2015 IRMP�� 10

Comprehensive Planning�� 12

History of Resource Management Planning�� 13

Integrated Resource Management Planning�� 15

The Project Proposal Process (3P)�� 18

Natural Resource Codes�� 20

Fish, Wildlife and Recreation (Chapter 4-1)�� 20

Cultural Resources Protection (Chapter 4-4)�� 20

On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal (Chapter 4-5)�� 21

Forest Practices (Chapter 4-7)�� 22

Water Quality Standards (Chapter 4-8)�� 22

Hydraulic Projects (Chapter 4-9)�� 23

Water Resources Use And Permitting (Chapter 4-10)�� 23

Rangeland Management (Chapter 4-11)�� 23

Forest Protection (Chapter 4-12)�� 24

Wild Horses (Chapter 4-14)�� 24

Shoreline Management (Chapter 4-15)�� 24

Fire Management (Chapter 4-19)�� 25

Federal Laws�� 25

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Table of Contents (continued)

Trust Claims Settlement

Soil, Water and Air

Agriculture

Rangeland

The Natural Resources Restoration Plan�� 33

Watershed Restoration�� 33

Rangeland Restoration�� 34

Wildlife Restoration�� 35

Forest Restoration�� 35

Forest Restoration Goals:�� 36

Cultural Plants Restoration�� 37

Watersheds: Water and Soils�� 38

Water Resource Conditions�� 39

Land Use Impacts�� 41

Watershed Management �� 42

Water Rights Status and Strategy�� 43

Air Quality�� 44

The Environmental Trust Department�� 45

Community Concerns�� 47

Environmental Trust Goals & Objectives�� 48

Soils and Water�� 48

Air Quality�� 54

Current Conditions�� 56

Community Concerns�� 60

Agriculture Management�� 60

Agriculture Goals & Objectives�� 60

Reservation Rangeland and Historic Uses�� 62

Current Rangeland Conditions�� 63

Rangeland Inventory �� 64

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Integrated Resource Management Plan

Table of Contents (continued)

Rangeland Management �� 65

Range Unit Acreage�� 68

Noxious Weed Prevention And Control�� 70

Community Concerns �� 72

The Land Operations/Range Program�� 73

Rangeland Goals & Objectives�� 74

Forests

Fire Management and Prevention

Overview�� 78

Progress Made Implementing the 2000 IRMP�� 78

Legacy Issues Affecting Forest Management�� 79

Management Under the IRMP�� 81

Management of Young Trees�� 82

Logging Systems and Forest Roads�� 83

Forest Inventory and the Annual Allowable Cut�� 84

Fire Management�� 85

Forestry Programs and the Project Planning Process�� 86

Additional Forestry Program Responsibilities�� 86

Community Concerns�� 87

Timber Harvest Schedule �� 88

Wildfires and the Harvest Schedule�� 90

Forestry Program Goals and Objectives�� 92

Wildfire Impacts�� 96

Fire Policy and Management�� 98

Fire Management Program�� 99

Fire Management Zones�� 101

Fire Lookouts�� 101

Cooperative Fire Management Agreements�� 102

Integrated Resource Management Plan

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Table of Contents (continued)

Fire Prevention Program�� 102

Fuels Management�� 103

Fire Management & Prevention Goals and Objectives�� 103

Forest Roads

106

Fish, Wildlife and Habitat

112

Cultural Resources

128

Legacy Roads and Environmental Impacts�� 106

Current Conditions�� 107

Community Concerns�� 108

Forest Roads and Natural Resource Restoration�� 109

Forest Roads Goals and Objectives�� 110

Game Reserves, Wilderness and Mitigation Lands�� 112

Threatened and Endangered Species�� 114

Feral Horse Management�� 115

Fish Management�� 115

Tribal Hatcheries�� 116

Fisheries, Habitat Restoration and Climate Change�� 117

Wildlife Management�� 118

Project Proposal Process�� 118

Community Concerns�� 119

Fish & Wildlife Goals & Objectives�� 120

Wildlife Goals & Objectives�� 120

Fish Goals & Objectives�� 125

Preserving History and Culture�� 128

Traditional Cultural Plants�� 128

Community Concerns�� 129

The History/Archaeology Program�� 130

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Integrated Resource Management Plan

Table of Contents (continued)

Cultural Resource Management Goals & Objectives�� 131

History and Archaeology�� 131

Traditional Cultural Plant Community Restoration�� 133

Parks and Recreation

135

Climate Change Strategy

141

Additional Planning Resources

148

Lake Roosevelt Management�� 135

Community Concerns�� 136

Parks & Recreation Management�� 136

Enforcement�� 138

Parks & Recreation Management Goals & Objectives�� 138

Regional Conditions�� 142

Forest Ecosystems�� 142

Federal Climate Change Policies�� 144

Adaptive Climate Change Strategy�� 146

Resource Management Plans�� 148

Natural Resource Reference Documents�� 149

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Introduction

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation adopted an Integrated Resource

Management Plan (IRMP) in 2000. It included management goals and objectives for the

period 2000 – 2014. In 2014, the Tribes’ IRMP Core Team began the process to update the

IRMP. The team prepared a Resource Assessment of the natural resources of the Reservation that described the resources of the Reservation and identified management issues of

concern to be addressed in the updated plan.

During a series of workshops, the IRMP team assessed the effectiveness of the original

IRMP and identified ways to enhance and improve the plan to provide greater flexibility

and realistic goals. In addition, the team emphasized the need for a user-friendly design

for the IRMP document that would make it more accessible and informative for the tribal

community and the Colville Business Council.

In 2014, the IRMP team prepared and administered a community survey to solicit input

from tribal members and residents of the Colville Reservation. The purpose of the survey was to document the community’s priorities, preferences and concerns regarding the

management of the Tribes’ natural and cultural resources.

The IRMP Core Team consists of representatives from the Tribes’ natural resource departments with additional contributions from the Planning, Realty, and History/Archaeology departments.

Integrated Resource Management Planning

An Integrated Resource Management Plan is defined as a tribe’s strategic plan for the

comprehensive management of a reservation’s resources. The process by which IRMPs

are developed is a mechanism for the examination of the relationships among natural

resources and their various uses, economic trends, cultural needs, and social forces. The

ultimate goal of an IRMP is to create a balance within natural resource management actions that reflects the social, cultural, economic, and natural resource values of reservation residents.

Integrated resource management is an approach to reservation resource management that

takes a whole system approach, viewing all resources (natural, social, cultural, and economic) as being interrelated in such a manner that management actions directed at one

resource also affect others. As such, the integrated resource management approach accommodates the management of natural resources that involve multiple, and sometimes,

conflicting uses. In developing the IRMP, the goal of the planning effort was to provide a

plan that balances multiple uses in a way that ensures the long-term sustainability of all

the natural resources that are important to the tribes of the Colville Reservation.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Introduction

National Environmental Policy Act Requirements

The Tribes’ forest resources comprise a large portion of the trust lands of the Colville Reservation and provide a major source of revenue and employment for the tribal government and the community. Timber harvesting at this scale constitutes a major federal action under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and requires

the preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) or a Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the adverse environmental impacts that

could potentially result from implementing a new, multi-year Forest Management Plan

under the IRMP.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has regulatory and fiduciary responsibilities in the management of agricultural and forest resources on tribal trust lands. These include ensuring

that current, approved management plans are in place for these resources and that environmental impacts and feasible mitigation measures are identified. Although the BIA

Northwest Region Office suggested that a Programmatic EA would suffice, The Colville

Business Council chose to prepare a formal Programmatic EIS that would include scoping meetings with the Reservation community and documented responses to comments

in the Final Environmental Impact Statement.

A Notice of Intent was published on November 21, 2014 in the Federal Register to advise

the public that the BIA and the Tribes intended to prepare a Draft Programmatic EIS for

the IRMP. Public scoping meetings were held in Reservation communities in October

2015. The DEIS was prepared in 2016 and Notices of Availability were published in the

Federal Register by the BIA and the EPA in the summer of 2017. Community meetings

were held in Reservation communities to receive public comments on the DEIS.

In their review, the EPA supported the IRMP because it “enhances the holistic approach of

the previous IRMP toward sustainable timber harvest levels and forest health objectives.”

The EPA further noted that they “acknowledge and appreciate the high quality planning

effort and coordination that is reflected in a clear and informative Draft IRMP.” The EPA

rated the DEIS as “Adequate” because it “adequately set forth the environmental impacts

of the preferred alternative.” The Response to Comments was released in January 2018.

The Final Programmatic EIS was prepared in 2018 and Notices of Availability were published in the Federal Register by the BIA and EPA. After public review, the Record of

Decision was prepared designating this IRMP as the preferred management alternative.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Introduction

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Introduction

Natural Resource Management Alternatives

In anticipation of analysis of the plan in the Programmatic EIS, the IRMP Core Team developed five management alternatives as required under NEPA:

Continue the current management strategy.

Concentrate on forest and rangeland health problems.

Enhance and improve the current management strategy.

Expand forest and cattle production.

Eliminate timber harvesting and livestock grazing.

The IRMP team chose Alternative 2 as the preferred alternative to be developed in this

new IRMP. The alternatives were presented to the Colville Business Council on June 3,

2014 with the IRMP team’s recommendation for Alternative 2. The Council passed Resolution 2014-367 approving the recommendation by a vote of 10 to 0.

Community Input

In the 2014 Community Survey, respondents were asked to choose the management alternative they preferred. The majority (53%) preferred Alternative 2 to enhance and improve

the Tribes’ current management strategy. The second largest response (45%) was for an

approach that would concentrate on forest and rangeland health problems. Although

most respondents chose only one alternative, 291 chose more than one. The majority of

them (203) chose a combination of Alternatives 2 and 3.

The strong support for addressing forest and rangeland health problems was further emphasized by responses to a question concerning the importance of controlling insects and

disease. The responses were almost unanimous (97%) that controlling insects and disease

was very important (83%) or somewhat important (14%).

Only 7% of respondents want to see a management focus that expands forest and cattle

production. More respondents (10%) would prefer to entirely eliminate both timber harvesting and livestock grazing on the Reservation. Accelerating timber harvesting was

supported by only 13% of respondents.

Enhancements and Improvements in the 2015 IRMP

In the course of developing the preferred alternative management approach, the IRMP

team reviewed the 2000 IRMP goals and objectives and identified a number of enhancements and improvements to be incorporated into the 2015 IRMP to improve management

of the Reservation’s natural resources. These include:

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Introduction

• Establishment of Special Emphasis Areas:

• Lake Management Areas

• Wildlife habitat and travel corridors

• Cultural plant gathering areas

• Enhanced Best Management Practices for forests, agriculture and rangelands.

• Adaptable harvest volume for timber sales based on site conditions.

• Improved enforcement of rangeland grazing permit requirements.

• Development and implementation of a Forest Road Management Plan with

construction and closure standards.

• Transportation and timber harvest plans developed with Light Detection and

Ranging (LIDAR), a laser-based remote sensing technology.

• Development and implementation of a climate change strategy.

• A new Memorandum of Understanding with the Bonneville Power Administration to re-establish native plants in mitigation areas.

• Increased efforts to control invasive weeds, emphasizing non-herbicidal treatments.

• Additional wildlife population augmentation for species with diminishing

numbers.

• Okanogan Nations Alliance collaboration regarding aboriginal territories.

Colville Reservation Omak Lake

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Introduction

Comprehensive Planning

The IRMP is a component in a suite of plans that make up a Comprehensive Plan. Besides

the IRMP, the Tribes are also developing and updating other plans, including the Land

Use Plan and a Comprehensive Plan.

The IRMP is supplemented by a number of underlying, resource-specific management

plans that provide additional information, technical data and best management practices,

including:

• Forest Management Plan

• Range Management Plan

• Agricultural Management Plan

• Fish & Wildlife Management Plan

• Cultural Resource Management Plan

• Parks & Recreation Plan

• Soil & Water Management Plan

• Non-Point Source Management Plan

• Wetland Program Plan

• Wellhead Protection Plan

• Water Quality Monitoring Strategy and Quality Assurance Project Plan

• Wildland Fire Management Plan

• Wildland Fire Prevention Plan

• Forest Road Management Plan

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

Resource Management Planning

History of Resource Management Planning

Integrated resource management planning on the Colville Reservation is a fairly recent

development in the history of the Reservation. Although Congress created a forestry program for Indian lands in 1909, it wasn’t until 1936 that General Forest Regulations provided some forest management objectives. These national objectives had little effect on

forest management at the local level, especially during World War II. During the 1950s,

management planning on the Reservation was confined to individual timber sales and

allotments.

The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 provided for tribal participation in the planning

and management of tribal resources. In 1938, the Constitution and By-Laws of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were approved by the United States federal

government and the Colville Business Council was established as the governing board of

the Tribes.

Biles Coleman Logging Trucks

It wasn’t until 1960, with passage of the Multiple Use - Sustained Yield Act, that the federal government acknowledged that natural resources such as forests and rangelands are

used for multiple purposes. That act directed the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and

administer the renewable resources of timber, range, water, recreation and wildlife on the

national forests for multiple use and sustained yield of the products and services. This is

the first law to have the five major uses of national forests contained in one law equally,

with no use given preference over another.

The first formal forest management plan for the forests of the Colville Reservation was

prepared in 1961. This was the beginning of intensive forest management on the Reservation. The annual allowable cut was set at 120 million board feet and was focused on

the remaining 396,000 acres of virgin sawtimber and emphasized the harvest of large

ponderosa pine trees.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

The plan emphasized the production of timber crops. Other forest uses were to be developed to the fullest extent possible without conflicting with this primary use. Recreation,

wildlife, water, grazing and mining were acknowledged, but the top priority of the plan

was to grow timber for lumber mills and generate revenue for the Tribes and allottees.

The 1960s saw the beginning of major environmental legislation affecting the management of the Tribes’ natural resources. The Clean Air Act of 1963 was designed to control

air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to

develop and enforce regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants known

to be hazardous to human health.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) was one of

the first laws ever written that established a broad national framework for protecting the environment. NEPA's basic policy is to assure that all branches of government give proper consideration to

the environment prior to undertaking any major federal action that

significantly affects the environment. The law requires public participation and the use of a formal planning process, including the

analysis of alternative actions.

The Clean Water Act of 1972 updated the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948,

establishing a basic structure to regulate discharges of pollutants into the waters of the

United States and to regulate quality standards for surface waters. The Act made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a

permit is obtained.

Passage of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 gave

tribes more responsibility for programs and services provided by the federal government. A Senate report concerning management of Indian natural resources, criticized the

BIA for poor management of tribal resources, citing deficient inventory data and the absence of good management and planning practices. As a result, the federal government

began developing comprehensive reservation resource and development assessments.

On the Colville Reservation, concerns about wildlife were addressed in 1972 when areas

were set aside to protect wildlife during all or part of the year, and the first tribal general

deer season was established. In 1976 the Fish and Wildlife Department was created. In

1980 the Northwest Power Planning Act was passed, requiring mitigation of fish and

wildlife losses due to hydropower development. The first wildlife mitigation properties

on the Reservation were purchased in 1993 and are managed by the Fish and Wildlife

Department.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

The Tribes began addressing concerns regarding tribal water rights and began a water

use-permitting program in the 1970s. During the 1980s, the Tribes established water quality standards and developed programs for pollution abatement and on-site wastewater

treatment. The Environmental Trust Department was formalized in 1988 and began developing soils and watershed expertise in the following years.

A major shift in timber management practices on the Colville Reservation began in the

late 1970s. Timber marking guidelines were implemented to remove a certain percentage

of the commercial volume. New management directives required the preparation of individual stand harvesting prescriptions. Regeneration cuts were prescribed for areas with

extensive insect or disease problems.

Forwarder

A forestry program review in 1979 revealed problems from a lack of coordination between

tribal and BIA forestry programs. A subsequent review in 1984 resulted in a resolution

by the Colville Business Council to combine the Colville Tribal Forestry and BIA Forestry

into one organization. A primary goal was to develop a long-range management plan.

In 1985, the Tribal Council passed the Colville Forest Practices Act establishing minimum

standards for forest practices affecting Reservation resources. The Forest Practices code

provisions apply to forest practices on all forest lands and forest roads within the Colville

Reservation, including lands held in trust or in fee status, and on other tribal trust lands

and allotments associated with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

Integrated Resource Management Planning

In the early 1980s, forest management plans were being developed that included integrated concepts. The Tribes established an interdisciplinary review procedure for projects proposed on Reservation lands in 1986. This eventually became the Project Proposal

Process (3P).

In 1988, the BIA initiated a national IRMP initiative intended to develop comprehensive,

integrated plans for each reservation. The passage of Indian forestry and agriculture acts

in the early 1990s established the requirement that forest and agricultural plans comply

with tribal IRMPs.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

During the development of the National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (NIFRMA) in 1991, Congress declared that the federal investment in Indian forest management

was significantly below the level of investment in Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, or private forestland management. The Indian Forestry Management Assessment Team (IFMAT), under the direction of the Intertribal Timber Council (ITC), identified integrated resource management plans as a high priority for management of Indian

resources.

In their 1993 IFMAT assessment, the ITC noted that development of IRMPs on reservations had not been successful due to a lack of helpful guidelines and commitment by

the BIA, and especially by the absence of adequate funding and resource management

expertise. In 1997, the BIA authorized funding for IRMP development. The 2003 IFMAT

assessment recommended increased funding to accelerate IRMP development, and in

2004, Congress provided line item funding that continued for 9 years.

The American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act of 1993 (AIARMA) was

passed to promote the self-determination of Indian tribes by providing for the management of Indian agricultural lands and related renewable resources in a manner consistent

with identified tribal goals and priorities for conservation, multiple use, and sustained

yield.

AIARMA requires that the management of agricultural resources be consistent with integrated resource management plans in order to protect and maintain other values such

as wildlife, fisheries, cultural resources, recreation and to regulate water runoff and minimize soil erosion.

These laws empowering tribes in the management of

their natural resources are leading to greater satisfaction in the quality of natural resource management in

tribal communities. Indian resources are increasingly

managed by tribal programs in accordance with tribal

visions. Management priorities are shifting towards

sustainable multiple use with resource preservation

receiving increased emphasis.

An Interim Forest Management Plan was developed

Sanpoil River

in 1989 in anticipation of development of an IRMP for

the Colville Reservation. The plan was updated in 1992 and was extended in 1999 to provide time to finalize the 2000 IRMP and accompanying Environmental Impact Statement.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

The 2000 IRMP was the first multiple use natural resource management plan developed

for the Colville Reservation. The IRMP provided a holistic approach to the natural resources of the Reservation: the watersheds, forests, rangelands and the fish, wildlife and

humans who inhabit them. The multidisciplinary team prepared a resource assessment

and created a management structure and a management plan with detailed goals and

objectives.

The Tribes’ forest and range resources comprise a large portion of the trust lands of the

Colville Reservation and provide a major source of revenue and employment for the tribal government and the community. Timber harvesting, especially at this scale constitutes

a major federal action under the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and

requires an assessment of the adverse environmental impacts that may result from implementing a multi-year Forest Management Plan under the IRMP.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has regulatory and fiduciary responsibilities in the management of agricultural and forest resources on tribal trust lands. These include ensuring

that current, approved management plans are in place for these resources and that the

environmental impacts and feasible mitigation measures are identified.

The Tribes’ IRMP team prepared a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

(EIS) for the proposed 2000 IRMP that considered 6 alternative actions with timber harvest levels ranging from 54.6 to 94.8 MMBF. The preferred alternative set the annual allowable cut at 63.5 MMBF and reduced range use on allotments by 15%.

After circulation and review of the EIS, the Council chose to create a 7th alternative with

an allowable annual cut of 77.1 MMBF with additional emphasis on regeneration harvesting to address insect and disease problems and provisions for 14 sensitive watersheds

where harvest would be postponed for 15 years. Allowable range use was increased 50%

for livestock and wildlife.

The 2000 IRMP encompassed the period from 2001 to

2014 and consisted of multiple documents: a Phase I

multi-document Resource Inventory, a Phase II Goals

and Objectives document, a Record of Decision/Plan

for Integrated Resource Management (ROD/PIRM), and

the Final Environmental Impact Statement. Within these

documents are various lists of planning goals, objectives,

standards, and guidelines. Resource managers, Council

members and interested community members expressed

concerns that the plan was overly long and excessively

technical. Consequently, the 2015 IRMP team emphasized

that the updated IRMP should be a concise, coherent plan

that is user friendly and easily accessible.

Colville Reservation

COLVILLE INDIAN RESERVATION

RECORD OF DECISION

AND

PLAN FOR INTEGRATED RESOURCES

MANAGEMENT

2000 - 2014

Colville Confederated Tribes

Nespelem, Washington

July 2001

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

The Project Proposal Process (3P)

The Project Proposal Process provides review of proposed projects on the lands of the

Reservation to ensure consistency with the goals and objectives of the IRMP and compliance with Tribal Codes and federal laws and regulations, including NEPA requirements

for environmental impact analysis and the consideration of alternative actions.

The Project Proposal Process provides a review of project proposals by a team of representatives from natural resource departments, realty, planning and community infrastructure departments as well as the BIA Superintendent. Examples of projects reviewed

in the Project Proposal Process are:

•

Timber sales and forest maintenance projects

•

Reforestation projects

•

Wildland-Urban Interface and fuels reduction projects

Timber salvage projects

Range and pasture permits and leases

Road maintenance projects

Range improvement projects

Property transfers and conveyences

Fee to trust ownership status

Development projects

Environmental restoration projects

Wildife mitigation projects

During the 3P review of project proposals, recommendations are made to ensure that environmental impacts are minimized and mitigated and that projects are consistent with

the IRMP and compliant with applicable laws and regulations. An environmental assessment is prepared for projects that may have adverse environmental impacts. Projects

must be approved by the 3P Team, the BIA Superintendent, program managers and the

Colville Business Council.

Project proponents can be private individuals or businesses, the Tribes’ corporation or

a tribal program. Many projects are proposed by the Tribes’ programs and departments

and they are also required to undergo 3P review.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Resource Management on the Colville Reservation

For example, the Forestry Department submits proposed timber sales and other forest

management projects to the team to gain site-specific recommendations for protection or

enhancement of other resources. The department provides detailed project descriptions

with maps, silvicultural prescriptions, harvest plans, and other relevant information.

Project review often includes field trips and organized public meetings to obtain input for project development.

The Mt Tolman Fire Center fuels planners present

projects involving prescribed fire and fuels management. These proposals involve the use of fire in the

management of the Tribe’s natural resources. The

fuels planners also contribute to the development of

mitigation measures intended to minimize environ- Elders on tour prior to timber sale

mental impacts.

The Range Program brings proposed range improvement projects and grazing permits

for review by the team. They also contribute to the evaluation and assessment of other

proposed natural resource projects and provide comments and suggestions.

The Fisheries Department provides review of proposed actions affecting fisheries resources or habitat to ensure that these resources are adequately protected. The Wildlife

Program biologists review all land management activities, including timber sales, and

provide vital wildlife population data and assessments of the potential impact of these

projects on associated wildlife species and their habitats.

The Environmental Trust Department contributes reviews of project plans to identify potential impacts to soil, water, and air resources and recommends mitigation measures.

The department also brings proposals for watershed restoration projects for 3P review.

The History/Archaeology Program identifies cultural sites that may be affected by proposed projects and coordinates with project proponents to avoid sites or develop appropriate mitigation measures. The Tribal Archaeologist, the Resource Archaeologist and the

Cultural Plant Team review applications and participate in project planning for major

natural resource and other projects on the Reservation. They contribute to the preparation of environmental assessments and conduct cultural resource surveys. Cultural

Plant Team is responsible for identifying cultural plants that may be affected by natural

resource projects.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

Tribal Codes and Federal Laws

Management of the Reservation’s natural resources requires compliance with the Tribes’

Natural Resource Codes as well as federal laws and their associated regulations. The

Tribes’ natural resource departments and programs not only comply with these legal requirements, in many cases, they are charged with their enforcement.

Many of the tribal codes concerned with the environmental impacts of forest practices, grazing, mining, and non-point source pollution from urban and agricultural runoff,

were originally enacted by the Colville Tribal Council in the 1980s.

Natural Resource Codes

The Tribes’ Natural Resource Codes are periodically reviewed and updated to address

changing conditions and advances in environmental science and resource management

practices. The current codes are posted on the Tribes’ website (www.colvilletribes.com).

The codes also assign enforcement authority to specific tribal departments such as Environmental Trust, Planning, Parks & Recreation and Fish & Wildlife.

Fish, Wildlife and Recreation (Chapter 4-1)

The Tribes regulate the harvest of wildlife resources within the aboriginal territory of the

Colville Tribes. In regulating wildlife and recreation resources of the Reservation, tribal

members are afforded the greatest possible freedom to use and enjoy these resources,

consistent with the preservation and improvement of these resources for future generations. Wildlife found on the Reservation may be taken only at such times, in such places,

and in such a manner as provided by tribal law. Enforcement of this chapter is primarily

the responsibility of police officers, and other tribal law enforcement personnel.

Cultural Resources Protection (Chapter 4-4)

The Cultural Resources Protection chapter reasserts requirements of federal laws affecting historical and archeological resources and the requirement that the Tribes be

notified of any federal actions such as the review and permitting of proposed projects. The Tribes must be consulted

and in some cases, a project cannot proceed without consent of the Tribes. The Tribes have the authority to nominate

sites on the Reservation for inclusion in the National Register of Archaeological and Historic Sites. The ordinance

details the powers and duties of the History and ArchaeolOverview of a buried

ogy Program. Damaging or adversely impacting significant

archaeological site

resources are prohibited acts. Permits are required if projects

or actions adversely affect archaeological resources or historic properties. Criminal and

civil penalties are identified for prohibited acts. Chapter 4-4 discusses survey, inventory

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

and registering archaeological and historic properties. Any applicant or permittee aggrieved by any decision made under this Chapter, may petition the Council for a hearing

to review such decision.

On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal (Chapter 4-5)

The economy, health, safety and welfare of the people residing and doing business within the Colville Indian Reservation are affected by the construction and utilization of onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems (i.e. septic tank systems) servicing both

Indian and non-Indian people on trust and fee land within the Colville Reservation.

Inadequate treatment and disposal of wastewater can contaminate and degrade water resources on which many people depend for domestic,

agricultural, industrial, business, recreational and

other uses. The existence of shallow groundwater,

unacceptable soil percolation rates, steep slopes,

shallow bedrock, silt and clay strata throughout

much of the Colville Reservation together with

anticipated population growth and business development on the Reservation require uniform

planning, standards and permitting procedures in order to protect the quality of Reservation waters for current and future intended uses.

The Environmental Trust Department administers this Chapter. Fees may be charged for

permits and administration services provided under this Chapter in accordance with a

fee schedule proposed by the Environmental Trust Department and adopted by the Tribal

Council.

Mining Practices Water Quality (Chapter 4-6)

Exploration and mining of minerals on the Reservation can have irreversible impacts on

water quality. This chapter requires that preventative measures and best management

practices are used in mining operations to manage non-point sources of water pollution

and that lands affected by mining operations are properly reclaimed. Enforcement of the

provisions of this chapter is the responsibility of the Environmental Trust Department.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

Forest Practices (Chapter 4-7)

This chapter provides for sustainable forest management practices that integrate protections for water quality and quantity, fish and wildlife, soils, vegetation, cultural resources, recreation and scenic beauty. Applications are required for any proposed projects that

have some potential for damaging a Reservation resource or adversely impacting the

health, safety or welfare of the Reservation population. These include forest practices

utilizing heavy equipment for timber harvesting, road construction and maintenance.

This chapter requires the application of best management practices for road construction and maintenance, water crossings, gravel pits and quarries, weed control, logging

systems and landings. The chapter also specifies riparian management zones along all

waters except forested wetlands that preclude roads and skid trails, heavy equipment,

landings and quarries. The Reserve Trees requirements provide for the number of trees

and snags to be left standing in regeneration harvests. Additional provisions include

post-harvest site preparation, landing cleanup, slash disposal and reforestation. Protection of threatened and endangered species as well as cultural resources are also included.

This Chapter provides the following enforcement procedures: informal conferences, Notices to Comply, Stop Work Orders, corrective actions by the Department, civil penalties,

injunctions and other civil and administrative judicial relief. Enforcement of the provisions of this chapter is the responsibility of the Environmental Trust Department.

Water Quality Standards (Chapter 4-8)

This Chapter establishes tribal water quality

standards for the surface waters and ground

waters located within the exterior boundaries

of the Reservation. The quality of all surface

and groundwater on the Reservation is protected to insure the health, economic, aesthetic and

cultural well being of all people residing on the

Reservation.

Watershed Award 2013

This chapter requires any person who plans to discharge any waste from a point source

into Reservation waters, must obtain a permit from the Environmental Trust Department.

Any person engaged in any operation or activity that results in a spill or discharge, which

may cause pollution of the waters of the Reservation, may be subject to civil penalties,

including fines up to $10,000 per day. The Environmental Trust Department may issue

cease and desist orders for discharges or cleanup orders for spills or dumping into Reservation waters.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

Hydraulic Projects (Chapter 4-9)

This Chapter protects aquatic resources by requiring application and approval of hydraulic projects. Tribal members depend on aquatic resources such as lakes, wetlands, streams

and rivers for fish and for cultural and ceremonial purposes.

Hydraulic projects involve construction or other activities that affect the natural flow or

course of streams or rivers. Hydraulic projects include projects requiring construction fill

for recreational, industrial, commercial, sewage treatment or residential projects affecting

watercourses, road fills for water crossings, bridges, dams and impoundments requiring

rock, sand, dirt, or other material for construction. Application review and approval, as

well as enforcement are the responsibility of the Environmental Trust Department.

Water Crossings

Water Resources Use And Permitting (Chapter 4-10)

This chapter asserts the water rights of the Colville Tribes and provides for the administration of water permits. The Water Administrator must ensure adequate levels in streams

and lakes for fish and wildlife conservation and tribal member use. The Administrator

has the authority to remove or shut down diversions, wells, or obstructions to the flow of

water and any activities adversely affecting water quality. This code is administered by

the Environmental Trust Department.

Rangeland Management (Chapter 4-11)

This chapter requires that rangeland be consolidated into

management units and that the grazing capacity and maximum number of livestock are determined and adjusted as

needed to comply with integrated resource management objectives. Grazing seasons are determined by the Range director and the Council determines grazing fees and authorizes

grazing permits.

Open Range Warning Sign

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

Livestock counts, branding and inspections for disease are required. Domestic sheep and

goats are restricted from rangelands due to the potential to spread disease to the wild

bighorn sheep population. Permittees must adjust grazing use if the Director determines

that conditions of the range require it. The Land Operations Department is authorized to

assess fees and penalties for prohibited acts.

Forest Protection (Chapter 4-12)

This chapter provides for enforcement for forest related offenses such as unlawful timber

harvesting, woodcutting, and arson. The code requires permits for forestry activities on

trust lands and timber salvage. Enforcement is the responsibility of all police officers, law

enforcement officers, and all law enforcement agencies of the Tribes and BIA.

Wild Horses (Chapter 4-14)

Feral horses on the

Colville Reservation

Feral free roaming horses are under the jurisdiction of the

Tribes and are managed as part of the natural resources of

the Reservation. They are protected from unauthorized

capture, branding, undue disturbance and destruction.

They and their habitat are to be managed and controlled

in a manner designed to achieve and maintain a feral

horse herd on the Colville Indian Reservation. The code

requires that the herd be maintained in numbers that will

insure the perpetuation of the herd, but at the same time

will not unduly interfere with the use of rangelands for

other purposes. Feral horses are managed by the Range

Program and the Fish & Wildlife Department.

Shoreline Management (Chapter 4-15)

This chapter provides for the protection, control, conservation, and utilization of the

shoreline resources of the Reservation. It establishes the shoreline regulatory structure

for the management of shoreline areas within the Reservation through the planning and

fostering of all reasonable and appropriate uses.

All shoreline developments and uses must utilize best management practices that minimize any increase in surface water run off and to control, treat and release runoff so

that receiving water quality and shore properties and features are not adversely affected.

Natural and cultural resources are to be protected and preserved in any proposed developments. This code is administered by the Planning Department.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Tribal Code and Federal Laws and Regulations

Fire Management (Chapter 4-19)

This chapter provides for the establishment and maintenance of a complete, cooperative

and coordinated forest fire protection and suppression program. The Fire Management

department is empowered to take charge of and direct fire suppression activities and investigate the cause of forest fires. The department also administers burn permits and appoints wardens to provide information to the public, investigate fires, patrol forest areas,

inspect spark-emitting equipment and forestland operations to ensure fire prevention.

The Tribal Police Department has the authority to investigate, arrest and initiate prosecution of violators.

Federal Laws

The following federal laws affect management of the natural resources of the Reservation. They require compliance by tribal departments and programs to protect

air and water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and traditional cultural resources.

• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

• Clean Air Act (CAA)

• Clean Water Act (CWA)

• The National Indian Forest Resources Management Act (NIFRMA)

• American Indian Agricultural Resource Management Act (AIARMA)

• Endangered Species Act (ESA)

• The Lacey Act

• National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)

• American Antiquities Act of 1906

• Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA)

• American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA)

• Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

• The Migratory Bird Act

• Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act

• Wetland Protection Act

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

• Federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA)

• The Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

The Community Survey

The 2014 Community Survey

The 2014 Colville Reservation Community Survey solicited input from tribal members

and residents of the Colville Reservation. The purpose of the survey was to document

the community’s priorities, preferences and concerns regarding the management of the

Tribes’ natural resources.

Although the survey was open to all members of the Colville Tribes, the IRMP Core

Team chose to include all residents of the Reservation as well as employees of the Tribes

and the Bureau of Indian Affairs who work on the Reservation. The team felt that the

Reservation community is most affected by management of the Reservation’s natural

resources.

The team assembled a survey crew of tribal members experienced in survey administration with a designated survey crew supervisor. The crew was tasked with ensuring

that all communities and age groups were provided the opportunity to participate in the

survey. The survey questionnaire was also made available electronically via the Tribes’

website and email. Eligible respondents had to be a tribal member, a resident of the

Colville Reservation or an employee of the Tribes or BIA, 18 years or older, to complete

the survey.

Colville community members’ were generally very amenable to participating in the 2014

Colville Reservation Community Survey when asked. In total, 1,026 individuals provided completed or substantially completed responses to the survey. The survey sampled

approximately 14.4% of the total eligible Reservation population (6,965), and was especially successful in garnering opinions from individuals aged 25-64.

The survey results play an important role in developing IRMP goals and objectives for

the management of the natural resources of the Colville Reservation. The results reveal

the ways that community members use natural resources such as firewood and plant

gathering, hunting and fishing and recreational activities along the lakes, streams and

rivers of the Reservation. The results also reveal community perceptions of the Tribes’

management of forest and range resources and the benefits that accrue to the Tribes as a

whole and the larger community as well as the flora and fauna of the Reservation.

Respondents were asked whether they were familiar with the Tribes’ Holistic Goal and

the list of Desired Future Conditions. Only 32% were familiar with the Holistic Goal and

only 23% were familiar with the Desired Future Conditions. Of these, 55% felt that the

Tribes have made progress in achieving these goals and conditions. Breaking down responses by age group indicates that younger respondents are more optimistic than older

respondents in their evaluations.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

The Community Survey

SURVEY RESPONSE STATISTICS BY AGE AND GENDER COHORTS

2014 Colville Community Survey v s . 2012 U.S. Census Estimates

Male (Total Population)

Female (Total Population)

Male (Surveyed)

Female (Surveyed)

2,000

Number of Individuals/Respondents

1,800

A total of 1,026 individuals responded to the 2014

Community Survey.

1,600

As a proportion of the total number of individuals

residing on the Colville Reservation (according to 2012

U.S. Census Estimates), this represents approximately

20.6% of the target female population, 10.3% of the

target male population, and 14.4% of the total target

population (i.e., 18 years of age or older).

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

23%

200

Age 18-24

Colville Reservation

22%

29%

Age 25-34

11%

26%

Age 35-44

12%

Age 45-64

14%

Age 65 and Older

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Holistic Goals and Desired Future Conditions

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

Holistic Goal

__________________________

_________________________

Quality of Life

e want to maintain and build upon our unique culture, traditions, language, sovereignty and history; we want a healthy society, environment

and economy; we will treat everyone with honor and respect, having the freedom to worship, live, work and play as we choose, accepting each others diversity/uniqueness.

e want to provide plentiful/affordable housing, meaningful/secure employment and educational opportunities. We want communities that are

clean, self-sufficient, safe, wholesome and provide opportunities for family

based recreation.

Forms of Production

e will support our quality of life through sustainable wealth from diverse

income opportunities, without waste or sacrifice of tradition, culture and

values; we will emphasize the importance of involving the membership in developing their communities; we will provide opportunities/infrastructure to

increase understanding/awareness of our culture, traditions, language, sovereignty and history throughout our communities, schools and workplaces,

continuously promoting honor, respect and diversity.

Future Resource Base

e are and continue to be a self-sustaining sovereign entity; having flourishing enterprises; having healthy productive landscapes including

rangelands, croplands, forests, riparian areas, streams and lakes; tribal decisions will include protection of tradition, culture, and aesthetic values; we

will continue to provide improved/enhanced opportunities to communities/

schools/workplaces to increase understanding and awareness of our culture,

values, tradition, languages, sovereignty and history.

The Reservation remains as a rural life-style and the population is in balance

with an effective water, mineral, and energy cycle with biodiversity resulting

in an abundance of culture, medicinal and edible plants, clean air and water,

springs and streams that flow year round, large trees, wildlife, fish and insects.

Enacted by Colville Business Council Resolution 1996-23 on January 18, 1996.

____________________________

Integrated Resource Management Plan

____________________________

Colville Reservation

Holistic Goals and Desired Future Conditions

Desired Future Conditions

1. Reservation and boundary waters meet Tribal Water Quality Standards.

2. Reservation watersheds have healthy, resilient soil and hydrologic functions and

characteristics.

3. Wetlands, riparian, and aquatic ecosystems continue to function as natural systems.

4. Culture, traditions and practices remain in the personal, social, economic, spiritual and political aspect of the lives of the Reservation’s membership.

5. Suitable habitat conditions for desirable native and non-native species (flora and

fauna) exist to maintain Reservation biodiversity that includes the diversity of

natural genes, species and ecosystems, as well as the evolutionary processes that

link them.

6. Managed landscapes more closely resemble those created by the activities of historic disturbance agents such as fire (natural and traditional activities), wind, insects, disease and animals.

Viable populations (numbers and distribution of reproductive individuals) of native and desired non-native species of wildlife, and their supporting habitats are

maintained, while wildlife is provided in sufficient numbers to meet the cultural,

subsistence and recreational needs of Colville tribal members.

8. An abundance of anadromous and non-anadromous fish and other aquatic species the Tribes desire continues in the waters of the Reservation.

9. Tribal member values are clearly stated and reflected in the management of their

resources.

10.

Good air quality continues to exist on the Reservation.

11.. A mosaic of desirable rangeland plant communities with diverse forbs, grasses

and shrubs that optimize ecosystem processes exist across the Reservation.

12. The Reservation is in a clean, green, and healthy condition that is aesthetically

pleasing and fulfills the spiritual, cultural, social and economic needs of the tribal

membership.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Holistic Goals and Desired Future Conditions

13. The Reservation’s resources provide economic stability for the tribal membership.

14. A variety of safe recreational opportunities are provided year-round for all age

groups and ability levels with an emphasis on tribal member utilization as well as

resource protection.

15. The Colville Reservation remains a sovereign nation, retaining jurisdiction over

the Reservation, external tribal lands and tribal historical and cultural resources.

16. Cultural places and resources are protected and preserved allowing tribal members to understand their history and culture and perpetuate traditional practices.

17. There is an abundance of foods, medicines, and plant materials for the creation of

tools and traditional objects used in gathering, fishing, hunting, weaving, ceremonial practice and the everyday activities of the membership.

Forest near Inchelium

Boat on Twin Lakes

Cattle Grazing on the Reservation

Kartar Valley

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

Trust Claims Settlement

In 2005, the Colville Tribes and 40 other federally-recognized tribes filed a lawsuit against

the United States, in which the tribes alleged that the Department of the Interior and the

Department of the Treasury had mismanaged monetary assets and natural resources

held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the tribes.

After five years of litigation, the tribes and the federal government

entered into settlement negotiations. In April 2012, the Department of

Justice announced settlements between the government and tribes totaling more than $1 billion. These settlements resolved claims dating

back more than 100 years and ended years of litigation that burdened

both the plaintiff tribes and the United States.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation agreed to accept a $193 million settlement offer from the federal government to resolve historical grievances over the accounting and management of tribal trust funds and trust lands that had been a source

of conflict between Indian tribes and the United States for decades.The settlement ranks

among the largest for Indian trust-mismanagement cases in U.S.history and reflects the

federal government’s commitment to restore a positive working relationship with tribal

governments.

During the settlement negotiations, the Tribes contracted with the Oregon State University College of Forestry and consultant Applegate Forestry LLC to assess the cost to

repair the damage to the Reservation’s natural resources. The resulting restoration plan

estimated that a decade long restoration program costing over $100 million, would be

needed to achieve a healthier forest with a long-term sustained yield of timber products,

cleaner water, improved fish and deer habitat, and more cultural plants. The restoration

effort would also create significant tribal employment.

The Colville Business Council initially planned to use 80% of the settlement funds for environmental and cultural restoration projects, and to disburse the remaining 20 percent,

or about $4,000 each to 9,500 tribal members. The Tribes negotiated to place $38.6 million

of settlement funds into a special trust account to protect distributions to tribal members

from federal taxation.

Concerned with the depressed local economy resulting from the closure of lumber mills

and wood processing facilities, the tribal community petitioned the Colville Business

Council to hold a referendum vote to authorize the distribution of an additional $57.9

million of the settlement funds. Members of the Tribes voted in August 2013, by a margin

of 10 to 1, in favor of distributing the additional funds.

In addition, a group called “Colville Members for Justice” filed a lawsuit seeking distribution of the entire settlement to tribal members through per-capita payments. The

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

Colville Tribal Court dismissed the suit in October 2013. The group appealed the decision

and it was taken up by the Tribal Appeals Court and was ultimately dismissed in 2014.

Ultimately, the Colville Business Council decided to distribute an additional $57.9 million. Of the remaining $96.5 million, the Council allocated approximately $29 million for

restoration projects. The Council established a task force consisting of representatives of

Environmental Trust, Forestry, Range, Fish & Wildlife, History & Archeology, Transportation, Planning, Accounting, Realty and Real Property. The task force was authorized

to develop a comprehensive restoration plan based on the restoration plan developed

during settlement negotiations.

The task force had seven overall goals in preparing the Natural Resources Restoration

Plan:

• Restore forest watersheds through road location, design, maintenance, decommissioning closure, and improved road system management.

•

Address forest health problems.

•

Increase cultural plant abundance and availability.

•

Provide employment and training for tribal members.

• Restore deer habitat, cultural plant habitats, and forage productivity in

on-forest rangelands.

•

Support the IRMP effort.

• Build capacity to address current management gaps for cultural resources,

watersheds, roads, fish, wildlife, forest and range resources.

Partially plugged culvert

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Landslide prone area where roads

should not be constructed

Colville Reservation

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

The Natural Resources Restoration Plan

The Natural Resources Restoration Plan was approved by the Colville Business Council

in May 2013 by a vote of 7 to 0. The plan provided three overriding goals:

• Improve the condition of natural resources across the Reservation degraded by past management, including forest, shrub-steppe, cultural plants,

and watershed resources.

• Expedite changes to resource management programs to ensure improved

resource outcomes in the future, including development of a new Integrated Resource Management Plan.

• Participation of the membership in the process of resource restoration to

ensure that restoration efforts continue into the future.

The Restoration Plan has the following objectives that supplement the individual resource restoration plans:

• Increase knowledge of Reservation resources through surveys and assessments of soil condition, watershed impacts from roads, big game and eagle

nest locations, invasive plants (weeds), range condition and production,

range infrastructure, and cultural plant locations.

•

Design and renovate the tribal greenhouse.

• Provide support for advanced natural resource education to prepare tribal

members for careers managing natural resources.

• Purchase LIDAR imagery of the Reservation to support resource mapping

and analysis.

Watershed Restoration

The Restoration Plan includes goals and objectives for watershed restoration to restore

watershed conditions and the water quality of the Reservation’s streams and lakes by

upgrading or eliminating road features that are damaging water and aquatic resources, developing road standards that prevent water resource degradation, and improving

oversight of road planning, construction, maintenance, and use.

Watershed Restoration Goals:

•

Improve the ecological function of the watersheds.

• Improve water quality, riparian and aquatic habitat, and restore natural

flows of Reservation streams.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

• Develop a management plan for forest access roads that protects watersheds and improves access for resource management and tribal member

use.

• Utilize tribal businesses to conduct restoration work and involve tribal

youth in measuring outcomes.

Restoration of the Reservation watersheds focuses on forest access roads, especially those

with erosion problems that affect nearby streams. Roads with drainage problems will

have drainage structures installed. The plan identifies roads in streamside riparian zones

as well as unused or duplicative roads that will be decommissioned. Stream crossings

and culverts that are eroding or inadequately constructed will be replaced or removed.

Rangeland Restoration

Restoration of the Reservation rangelands is intended to enhance and maintain range

conditions, sustainable livestock production and wildlife forage. Rangeland conditions

will be restored by improving management of grazing animals, including horses and

cattle, and controlling invasive vegetation. Additional fencing and structures will improve grazing management, reduce livestock on highways, and protect riparian zones.

Feral Horse Impacts in Friedlander Meadow

Rangeland Restoration Goals:

• Achieve the optimal desired future condition of Reservation rangelands,

with sustainable economic returns to livestock producers.

• Create a mosaic of desirable rangeland plant communities with diverse

forbs, grasses, and shrubs that optimize ecosystems processes.

• Establish range condition and trend plots to monitor the status of range

vegetation and evaluate the effectiveness of grazing management.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

• Encourage grazing practices that lead to an increase in highly palatable

plant species, a decrease of undesirable species, and improved range conditions.

• Establish grazing compliance procedures that will enforce appropriate livestock management that will benefit other natural resource programs.

Wildlife Restoration

An aerial survey of big game, eagle nests and other wildlife will establish baseline wildlife information for the Reservation. This information provides a basis for developing

wildlife management goals & objectives in the IRMP. The wildlife included in the surveys

are:

•

Sharp-tailed grouse lek counts

•

Gray wolf pup counts

•

Bighorn sheep lamb counts

Gray wolf pack counts

Big game counts

Feral horse counts

Eagle nest surveys

Bald Eagles

Gray-wolves

California Bighorn Sheep

Forest Restoration

Forest restoration is intended to restore and maintain resilient landscapes, create fire

adapted communities and conditions that will contribute to a resistant and resilient forest. The plan includes restoration activities to restore ecosystem processes by managing

vegetation structure, stand density, species composition, patch size, patterns, and fuel

loading and distribution. This will create ecosystems that are resistant/resilient to epidemic levels of insects and disease and catastrophic wildfire. It will also allow fire to play

its natural ecological role on the Reservation while protecting human life, structures, and

cultural resources.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

Forest Restoration Goals:

• Provide tribal employment through forest management and fire management activities.

• Develop a regulated forest that provides a sustainable supply of forest

products over the long term.

•

Reduce stocking and competition to increase growth and vigor of stands.

•

Reduce the potential of resource damage from destructive wildland fires.

•

Manipulate species composition, favoring early seral species.

• Assist land managers by protecting, maintaining or enhancing other resources through treatments of forest fuels.

•

Maintain a fire dependent ecosystem.

• Develop a program of fuels management and prescribed fire that will effectively reduce the fire hazard of accumulated fuels, achieve multiple resource objectives, and provide for the natural role of fire in the ecosystem.

• Provide opportunities for wildland fire to be used for resource benefits and

implementation when conditions permit.

Current regeneration harvesting practices involve retention of a small number of

larger ponderosa pine and western larch. Additional trees are planted or natural

regeneration occurs.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Trust Claims Settlement and Restoration Plan

Cultural Plants Restoration

The goal of the cultural plant restoration is to assess the distribution and abundance of

traditional cultural plants and associated native plant communities throughout Reservation lands and to compile traditional cultural plant information through field inventory,

records review, and consultation with the elder and practitioner community.

The History/Archaeology Department staff and contractors will train a three-member

tribal team to gather data. The data will be analyzed and inventoried and will be followed by monitoring and evaluation.

These efforts will provide baseline information to guide restoration and protection for

future generations. Gaining an understanding of the distribution and abundance of traditional cultural plants and associated native plant communities will significantly improve

the Tribes’ ability to protect and manage these valuable resources.

Huckleberries

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

Watersheds: Water and Soils

The watersheds of the Reservation function naturally to provide clean water, regulate

stream flows by cycling water through the soil, and provide fish and wildlife habitat, and

cultural resources. Riparian zones lining stream courses and wetlands offer critical support for these functions, shading the water, supporting the food chain with leaf litter,

strengthening stream banks with root systems, slowing runoff with absorbent soils, dissipating flood flows, and providing woody debris for aquatic habitat.

Elbow Lake

Soils of the Reservation play an important role in supporting plant growth by providing

a medium for root growth and inorganic, mineral nutrients such as: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, manganese, boron, molybdenum, copper, zinc, nickel, chlorine, cobalt, and selenium. Soils moderate temperature fluctuations

and insulate deeper roots from hot and cold extremes experienced at the surface. Soils

are a principal controlling factor for water movement through much of the hydrologic

cycle. The water holding capacity of soils is essential for plant survival.

According to the Hydrology report, soils across the Reservation vary widely in texture,

depth, rock fragment content, and natural drainage. In general, soils on the uplands are

generally suited for timber production, livestock grazing, wildlife habitat and recreation

while soils on terraces and plateaus are suited for agriculture and urban development as

well as livestock grazing, wildlife habitat and recreation.

The Reservation lies within several precipitation zones and has nearly 3,000 miles of

streams, 420 lakes, and over 22,000 acres of wetlands. The majority of lakes (about 300)

are in the southwest plateau area and are saline or highly alkaline. Most of the lakes

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

outside this area are at higher elevations, either with clear water, low nutrients and primary productivity, or with warmer water and more nutrients and primary productivity.

Currently, Reservation lakes tend to be within the moderate to high productivity range,

primary productivity being the amount of photosynthesis by algae.

The Columbia River flows along the Reservation’s eastern and southern borders and the

Okanogan River flows along its western border. The eastern half of the Reservation has

the greater number of streams and flows are moderate to low. The western half has fewer streams and flows are very low to intermittent in many cases. A primary source of

groundwater is in the alluvial and glacial deposits that fill the bottom of most river and

stream valleys. In many areas, groundwater is limited by aquifers that are small, disjointed and directly connected to lakes and streams.

Water Resource Conditions

The riparian, stream and fishery conditions on the Reservation were historically stable

and provided substantial sustenance, cultural and spiritual values to the Colville Tribes

with relatively balanced water and nutrient cycles. The riparian and in-stream conditions provided abundant and productive habitat for plants and animals including fish, mammals, birds, and insects.

Old Fish Hatchery

The Environmental Trust Department monitors the water

quality of surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands) and groundwater. As there are nearly 3,000 miles of

interior rivers and streams with an additional 202 miles of

boundary waters shared with Washington State (the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers), monitoring them all would require a substantial increase in staff and funding.

Consequently, the Environmental Trust Department has stream monitoring sites in only

59 of the 209 watershed management units across the Reservation. Field water quality

parameters are collected at approximately 75 surface water quality sites in 12 of the 15

resource management units on the Reservation. Approximately 65% of the Reservation’s

total stream network is tributary to monitoring sites and are therefore monitored. A number of the larger streams have several monitoring sites on their main stem and additional sites at the mouths of tributary streams. Water quality sampling sites were selected

by consideration of tribal interests, accessibility, flows, ecological sources, and point and

nonpoint sources of pollution.

Current information indicates that water quality within the exterior boundaries of the

Reservation is not “impaired,” but concerns do exist that require further action. The

2014 Hydrology Report states that water quality commonly exceeds standards set by the

Tribes. Past records and recent tests indicate that segments of many flowing water bodies

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Resource Management Units & Named Streams

OMAK

CREEK

LOST

CREEK

WEST

FORK

SPR

HALL

CREEK

UPPER SAN

POIL RIVER

SOUTHWEST

PLATEAU

TWIN

LAKES

NESPELEM

RIVER

KARTAR

VALLEY

LITTLE

NESPELEM

RIVER

WILMONT

CREEK

LOWER

SAN POIL

RIVER

BUFFALO

LAKE/SWAWILLA

BAS

NINE MILE

CREEK

HELLGATE

** Disclaimer **

Data information used may be updated without any notification.

LEGEND

Author: Elizabeth Wright

Coordinate System: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_11N

Date printed: 04 March 2014

Integrated Resource Management Plan

RMUs

1:511,719

Named Streams

4.75

9.5

Lakes & Boundary Waters

28.5

Miles

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

fail to meet EPA and Tribal water quality standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen,

bacteria (fecal coliform) and turbidity. Recent assessment reports indicate that more than

a quarter, and as high as forty percent, of all monitored streams experience standard criteria exceedances or levels of concern for these parameters.

Violation of standards occur mostly in summer months, when water temperatures exceed standards, dissolved oxygen levels fall below minimum standards, and fecal bacteria counts become concentrated during low flows. In many watersheds, Environmental

Trust does not have enough bacterial contamination samples to make any observations

based on trends. Turbidity values typically are highest in the spring during periods of

increased runoff and erosion, particularly in watersheds affected by stream-adjacent land

use activities.

Groundwater assessments indicate water quality is generally suitable for domestic and

industrial purposes, though some localized problems are inherent to the geologic material of the aquifer. Most bacteria problems have been associated with faulty or damaged

well construction that allowed surface contamination to enter the well. Other bacteria

and nutrient (e.g. nitrate and ammonia) problems result from faulty septic drain fields,

agricultural practices and concentrated livestock areas. Shallow and improperly placed

or constructed wells are particularly susceptible to impacts from these activities.

Land Use Impacts

Various land use practices have impacted waters of the Reservation, including forest,

range, and urban development. Over the last several decades, non-point source pollution

has been the primary adverse impact affecting water quality and use and water-dependent resources.

Perched culvert (barrier to

fish passage)

Groundwater interception by

road causing erosion

Road washout at Beaver Dam

Creek

Forest roads on the Reservation that have poor construction and location cause erosion

and high sediment loading into streams. Many culverts block fish passage either by jumping distance or gradient. Road inventory data collected between 2004 and 2013 indicates

that 12 of 15 resource management units have total road densities in excess of 3.5 miles

per square mile. The inventory is used to allocate the limited funding for high priority

restoration projects that will have the greatest positive impact on water quality.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

Surface water conditions are affected by a number of factors. Bacterial contamination in

surface water on the Reservation can originate from a number of potential sources, such

as livestock, feral horses, septic systems, and wildlife. Environmental Trust’s review of

stream water quality data and stream condition records indicate that habitat quality index ratings for a selection of streams throughout the Reservation range mostly from poor

to moderate for temperature and dissolved oxygen constraints and fair to moderate for

flow and nutrient (nitrate) constraints.

Forest harvest activities have impacted nearly 90 percent of the streams and riparian areas

over the last hundred or more years, according to the Hydrology Report. The most significant impacts are loss of larger woody debris, loss of canopy cover in riparian areas, and

sedimentation of streams. Roads, and to a substantially lesser degree, feral horses and

livestock, have impacted approximately 75 percent of streams and riparian areas on the

Reservation. Of that, 50 percent have severe impacts and 25 percent moderate impacts.

Watershed Management

Watershed and water quality assessments, road maintenance inventories, stream and riparian area surveys, and general field observations have provided a basis for determining surface water restoration projects. These include forest road and road stream crossing

improvements, revegetation of hillslopes, streambanks and shorelines, erosion control,

stream head-cut stabilization, minor channel geometry modifications, streambed armoring, riparian fencing, animal watering site development, and limitations placed on impacting activities (e.g. forest harvesting, road construction, and livestock grazing).

Tribal code requires a permit for any activity affecting the bed or banks of waters, including wetlands on the Reservation. It contains standards for certain common activities that

are performed in waters, such as road crossings, certain logging activities, bulkheads,

and stream bank stabilization relating to loss of wetlands and compensatory mitigation.

The Hydraulic Project, Forest Practices, and Shoreline Management codes provide nonpoint source protections for wetlands.

The primary purpose of the water quality monitoring and assessment program is to determine whether the Tribes’ water quality standards are achieved and beneficial water

uses are supported for water bodies across the Reservation. Monitoring informs the understanding of baseline water quality conditions for all waters and enables periodic evaluation of changes. Monitoring also helps identify waters needing restoration.

In addition to the monitoring and assessment conducted by the Environmental Trust Department, the Fish & Wildlife Department performs substantial monitoring of aquatic

habitat across the Reservation and throughout the Okanogan River watershed. Federal

and state agencies as well as the Tribes, monitor the Reservation boundary waters: the

Columbia, Sanpoil, and Okanogan Rivers. These efforts are coordinated and results are

shared between agencies.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

Lake Management Areas include designated lakes and associated watersheds managed

by the Tribes and BIA to provide special protection and enhance the surface water quality

of lakes of special significance to the Tribal membership. Special management will include: enhanced setbacks for all future shoreline development, storm water management

measures included in all development plans, active grazing management to prevent

overuse of riparian areas, updated water type maps, and improvements to forest roads

to meet Tribal Code requirements. Lake Management Areas will include Omak, Buffalo,

Owhi, McGinnis, Rebecca, and Twin Lakes.

Water Rights Status and Strategy

Federal Indian water rights are substantively governed by federal law and Supreme

Court decisions including Winters v. United States and Arizona v. California. Indian water rights, although created and vested as of the date of the reservation (or earlier, in the

case of aboriginal rights) are not quantified unless

litigation or congressional action has determined

the size of the right.

These Supreme Court decisions established that

the measure of the reserved water rights of a tribe

includes both the present amount of water used

and future increases in the amount necessary to

fulfill the purposes for which a reservation was

created. The court noted that Congress intended

to deal fairly with Indian tribes by reserving waters, without which their lands would be useless.

Columbia River

In 1981, these decisions were cited by the Ninth

Circuit Court of Appeals in the Colville Confederated Tribes v. Boyd Walton, Jr. decision

that confirmed the Tribes’ reserved water rights for current and future needs. The decision also confirmed the use of water to maintain the Omak Lake Fishery and the right of

the Tribes to determine how to use their water.

A common method for quantifying Indian water rights under the court decisions is the

Practicably Irrigable Acreage method. This method quantifies the amount of water needed to irrigate arable lands on a reservation. The Tribes have asserted their water rights

in the Tribal Code (Water Resources Use and Permitting) and established a water rights

project team that includes the Environmental Trust Department and the Office of Reservation Attorney.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

The team is currently evaluating water uses, permits, certificates, rights, and claims on

the Reservation. They have estimated future use based on population expansion and

potential water uses. The method of determining Tribal or individual Indian water rights

is yet to be determined and might vary from place to place depending on water source.

Air Quality

The Reservation is situated within four airsheds:

Lake Roosevelt, Sanpoil River, Nespelem, and

Okanogan River. An airshed is a geographical area

where local topography influences air movement

and emission dispersion. Topographical features

may concentrate emissions such as smoke into localized areas of the airshed. The airsheds shown in

the map were delineated based on resource management units and knowledge of local meteorological

conditions. The four airsheds also extend beyond

the exterior boundaries of the Reservation.

Smoke from the mill

Air emissions inventories are conducted by the Air Quality Program and report on four

of the six criteria pollutants; particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and

sulfur dioxide. Additionally, volatile organic compounds are reported because they are

precursors to ozone.

The Air Quality Program uses the emissions inventory to assess the amount of emissions

from several source categories located in the airsheds of the Reservation and then develops strategies to reduce emissions that are having adverse impacts. The inventory also

supplements data from monitoring efforts for a better understanding of air quality trends

and concerns. By conducting successive inventories over a long period of time, trends can

be determined on the number of sources and the quantity of emissions.

Air pollution is created by point and non-point sources. Point sources are individually inventoried and usually located at a fixed, stationary location that release pollutants

into the atmosphere. These include gas stations, lumber mills, asphalt and concrete batch

plants.

Nonpoint sources are defined as a collection of similar units within a geographic area.

These include emissions from residential wood stoves that play a large role in air pollution episodes during times of low wind and inversions. Wildfires are another source and

in years with larger wildfires, these emissions become the largest source of air pollution

on the Reservation. Particulate matter is another non-point source of air pollution that is

typically dust created by roads and wind.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

The program operates three permanent continuous monitors that measure particulate

matter 2.5 micron or smaller and are located in Omak, Nespelem and Inchelium. The

monitors provide near real time pollution concentrations (micrograms per cubic meter)

that can be used for calling health related burn ban, air quality advisories, smoke management and comparison to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

Airsheds

Omak

San Poil

River

State Route 20

Disautel

Inchelium

US 97

Okanogan

River

State

Route 155

Nespelem

State

Route 21

Nespelem

Lake

Roosevelt

Agency

Keller

State

Route 17

Coulee

Dam

** Disclaimer **

Data information used may be updated without any notification.

Towns

LEGEND

Washington State Highway

1:526,614

4.75

Okanogan River Airshed

Lake Roosevelt Airshed

San Poil River Airshed

Nespelem Airshed

Named Streams

Author: Elizabeth Wright

Coordinate System: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_11N

Date printed: 04 March 2014

Lakes & Boundary Waters

9.5

28.5

Miles

The tribal air quality program in coordination with Mount Tolman Fire Center issues agricultural burn permits. The majority of requests are to prepare fields to install new crops

or to decrease biomass accumulation. The program issues 30 to 50 permits each year.

The Environmental Trust Department

The watersheds and airsheds of the Reservation are impacted by commercial, industrial, residential and recreational activities. The Colville Business Council began enacting

codes in the 1980s that provide environmental protections for these resources. The Environmental Trust Department was assigned enforcement authority for natural resource

codes that protect the air, water and soils of the Reservation. These include:

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

•

Hydraulics Practices

•

Forest Practices

•

Mining

On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal

Water Resources Use and Permitting

Hazardous Substance Control

Air Emissions Control

Water Quality Standards

The Department also monitors these resources to assess air and water quality conditions,

soil erosion and sedimentation. The department also issues permits for water use, on-sitewastewater systems, air emissions burn permits, forest practices, hydraulic projects and

mining practices. The Environmental Trust Department and the Environmental Protection Agency permit water discharge.

The Reservation’s air, water and soils are also affected by off-Reservation activities that

originate from upstream mining, smelting, and commercial agriculture conducted by

multiple landowners and businesses. These impacts cross jurisdictions and include multiple pollutants and responsible parties. Consequently, the Department must represent

the Tribes’ interests in addressing these impacts with other tribes, state, federal and international agencies.

The Environmental Trust Department addresses the legacy

of many decades of timber harvesting, livestock grazing

and land conversion and development that were not subject to environmental protections. The cumulative impacts

include chronic and elevated rates of erosion from inadequate road construction and maintenance, degraded riparian vegetation, and altered stream hydrology (stream

channelization and incision). The Department also adErosion from stream flow down

dresses ongoing impacts from current activities to enskid trail

sure that they are conducted in compliance with tribal

codes and federal laws and regulations.

The Environmental Trust Department provides expertise in environmental sciences (e.g.

ecology, soils, hydrology, and chemistry), watershed management, water rights and water law, environmental laws and regulations.

The Department also participates in the Project Proposal Process, reviewing proposed

projects on Reservation lands. The Department assesses potential impacts to the Reservation’s soil, water, and air quality and makes recommendations to project proponents

that will enable their activities to better protect and preserve soil, water, and air resources.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

Community Concerns

The Tribes’ Holistic Goal and Desired Future Conditions reflect the tribal community’s

desire for a healthy, environment with biodiversity and a vibrant culture. Respondents to

the 2014 Community Survey were only partially aware that these goals are officially stated in the Tribes’ resolutions and planning documents, however, those who were, largely

recognized that the Tribes have made progress in the last 15 years towards achieving

those goals.

When asked about the quality of their drinking water, approximately 78% of respondents answered “Good” or “Adequate”, while 21% answered “Poor.” After controlling

the question of drinking water quality based on drinking water source, only 13% of respondents who obtained their water from a private well indicated “Poor” quality drinking water; whereas 26% of respondents who obtained water from the community water

system indicated “Poor” quality drinking water.

Respondents indicated that air quality on the Colville Reservation is generally good to

very good, with 95% of respondents indicating either “Excellent” or “Good” in response

to the question. However, a large percentage of respondents (43%) indicated that the air

quality on the Reservation is worse in summer months than any other time of year. This

is likely due to wildfires, which 54% of respondents identified as a health concern.

A large number of respondents (54%) use firewood during the winter to heat some portion of

their residence. Of this group, 91% burn firewood

in a woodstove rather than a fireplace, and 77%

claim firewood as their primary source of heat in

the winter.

The community survey also asked respondents to

express their feelings about forest and grazing

Gathering firewood

practices on the Reservation. The impacts of livestock grazing on streams and wetlands were expressed as a concern by 57% of respondents. Concerns about heavy grazing and livestock

rotation were expressed by 49% of respondents. Some respondents (21%) feel that grazing should be discontinued on the Reservation.

Livestock Grazing

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

Although only 12% of respondents felt that not enough has been done to reduce the

environmental impacts of forest practices, over half (54%) expressed a desire for forest

practices focused on forest health issues.

Forest access roads, which are largely constructed to facilitate forest maintenance and timber

harvesting, are also used by the community for

a variety of purposes. When asked how they felt

about forest roads, 50% of respondents said the

roads should be maintained to prevent environmental damage. A significant number (39%)

agreed that, lacking maintenance, many roads

have caused soil erosion that degrades fish habitat and water quality.

Forest Access Road

Environmental Trust Goals & Objectives

Achieve and maintain a healthy environment with functioning ecological systems

including biodiversity, clean water, clean air, and healthy soils required to support

plants, animals, tribal values, and subsistence uses.

Soils and Water

Goal 1: Surface Water. Protect and restore surface waters and aquatic ecosystems to promote ecological, cultural, subsistence, recreational, and economic functions.

Objectives:

• Conduct a surface water quality monitoring program to determine if/how

often water quality standards requirements are being met.

• Provide a surface water quality monitoring results report to the public every other year.

• Work with all other Tribal and BIA programs whose activities influence

water quality to incorporate management activities that will increase the

frequency that water quality monitoring samples meet the Water Quality

Standards code requirements.

• Monitor recreational areas on Omak Lake, Buffalo Lake, Twin Lakes, Owhi

Lake, and Keller Park for bacterial contamination and post warning notices

when necessary.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

•

Administer permitting and compliance with

On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal,

Mining Practices Water Quality, Forest Practices, Hydraulic Project Permitting, Hazardous

Substance Control codes within the jurisdiction

of the Tribes in order to ensure that management

activities that influence surface water quality do

not prevent a surface water from meeting the

Water Quality Standards code requirements.

•

Require point-source wastewater dischargers

on the Reservation to obtain CTCR Pollution

Discharge Permits and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits

from the Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA).

Beginning Beaver Dam

• Provide all pesticide permits or plans for application to the EPA pesticide circuit rider supporting improved monitoring of pesticide use and

investigation of all possible violations of the

Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide

Act.

• Contribute to the development of a forest road management plan that includes a maintenance program as well as design standards for road runoff

management and erosion control that will increase surface waters’ ability to

meet the Water Quality Standards code requirements.

• Collaborate with Fish & Wildlife, Land Operations, and Planning to review

water and soil best management practices (BMPs) related to agricultural

activities and recommend code revisions as needed to provide adequate

surface water resource protection and improve surface waters’ ability to

meet the Water Quality Standards code requirements.

• Collaborate with Fish & Wildlife, Land Operations, and Realty to conduct

a review of rangeland management BMP effectiveness for protecting surface waters’ ability to meet the Water Quality Standards code requirements.

Environmental Trust will collaborate with Land Operations to recommend

revisions to Colville Tribal Code 4-11: Rangeland Management as needed.

• Require proponents with proposed development greater than one (1) acre

in size to obtain General Construction permits from the EPA.

• Identify all corrals and livestock holding areas where proximity to surface

water reduces the surface waters’ ability to meet the Water Quality Standards code requirements. Work with owners to relocate corrals and livestock holding areas away from surface water and install off-site watering

points where feasible and when funding is available.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

• Update and recommend revisions to the Mining Practices Water Quality

and Forest Practices codes.

• Collaborate with Fish & Wildlife and the TCP Plant Ecologist at History/

Archeology to identify key wetlands for restoration.

• Partner with other programs, seek funding, and implement wetland restoration projects throughout the Reservation.

• Monitor wetland and stream conditions using biotic indicators (macro-invertebrates) and assessments of riparian habitat to determine ecological

conditions and whether surface waters are meeting the Water Quality Standards code requirements.

• Update water type maps within lake management areas using LIDAR and

aerial photography.

• Collaborate with Forestry to upgrade all lake management area roads to

meet revised Forest Practices codes and increase lakes’ ability to meet the

Water Quality Standards code requirements.

• Participate in Columbia Basin and State water quality and watershed forums, councils, and other venues supporting water quality protection and

water resource management in Reservation boundary waters beneficial to

the Colville Tribes.

• Review and comment on land use and discharge permit applications affecting waters throughout the Upper Columbia Basin.

• Maintain involvement in the Columbia River Treaty process to ensure adequate water of good quality for all beneficial uses including the reintroduction of anadromous fish above Grand Coulee Dam.

• Continue to work with Washington State, EPA, and other entities to clean

up mining pollution between Trail, B.C. and Grand Coulee Dam.

• Continue to work with Washington State and other entities in the Okanogan and Similkameen Rivers to address legacy pollution issues.

• Monitor, prioritize and act on sources of potential pollution to the Reservation boundary waters.

• Use Watershed Restoration funds to reduce watershed impacts caused by

Reservation roads. Restoration treatments will include closing obsolete,

polluting roads, replacing poorly designed water crossings, and installing

runoff controls (water bars, drivable dips, etc.) to reduce the amount of pollutant and sediment delivery to surface waters and improve Tribal waters’

ability to meet water quality standards.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

Goal 2: Groundwater. Sustain safe, high-quality aquifer and groundwater supplies to

meet ecological, cultural, subsistence, and economic needs.

Objectives:

• Conduct a groundwater quality monitoring program to determine if andhow often the Water Quality Standards code requirements are being met.

• Provide a groundwater quality monitoring results report to the public every other year.

• Review proposals and permit applications for land use and other projects

to maintain contamination source restrictions in wellhead protection zones

and maintain groundwater’s ability to meet the Water Quality Standards

code requirements.

• Administer permits and compliance of the On-site Wastewater Treatment

and Disposal code to maintain regulatory restrictions on septic systems

(types, condition, distance from well).

• Collaborate with EPA to assure federal underground storage and aboveground tank regulations are observed on the Reservation.

• Provide all pesticide permits or plans for application to the EPA pesticide

circuit rider supporting improved monitoring of pesticide use and investigation of all possible violations of Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

• Administer compliance with Hazardous Substance Control requiring specified clean-up standards for groundwater, soil, and sediment contamination

in order to protect groundwater’s ability to meet water quality standards.

• Monitor groundwater levels using field and/or analytical methods and, if

necessary, regulate groundwater withdrawals (such as pumping) to ensure

adequate groundwater supplies for future beneficial water use by administering permitting and compliance of the Water Resources Use and Permitting code requirements.

Goal 3: Watersheds. Ensure watershed conditions that sustain water cycle function to

promote productive soils, plants, and habitat.

Objectives:

• Administer permitting and compliance of the On-Site Wastewater Treatment and Disposal, Mining Practices Water Quality, Forest Practices, and

Hydraulic Project Permitting codes to maintain healthy watershed functioning in the water cycle and increase Tribal waters’ ability to meet the

Water Quality Standards code requirements.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

• Map known unstable slope locations (landslides, mass wasting) based on

past records, LIDAR, the NRCS Soil Survey, and other available technologies.

• Limit forest operations in areas of soil/slope/streambank instability and

channel migration zones to prevent triggering additional erosion or increasing slope movement by administering permitting and compliance of

the Forest Practices code.

• Assess riparian conditions at all stream water quality monitoring locations

and assess riparian management zone effectiveness as well as prioritize

project planning and restoration efforts based on the results.

• Collaborate with Land Operations and Fish & Wildlife to develop best management practices (BMPs) for riparian grazing and recommend riparian

grazing BMPs as revisions to Colville Tribal Code 4-11: Rangeland Management in order to improve surface waters’ ability to meet the Water Quality

Standards code requirements.

• Administer permitting and compliance of Forest Practices and Hydraulic

Project Permitting in order to restrict non-essential human development activities within mapped flood hazard areas.

• Use Watershed Restoration funds to reduce watershed impacts caused by

Reservation roads. Restoration treatments will include closing obsolete,

polluting roads, replacing poorly designed water crossings, and installing

runoff controls (water bars, drivable dips, etc.) to restore altered flow patterns and improve Tribal waters’ ability to meet the Water Quality Standards code requirements.

Goal 4: Water Use. Manage water use to protect tribal water rights and sovereignty as

well as support beneficial uses.

Objectives:

• The Colville Reservation was created to provide a permanent home and

abiding place for the Colville Tribes and their members both now and in the

future. In order to ensure Tribal water rights for that purpose, Environmental Trust will administer permitting and compliance of the Water Resources

Use and Permitting code requirements.

• Communicate with other Tribal/BIA departments and outside parties that

water use within the Reservation and all other tribal lands is for beneficial

purposes as defined by the Water Quality Standards and Water Resources

Use and Permitting code.

• Collaborate with other tribal and federal programs to develop and promote

current and future agricultural projects and water delivery systems necessary for irrigation within the Reservation and all other Tribal lands.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

• Maintain a record of all issued water permits to assist tracking overall water

use within the Reservation and all other tribal lands under the Water Resources Use and Permitting code.

• Manage water use to preserve wildlife, fish, aesthetic, and other environmental values and navigational values by administering permitting and

compliance of the the Water Resources Use and Permitting code.

Goal 5: Climate Change. Consider, and manage for, long-term alterations in ecological

processes due to global climate change.

Objectives:

• Conduct an annual review of regional climate change forecasts, analyses,

and water resource trends to determine prudent changes in watershed

management that should be taken.

• Recommend revisions to appropriate Colville Tribal Codes administered

by the Environmental Trust Department necessary to protect homes and

communities from climate-driven threats such as flooding, rain-on-snow

events, and channel migration.

• Adapt to climate-driven, changing water availability by administering permitting and compliance of the Water Resources Use and Permitting code

based on the best available and up-to-date water availability science.

• Recommend revisions to appropriate Tribal Codes administered by Environmental Trust necessary to protect wetlands, riparian areas, groundwater

recharge areas, and floodplains based on the best available and up-to-date

climate change impact data in order to ameliorate climate change effects on

the soil and water resources.

Wetland

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Soil, Water and Air

Air Quality

Goal 1: Protect tribal members and citizens within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation from adverse effects of air pollution.

Objectives:

• Identify, through the collection of monitoring data, the nature and level of

air pollution on the Reservation and within tribal communities over an extended period of time.

• Work with the Environmental Protection Agency, tribal programs, private

facilities and government agencies to permit, regulate and provide compliance assistance to prevent and reduce the incidences of air pollution.

• Develop a health related burn ban program with

protocols for implementation and notification of

affected areas of the Reservation.

• Provide educational and outreach opportunities

for the membership and other Reservation citizens that explains their role in preventing air

pollution, providing alternatives to burning and

steps to reduce emissions.

•

Develop a smoke management program with

other stakeholder groups such as the Mount Tolman Fire Center to minimize exposure to prescribed or managed fire smoke.

Smoke from North Star

fire

Goal 2: Air quality will be protected and enhanced across the

Reservation

Objectives:

• Identify air pollution problem sources, areas and timeframes that are of

concern.

• Establish air quality emphasis areas or Reservation-wide issues to target

with special projects.

• Keep emission inventories current and expand data categories. Prepare a

comprehensive emissions report every three years and distribute to tribal

management and the general community.

• Participate in the Project Proposal Process (3P), land use and shoreline permit reviews and the Solid Waste Advisory Committee to identify potential

air quality issues and concerns.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Soil, Water and Air

Goal 3: Tribal codes will be developed and federal regulations followed to maintain

and improve air quality.

Objectives:

• Update the Tribes’ Air Quality Codes (4-18) concerning air emission control

to reflect current conditions and federal regulations.

• Monitor and comment when appropriate on regional and national issues

concerning air quality.

• Maintain EPA Clean Air Act Tribal Inspector credentials and carry out inspections on facilities registered under the Federal Air Rules for Reservations.

Goal 4: Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies will be identified and plans

devised to minimize effects.

Objectives:

• Develop a strategy to identify, plan for and mitigate the impacts of climate

change on air quality.

• Provide outreach, educational materials and opportunities for tribal members and Reservation residents to learn about climate change adaptation.

• Develop a climate change adaptation program within the Environmental

Trust Department.

Twin Lakes

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture

Current Conditions

Only a small portion of the Reservation is used for agricultural production. About 2%

of the available land is currently used to grow orchard crops, grains, and feed. The vast

majority of this is in the west portion of the Reservation where both irrigated (near the

Columbian and Okanogan Rivers) and dryland farming occurs. Much of the current

larger scale agriculture is commercial in nature although a number of smaller individual

farmers are also active on the Reservation.

Although upland agricultural irrigation has decreased since the 1950’s, the Tribes have

an opportunity to expand agriculture on the Reservation. Currently, the Tribes grow

their own tree seedlings to replant the forest and some orchards are being planted.

The Tribes are currently reassessing the agricultural potential of the Reservation. There

are over 291,000 acres of Class 1 irrigable land on the Reservation. A new Agricultural

Resource Management Plan has been developed that assesses the conditions, values,

and use of agricultural lands on the Reservation, and defines the opportunities, limitations, and leasing process that need to be considered to develop, manage, and improve

existing and potential agricultural lands within the Colville Reservation.

There is potential to develop a modern agriculture

infrastructure suitable for agribusiness. There is a

great deal of farming expertise in Washington State

that could be tapped for strategies to create profitable farming enterprises that could provide employment and teach the Tribes how to successfully

farm Reservation lands.

Orchards on Colville Reservation

Environmental and cultural issues surrounding an

expansion of agriculture include increased use of

chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, loss

of shrub-steppe environments that support wildlife, loss of culturally important plants, and potentially limited supplies of water from smaller surface

waters and aquifers.

Some of the Tribes’ trust land, allotments and fee lands are leased for agricultural purposes. Tribal trust and allotment lands are administered by the BIA Realty office and

tribal fee lands are administered by the Tribal Realty department. These leases are hampered by fractionated allotment ownership, a lack of adequate survey data, and outdated and inaccurate records. On allotment lands, agricultural activities are especially compromised by fractionated interests, crop share counts and valuation, lack of equipment,

transportation, and storage facilities.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Draft

Irrigable Lands on the Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Potential Farming Land

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Potential Orchard Land

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

AGRICULTURE

Community Concerns

When asked about expanding commercial irrigation infrastructure on the Reservation,

a significant number of survey respondents (47%) indicated this would have a positive

effect in the community (an additional 34% stated they had no opinion on the matter).

Only 7% of survey respondents claimed to have ever been involved in commercial agriculture as a business or an employee. On the other hand, 16% of respondents indicated

that they personally owned some form of livestock, most notably: horses (82%), chickens

(25%), and cows (19%).

Agriculture Management

The development and management of Indian agricultural lands in accordance with integrated resource management plans will ensure proper management of Indian agricultural lands and will produce increased economic returns, enhance Indian self-determination,

promote employment opportunities, and improve the social and economic well-being of

the Reservation and surrounding communities.

The Tribes’ Agricultural Resource Management Plan is intended to facilitate the establishment of a formal program to develop and manage agricultural lands on the Reservation. The plan would also facilitate tribal member access to federal or private programs

promoting agriculture or related rural development programs generally available to

the public at large. The plan is also intended to increase awareness of the educational

and training opportunities available that can improve the experience and abilities of the

Tribes and their members in agriculture and land management.

Agriculture Goals & Objectives

Develop and manage the agricultural lands of the Reservation in accordance with

integrated resource management to ensure that proper management of Indian agricultural lands produces increased economic returns, enhances Indian self-determination, promotes employment opportunities, and improves the social and economic

well being of the Tribes and surrounding communities.

Goal 1: Facilitate the creation of commercially viable, sustainable agricultural practices

that provide economic benefit to the stakeholders while maintaining the integrity of the Reservation’s resources.

Draft

Integrated Resource Management Plan

AGRICULTURE

Objectives:

• Encourage and designate areas for agricultural production, both commercial and private.

• Protect and conserve resources while maintaining the highest productive

potential on Indian agricultural lands through the application of sound

conservation practices and techniques.

• Where appropriate, recommend restoring agricultural lands back into forest or native grasslands.

• Increase production and expand the

diversity and availability of agricultural products for subsistence, income,

and employment of the tribal membership through the development of

agricultural resources on tribal lands.

• Maintain or restore biological diversity throughout the landscape, including agricultural lands, by establishing

biodiversity corridors through already- developed areas that are linked

Canola Field Pilot Project for Biofuels

with adjacent natural areas.

• Manage agricultural resources consistent with integrated resource management plans in order to minimize adverse impacts to other values such as

wildlife, fisheries, traditional cultural plants, cultural resources, recreation

and to regulate water runoff, minimize soil erosion and maintain compliance with applicable chemical application standards.

Goal 2: Provide individuals and commercial entities a clear, concise procedure that

documents the steps and permits required to commence agricultural operations.

Objectives:

• Enable tribal members to maximize the potential benefits available to them

through their land by providing agricultural technical assistance, training,

and education in resource conservation, agricultural management and use

of credit and marketing of agricultural products, and other applicable subject areas.

• Assist the Tribes and individual Indian landowners in leasing trust agricultural lands for a reasonable annual return, consistent with prudent management and conservation practices, and community goals as expressed in

tribal management plans and applicable tribal ordinances.

Draft

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

Rangeland

Reservation Rangeland and Historic Uses

The Colville Reservation has a variety of geographic features: elevation, topography, soil,

precipitation, and water bodies. Consequently, the Reservation supports a diverse set

of plant community types. Many of these plant communities have value for livestock

grazing. Of the total 1,392,265 acres within the Reservation, approximately 918,606 acres

(66%) are within designated range units. In broad terms, rangeland includes 287,825

acres of shrub-steppe, 135,105 acres of savannah-like open forest, and 495,676 acres of

denser forest plant communities.

In the late 1800s, Indian and non-Indian cattlemen alike capitalized on the Reservation’s

grazing lands in successful open range stock raising ventures, particularly in the Kartar

Valley and Duley Lake region. When the Reservation was opened to homestead entry in

1916, the area’s abundance of rich grazing lands with waist-high bunchgrass, was a primary attraction for would-be settlers.

In addition to luring cattlemen, the Reservation’s vast grasslands also attracted sheep

ranchers. The country around Nespelem was

particularly valued as sheep range. In the space

of a few weeks in the spring of 1916, over 20,000

head of sheep were ferried across the Columbia

to the Nespelem Valley and elsewhere. Eventually, semi-permanent sheep stations were

established at various grazing locations on the

Reservation. At its peak in the 1920s, there may

have been as many as 100,000 sheep grazing the

Reservation.

Sheep Grazing 1920s

Horses shared and competed for rangelands with cattle and sheep on the Reservation.

Since the late 1800s, wild horses have roamed the Reservation. By the 1920s, there were

approximately 30,000 head of wild horses. Wild horses provided an important source of

income for both Indians and white settlers on the Reservation.

In addition to being a source of income, wild horses also

provided entertainment for both Indians and settlers living on the Reservation. The phenomenal popularity of

rodeo and Western shows (both organized and spontaneous) was undoubtedly influenced by the sheer number and availability of wild horses on the Reservation.

Suicide Race

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

In the early years of the Reservation, cattle were a minority of grazing livestock. There

were only a few thousand cattle on the Reservation in the 1920s and 1930s, but as the

number of sheep and horses declined, cattle became the dominant livestock. By 1967,

there were approximately 13,000 head of cattle on the Reservation’s range units. Since

that time, however, the number of cattle has steadily declined. In 2015, there were less

than 3,800 head of cattle permitted on the Reservation’s range units, with an additional

400 head of cattle on leased tracts.

Current Rangeland Conditions

According to the Range Management Plan, approximately one-third of the Reservation

is non-forested and was originally designated as rangeland. Over time, land has been

converted to agricultural and urban uses leaving approximately 28% of the Reservation

in a condition that is considered to be true shrub-steppe rangeland.

The Reservation rangelands include fourteen forest habitat types and eleven ecological

sites, each with a variety of environmental features: soil types, climate, precipitation, aspect and slope, producing an equal variety of plant communities that naturally develop

on Reservation lands unless disturbed by fire, grazing, insect outbreaks or other perturbations. These communities occupy well-drained upland rangeland sites. Each can be

thought of as a climax plant community for a particular range site and help to determine

what a site’s potential may be, thereby aiding in determining the management requirements of the site.

Cattle Grazing on the Reservation

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

The three most common natural plant communities that cover approximately 241,000

acres or 93% of the Reservation’s shrub steppe rangeland include:

•

Bluebunch Wheatgrass/Sandberg’s Bluegrass (Agropyron spicataum/Poa

Sandbergii) - The herbaceous layer of this range plant community is dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass with Sandberg’s bluegrass as a minor

species. The forb component is dominated by arrowleaf balsamroot and

silky lupine. The predominantly inconspicuous shrub layer is dominated

by scattered three-tip sagebrush. The percent by weight of grass, forbs and

shrubs are 55%, 35% and 5%, respectively.

• Bluebunch Wheatgrass/Needle and thread-Sandberg’s Bluegrass (Agropyron spicataum/Stipa comata/Poa Sandbergii) - Bluebunch wheatgrass dominates

the herbaceous layer with needle and thread and Sandberg’s bluegrass as

minor components in this range plant community. The forb component is

dominated by silky lupine and common yarrow. The shrub element is usually inconspicuous and dominated by scattered three-tip sagebrush. The

percent by weight of grass, forbs and shrubs are 65%, 30% and 5%, respectively.

• Antelope Bitterbrush/Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Purshia tridentata/Agropyron

spicataum) - Bluebunch wheatgrass dominates the herbaceous layer in this

plant community with Sandberg’s bluegrass as minor species of the site.

The principal forbs are arrowleaf balsamroot and Wyeth eriogonum. The

shrub layer is dominated by antelope bitterbrush with big sagebrush and

three-tip sagebrush as subdominant species of the site. The percent by

weight of grass, forbs and shrubs are 50%, 25% and 25%, respectively.

Antelope Bitterbrush

Sandberg’s Bluegrass

Blue Bunch Wheatgrass

Rangeland Inventory

A range inventory conducted by the Soil Conservation Service in the mid 1980’s described

the Reservation rangelands as being in “poor to fair condition.” The Land Operations/

Range Program recently completed a range inventory that included three years of vegetative sampling between 2012 and 2015. The inventory sampled vegetation at various locations including sites that were sampled in the mid-1980s. The inventory shows progress

made since the 1980s inventory and establishes a solid baseline for future monitoring.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

The 2015 range inventory indicates that there has been a significant improvement in the

condition of the Reservation’s rangeland. All range units that were visited in 2014 still

had plenty of the current year’s production available and many sites showed very little

grazing impact, indicating that the Reservation could support additional grazing.

Overgrazing damages the long-term productivity of rangeland forage and allows noxious

weeds, such as cheat grass, to invade. Out of forty-eight range units, only four have been

identified as heavily grazed. These range units are on the west side of the Reservation in

lower elevation sage brush steppe ecological sites that are infested with cheat grass. The

Range Program is currently developing management strategies for these units including

reduction of livestock numbers and treatments to reduce the cheat grass infestation.

Conservation Plans are being developed for individual range units to benefit livestock,

wildlife, and the livestock producers. The Range Program has incorporated additional range infrastructure in management strategies to improve overall rangeland health.

Wildlife friendly fencing, spring developments, cattle guards, salting practices, noxious

weed controls, reseeding, and other improvements have been added to range units to

keep livestock evenly distributed throughout the units to ensure range health and sustainable consumption of available forage.

Range units are re-inventoried every five years in coordination with the renewal of the

range unit conservation plans. The Land Operations/Range Program believes that changes in stocking rates should be made on a range unit basis, giving consideration to existing

and potential species composition, range health, and forage production.

Rangeland Management

The Tribal Code emphasizes the importance of stewardship of the range resource, the

need for integration of multiple uses on rangelands, and the opportunity for tribal members to benefit economically from the range resource. Decision making for range management is vested in the Colville Business Council, based on recommendations from the

Land Operations/Range Program. Range management on the Reservation is a trust responsibility of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The Land Operations/Range Program recognizes that with better rangeland management, range health can be maintained or improved while at the same time, improving the

ability of the rangeland to accommodate other tribal objectives. These objectives include

fish and wildlife habitat, culturally significant plants and animals, water quality, and fuel

treatments to prevent wildfires.

On the Reservation, the authorized use of forage for grazing is expressed in animal unit

months (AUMs). An animal unit is generally defined as a 1000-pound cow, with or with-

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

out an unweaned calf, consuming 800 pounds of forage dry matter per month. AUMs in

a grazing area (calculated by multiplying the number of animal units by the number of

months of grazing) provide a useful indicator of the amount of forage consumed.

Based on the 2015 range inventory, the Reservation range units produce over 273,000 tons

of forage each year. Not all of this forage is accessible for grazing due to steep slopes and

lack of watering points. Only about 25% of shrub-steppe and 50% of forest forage are considered to be accessible for livestock grazing. In addition, the Range Program maintains a

forage utilization standard called “take half/leave half” that reserves forage and habitat

for wildlife.

Allowing for these factors, a potential capacity of 282,368 animal unit months (AUMS)

would be available and, with intensive management, could support over 47,000 head of

cattle. This would require extensive fencing, watering facilities, and sufficient manpower

to manage rotational grazing practices.

For these reasons, less than 80,000 AUMs were designated for livestock grazing under the

2000 IRMP, which would have allowed up to 13,000 head of cattle on the Reservation’s

range units. This level of grazing was never realized and in 2015 only 23,000 AUMs were

actually permitted, representing less than 3,800 head of cattle. In some cases, grazing lessees and permittees don’t use all the AUMs they purchase in order to reserve a range unit

for their sole use. In addition, ranchers are retiring and not passing their operations on

to the next generation. Ranching profits are down due to the increasing cost of operation

and young people are not as interested in cattle ranching.

AUMs are allocated yearly among tribal members and non-tribal livestock producers

who live within the boundaries of the Colville Reservation, and are based on range unit

stocking capacities. Rotational grazing practices are utilized to promote overall rangeland health. If there is no grazing permit application for a range unit, or if the Fish &

Wildlife Department permits the unit for wildlife use, it is rested from livestock grazing.

In addition, a range unit will be rested if it has been disturbed by wildfire. In some cases,

grazing will be delayed to protect culturally important plants.

The grazing season usually begins in May in the low elevations and in June in the mountains. The grazing season ends at the end of October and November. The usual turnout

dates are modified as necessary to accommodate soil conditions, temperature, moisture

and available forage.

The current fee rate for Tribal members is a base rate of $1.20 per AUM and for non-members residing within the Reservation boundaries, the fee rate is $10.00 per AUM. All

permittees pay $10.00 per AUM for allotment use within the units grazed. Grazing fee

revenue from tribal trust land goes directly to the Tribes’ general fund. The usual term of

a range permit is 5 years. Range permits are administered in compliance with the Rangeland Management Chapter of the Tribal Code and the Code of Federal Regulations.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Colville Reservation

RU-50

Rangeland

RU-31

RU-5

RU-52 RU-10

US 97

RU-81 RU-6

RU-16

RU-22

RU-35

RU-63

RU-40

RU-55

RU-67

RU-15

RU-17

RU-43A

RU-45 RU-43

RU-18

Nespelem

RU-86

RU-80

RU-84

State

Route 21

RU-71

RU-19

RU-33

RU-32

RU-30

RU-73

RU-83

RU-76

Agency

RU-39 RU-26

Inchelium

RU-85

RU-84

State

Route 155

RU-54

RU-11

RU-3

RU-48

RU-8

RU-82

RU-39A

State

Route 17

RU-1

RU-9

RU-69

RU-36

RU-66

RU-59 RU-56

RU-2

RU-12

State RU-36A

Route 20

RU-59A

RU-4

Keller

RU-25

RU-42

Coulee

Dam RU-29

RU-21

RU-78

** Disclaimer **

Data information used may be updated without any notification.

LEGEND

Reservation Boundary

Towns

Lakes & Boundary Waters

Washington State Highway

Author: Robert Compton

Produced by: Alexander Besemann

Coordinate System: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_11N

Date printed: 07 March 2014

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Range Units

1:495,513

4.5

Miles

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

Range improvements such as fencing, water developments, cattle guards, access trails,

and range reseeding are in place on the Reservation. However, many more such improvements are needed. Range improvements are considered affixed to the land and

cannot be removed by the lessee upon termination of a permit unless it is specifically

allowed in the terms of the permit.

At this time, most range units are partially fenced. Fencing all the range units is prohibitively expensive and maintaining existing fences is expensive and time consuming.

Fences are often damaged by logging, fires, falling trees, wildlife and livestock. There is

some fencing along road corridors and efforts are made to reinforce them in critical areas.

Motorists are notified that the Reservation is designated as open range.

Range Unit Acreage

Range Unit Acreage by Land Ownership

Range

Unit

Total Acres Tribal Acres

Allotment

Acres

Fee Acres

44,952

43,792.24

1,134.77

51,345

48,110.27

595.60

2,639.13

52,953.19

439.40

1,532.41

24,708

30,776

28,824.80

17,583

11,392.03

3,590.45

19,331.83

54,925

599.47

158.68

20,619.72

208.28

7,760

20,828

12,701.00

29,624

27,813.97

30,397

78,595

7,160.15

12,701

2,600.53

13,934.84

21,265.60

86,394

16,289

19,210

Integrated Resource Management Plan

1,199.54

1,729.61

14,693

19,390

221.59

23,084.72

21,764

28,766

24,708.00

29,038.25

1,100.37

74,995.35

1,178.93

15,529.93

319.26

73,011.57

15,863.62

4,481.74

58.17

498.40

599.85

258.37

619.14

1,190.88

1,762.44

11,619.99

1,075.76

2,270.62

2,420.73

439.80

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

Range Unit Acreage by Land Ownership

Range

Unit

Total Acres Tribal Acres

Allotment

Acres

Fee Acres

120.35

10,029

7,269.02

2,639.63

13,432

11,542.12

1,410.36

4,260

2,729.81

8,725

12,086

3,177

1,900.31

9,725.60

1,747.03

12,180

11,279.90

36A

1,243

263.14

4,699

3,579.70

2,930

2,590.12

6,016

5,756.11

39A

367

2,490.12

4,334.58

1,640.07

720.33

1,530.19

479.52

679.88

750.09

159.77

959.54

660.16

539.96

206.99

160.01

239.95

439.90

339.88

259.89

43,496

41,321.20

500.20

1,674.60

43A

974

944.00

30.00

1,670

8,733

1,069.97

1,390.29

1,520.42

6,150.94

80.02

120.03

28,121

26,025.99

10,767

10,647.49

1,788

1,788.00

6,351

13,460

1,715

59A

2,900

275.09

1,239.95

199.97

2,644.80

75.11

2,118

627.99

1,240.09

249.92

769.65

3,172.72

1,900.32

22,469.86

2,070.48

5,997.66

8,901.88

140.42

20,574

17,251.30

Colville Reservation

41,815

180.09

290.29

1,600.12

13,195.62

10,102

257.24

15,486

6,059.69

2,502.64

30,538

119.51

1,476.35

899.13

618.66

6,501.18

4,360

5,353

5,822.29

600.03

35,944.17

1,843.43

2,400.18

1,520.73

1,479.27

1,059.70

3,470.65

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

Range Unit Acreage by Land Ownership

Range

Unit

Total Acres Tribal Acres

28,912.84

107.69

3,622.26

7,639

7,079.06

280.35

279.59

2,313.80

1,200.10

620.10

4,276.10

295.12

1,734.78

Allotment

Fee

18,790

475

4,134

17,576.17

475.00

25,900

25,071.20

856

636.01

#Units

Fee Acres

32,633

Allotment

Acres

6,306

Total

Acres

Tribal

1,036,898

916,318.23

47 units

were in

rotation in

2005

1,036,898.00

30.06

374.26

58.04

41,522.40

1,183.77

453.25

168.12

79,057.37

Sum of all lands

Source: The Land Operations/Range Program

Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

Noxious Weed Prevention And Control

Weeds are easily established in highly disturbed sites such

as roadsides, trails, cat lines, and in overgrazed or over harvested areas. Well-managed land is the best defense against

the spread of noxious weeds. However, even well managed land in good condition is susceptible when natural

disturbances such as fire, open niches in a plant community

and animals distribute plant parts and seeds (e.g. houndstongue). Monitoring disturbed sites is recommended for

at least two to three years after applications.

Houndstongue

Non-native invasive plants can affect the structure of ecosystems by altering soil properties. Soil in areas that become dominated by noxious weeds may have lower amounts of

organic matter and available nitrogen than areas supporting native grasslands. Furthermore, many non-native species deplete soil nutrient reserves to very low levels.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

Invasive non-native plant species or invasive weeds pose one of the most serious threats

to wildlife habitat, biodiversity, native population stability, economics, cultural resources,

and scenic values. Invasive weeds can result in significant economic losses for agriculture, ranching, and recreational industries.

The invasion of non-native plants can alter ecosystem processes and threaten native species. Many of the plants gathered for cultural practices can be lost due to the invasion of

weed species.

Due to the invasive nature of many weed species, implementing adaptive management

or ecologically-based principles is critically important to properly manage weed species.

Adaptive management for weed control focuses on establishing or reestablishing desired

vegetation in place of the invasive weeds at a site rather than simply eliminating the

weeds themselves. In addition, an ecological approach to the management of the weed

species on infested sites enhances the overall weed management plan.

Musk Thistle

Yellow Toadflax

Restoration of native vegetation is a desirable end goal for most, but not necessarily all,

infested sites. In some cases, non-invasive, non-native species may be used as competitive plantings or placeholders in treated areas.

The Tribes also recognize that weeds damage all lands and

resources throughout the Colville Reservation and have

developed an Integrated Weed Management Plan. The

plan is based on enhancing the desired plant species and

communities, rather than on simply eliminating weeds.

Weed control is an important part of natural resource and

property management. Preventive programs are implemented to keep management areas free of species that

have not become established, but which are known to be

invasive elsewhere in the area. Priorities are set to control,

Common Bugloss

reduce or eradicate weeds that have already become established on a property, based on

their actual and potential impacts on the land management goals for the property, and

on the program’s ability to control them now versus later. Actions are taken only when

careful consideration indicates that leaving the weed unchecked would result in more

damage than controlling it with best available methods.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

Historically aquatic invasive species have largely been overlooked, due to lack of funding and adequate staffing. Recently in the Cooperative Weed Management Area, aquatic

weeds have become increasingly more evident and many treatment sites and extensive

surveys have taken place.

The Aquatic/Riparian Invasive Species project will be broken into five project locations;

Hall Creek, Lake La Fleur, Lake Roosevelt, Omak Lake and Twin Lakes. Extensive surveying of riparian areas is quite limited, but based on data that the Land Operations

Program currently has, the primary invasive plant species include the following: purple

loosestrife, Japanese knotweed, common tansy, common reed and Canada thistle.

The Land Operations/Range Program will be working closely with the Ferry and Okanogan County Noxious Weed Control Boards to complete this project. The Tribes’ Wetland

Specialist will be an integral part of all projects and will help conduct plant surveys prior

to applications being made as well as being present during applications.

Community Concerns

In the last two decades, cattle grazing has played an increasingly less dominant role in

the Reservation economy. Only 8% of survey respondents indicated that they grazed livestock on the Reservation’s rangelands. The survey asked about the community’s general

feelings toward cattle grazing on the Reservation. Thirty-four percent (34%) of respondents felt that grazing was an important source of income for tribal ranchers and allotment owners, and 34% of respondents felt that livestock and wildlife grazing are essential

to maintain rangeland health and production.

The survey also revealed that respondents believe cattle grazing on rangeland has the

potential to negatively impact streams and wetlands if not managed correctly (57%), and

that heavily grazed range units should not be grazed every year (49%). However, only

21% of respondents indicated their belief that grazing on the Reservation should be discontinued all together.

Feral horses on the Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

The majority of respondents (57%) indicated that they thought feral horses are part of the

Reservation culture and should be maintained, though 38% indicated that the herd should

be limited to less than 200 horses. Only 8% of respondents stated that feral horses should

be removed from the Reservation entirely.

The Tribes recognize that invasive non-native plant species

pose one of the most serious threats to wildlife habitat and

biodiversity throughout the Reservation. The vast majority of

survey respondents (94%) indicated their concurrence with

this assessment, stating that it is important for the Tribes to

control the spread of noxious weeds on the Reservation. This

concurrence, however, was qualified by 70% of respondents

who agreed that whenever possible, non-herbicidal weed control measures should be used.

Cheatgrass

The Land Operations/Range Program

The Land Operations/Range Program’s overall goal is to provide sustainable, desired

plant communities with forage for wildlife and livestock, and to maintain and enhance

rangeland health with a diversity of rangeland conditions by utilizing best practices in

the management of the Reservation rangelands.

Due to the decline in grazing and permit revenues over the years and the subsidized fees

for tribal members, the Range program has only minimal staffing and funding to manage

59 range units constituting almost one million acres. The limited staffing restricts the provision of technical assistance and this is exacerbated by inadequate participation by the

permittees who are responsible for managing their livestock to prevent overgrazing and

impacts to riparian zones. The lack of staff and funding has caused programs for noxious

weeds and feral horses to be insufficiently monitored and managed.

In the course of implementing the 2000 IRMP, however, the Range program has significantly improved the management of rangelands and associated natural resources on the

Reservation. Technical support and funding from the Natural Resources Conservation

Service has allowed the Range program to improve range infrastructure such as fencing

and livestock watering facilities.

The Range program staff has improved working relationships with grazing permittees,

developing required conservation plans for range units and engaging them in best management practices as well as infrastructure improvements and maintenance. New staffing has allowed the Noxious Weed Control Program to increase control efforts of noxious

weeds on the Reservation. The program focuses on identifying and treating new invaders

and providing public education to increase awareness.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

Working with other natural resource departments has also helped the program become

more effective. The Project Proposal Process (3P) has been a valuable resource for the

Range Program, by identifying any resource concerns that might be associated with the

program’s proposed projects. The Project Proposal Process also allows the Range Program to evaluate and assess other proposed natural resource projects, by providing comments and recommendations.

The Range program works in particular with the Fish & Wildlife Department. The staff

works to incorporate all of their concerns such as excluding livestock from game reserves,

initiatives to protect sage grouse habitat, managing feral horse herd size, protecting riparian areas from over grazing and soil compaction, ensuring forage availability for ungulates, and installing wildlife friendly fencing (smooth top and bottom wires). The Range

program takes into consideration the amount of available forage and adjusts stocking

rates to accommodate wildlife.

The Range Program staff provides expertise in animal health and behavior, vegetation,

soils, and watersheds. The staff employs current best management practices to reduce

grazing impacts and to use grazing management practices that increase available forage

and control invasive weeds.

The program’s goals and objectives illustrate the importance of maintaining and enhancing rangeland health and productivity. Membership assistance and participation in range

management can benefit rangelands as well as other natural resources.

Rangeland Goals & Objectives

Enhance and maintain a diversity of rangeland conditions to which all tribal members and natural resource programs may benefit. Provide sustainable, desired plant

communities for overall rangeland health.

GOAL 1: Maintain Ecosystem Health on Rangelands

Objectives:

• Implement best management practices to enhance and maintain a diversity

of range conditions and maintain sustainable vegetation communities.

• Use best management practices such as grazing rotation and vegetation

management to assure an abundance of available forage for livestock and

wildlife.

• Retain rangeland in its natural state when the recreational, cultural, aesthetic, or traditional values of the rangeland represent the highest and best use

of the land.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

• Use grazing strategies to improve native plant and animal habitats, including threatened, endangered, special status, and culturally important species, for wildlife, fisheries, recreation, aesthetic, cultural and other traditional values.

• Consider wildlife habitat patch size and fragmentations when designing

vegetation management projects.

• Consider wildlife friendly fencing to reduce impacts in sensitive areas.

GOAL 2: Manage Rangelands to Protect Soils, Water, Riparian Areas, and Prevent Erosion.

Objectives:

• Protect range resources by managing vegetation, improving ground cover

and vegetation vigor, protecting soils through native grass re-seeding, and

regulating water run-off to minimize soil erosion.

o Re-establish and enhance native plants palatable to livestock

and wildlife in disturbed areas.

o Implement a deferred-rotation grazing system to increase the

retention of soil moisture and increase the duration and magnitude of stream flow.

o Collaborate with natural resource programs to develop and

manage riparian grazing areas adjacent to designated lakes

and streams to protect fish, wildlife, water quality, recreation,

and cultural resources.

• Coordinate efforts with the Fish & Wildlife Department and tribal membership to minimize the overall impact of feral horses on the Reservation.

Monitor damage resulting from unmanaged horse herds.

o Implement Feral Horse Management Plan strategies to reduce

impacts through herd management and/or removal.

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Rangeland

Introduction

GOAL 3: Protect Natural Resources through Monitoring, Compliance, and Enforcement.

Objectives:

• Assess ecological site trends and biotic integrity through monitoring to assess or classify plant community composition, change in vegetation, forage

utilization, soil and site stability, and hydrologic function.

• Increase enforcement of grazing permit compliance to reduce the amount

of heavy grazing, to improve forage for livestock, big game and other wildlife and to protect desired plant species and riparian areas.

• Establish compliance procedures that will require permittees to monitor and document

locations of livestock and forage utilization on

their range units throughout the grazing season.

•

Enhance range management education programs for livestock operators, tribal members,

tribal and BIA employees.

Cattle Guard on Reservation

rangeland

Goal 4: Use Livestock Strategies to promote rangeland health.

Objectives:

• Calculate the carrying capacity of rangelands through monitoring to determine the amount available forage, and then adjust stocking rates to accommodate wildlife.

•

Prepare individual range unit Conservation Plans to promote rangeland

health, encourage good grazing practices, and protect natural resources.

o Evaluate Best Management Practices on each range unit

o Assess each range unit to determine if increased infrastructure will need to be installed to encourage a deferred-rotation

system.

•

o Develop off-site water points, salting practices and more effective livestock rotation as needed to achieve more effective

utilization of available forage through the distribution of livestock, as well as reducing livestock impacts in sensitive areas.

Install cattle guards on key access routes as needed.

• Implement management practices to minimize the impact of livestock and

wildlife to tree seedlings and native grass re-planting areas.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Colville Reservation

Rangeland

Introduction

GOAL 5: Control the Spread of Invasive Species on Rangelands

Objectives:

•

pply integrated weed management strategies to preserve and enhance

native plant species and communities, threatened and endangered species,

and traditional cultural plants.

• Monitor the presence, abundance and distribution of weeds annually to

document populations and distributions and develop management plans

for noxious weed species, with new invader species as the highest priority.

• Use best management practices as identified in the current Invasive Weed

Management Plan to avoid damage to desirable plant species when using

herbicides for control of noxious weeds.

• Where appropriate, use Washington State USDA biological weed control

agents for control of invasive plant species.

• When treatment for control of terrestrial, riparian/aquatic weed species is

proposed, all Washington State, federal and tribal laws will be followed.

• Use inventory and survey activities to detect new occurrences of invasive

plant species and provide timely initiation of treatment programs.

• Utilize grazing strategies to control and reduce the occurrence of invasive

species.

GOAL 6: Fire Management on Rangelands

Objectives:

• Utilize prescribed fire as a tool to manage fuels, improve vegetation health

and plant community resilience to meet natural resource objectives.

• In wildfire disturbed areas, implement practices to minimize further damage or destruction to soil, water, forest, wildlife, roads, fauna and flora.

• Use livestock to manage fuel loads to reduce potential for wildfires that result in severe resource damage.

• Provide effective fire suppression response.

North Star Fire

Colville Reservation

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Forests

Overview

The Forestry Program is charged with overseeing all forestry related activities for the

Colville Indian Reservation. It is a unique department that is comprised of both BIA

and tribal employees that work together under a cooperative agreement. Management

of the Reservation’s natural resources is governed by a variety of statutes, including the

Colville Tribal Code, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species

Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Tribal Forest Protection Act.

The National Indian Forest Resources Management Act requires the Secretary of Interior

to manage reservation lands for permanent forest production; however, such management must also be in accord with sustained yield principles. The Act requires that management of reservation lands protects watersheds, regulates stream-flow, provides for

recreation facilities and contributes to the economic stability of local communities and

industries.

The Tribes, however, have discretion to determine how to manage the forest on a sustained yield basis that provides for permanency of timber production over a long-term

period. The Tribes must necessarily make informed judgments about what kind of management will lead to permanent forest production that satisfies the principle of sustained

yield.

Progress Made Implementing the 2000 IRMP

The Forestry Program made substantial progress implementing the Tribes’ first IRMP. Timber sale projects,

guided by the IRMP harvest schedule, were proposed

on a yearly basis to provide timber volume for the tribal mills and revenue to the Tribes. Several large salvage

projects, not included in the original harvest schedule,

provided substantial volume to mills and revenue for

the Tribes. Fulfilling the harvest schedule was disrupted by the housing market recession and the Tribes’ mills

were closed in 2009. As the economy has improved

the demand for forest products, harvest volumes have

Colville Precision Pine is now

nearly returned to the level proposed in the IRMP.

closed, but was supplied wood from

timber sales implemented by the

During this time, nearly 50,000 acres of the commercial

Forestry Program.

forest were harvested and regenerated to ponderosa

pine and western larch, either naturally or by planting. Thousands of acres were also

commercially thinned or salvaged, further improving forest health and ensuring sustained harvest volume and revenue for the future. The Forestry Program also impleIntegrated Resource Management Plan

Draft

Forests

mented more than 15,000 acres of non-commercial treatments such as pre-commercial

thinning, weeding, tending treatments, forest health protection, and special insect and

disease work.

Collectively, all of these activities helped to achieve the Tribes’ Desired Future Condition

of “managed landscapes that more closely resemble those created by the activities of

historic disturbance agents”. These activities also provided numerous jobs and income to

the Tribes, tribally owned businesses, and surrounding communities, meeting the Tribes’

desired condition of a “landscape producing viable short term and long term economic

stability for the tribal membership.”

Legacy Issues Affecting Forest Management

The management strategy of the 2000 IRMP was designed to address a host of forest

health issues resulting from past management practices such as selective harvesting and

fire exclusion. Species composition, vegetation structure and density (number of trees) of

the Colville Reservation forests has changed dramatically over time.

This change was largely brought about by a 100-year legacy of land management practices and influences from European settlers moving into the area. Practices such as fire

suppression, timber harvesting and grazing have changed the vegetation communities

that originally existed.

Much of the Reservation forest was at one time described as having open and park like stands of ponderosa pine and western larch with grass growing

in the understory. Fires burned frequently through

these stands, influencing and shaping the species

composition, structure and density of the forest

stands. With the initiation of practices such as fire

suppression, timber harvest and grazing, the open

park like forest began to change to a multi-layered

canopy Douglas-fir and grand fir dominated forest.

Many of the Reservation’s forest stands that were

Historic 23 Mile Cabin

once composed of ponderosa pine and western larch

are now primarily composed of Douglas-fir and/or

grand fir. These stands tend to be denser than the historic stands and have a multi-layered structure. Many of the large ponderosa pine trees are gone and the shift in species

composition, structure and density makes these stands more susceptible to attack by insects and disease.

Draft

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Forests

In dense stands, trees compete with each other for sunlight, nutrients and water. If they

have insufficient growing space, their health will decline and they will die or be attacked

by insects and/or disease. In the Reservation’s dense stands, increased insect populations of bark beetle and spruce budworm have attacked and killed many trees across the

landscape in recent years.

Diseases such as dwarf mistletoe and root rot also kill many trees each year. The historic

stands of ponderosa pine and western larch were much more resistant to attacks by dwarf

mistletoe and root rots than are the Douglas-fir and true firs that grow on much of the

Reservation today.

Selective harvest timber practices are largely to blame

for this change in the forest structure. For several decades, the forest was managed to harvest individual

trees using subjective standards that allowed loggers to

harvest the older, largest diameter trees that provided

the highest economic value to the Tribes. This left small

openings in the forest that quickly filled in with Douglas-fir and true firs.

Past management practices

promoted diseases such as dwarf

mistletoe that deforms trees and

eventually kills them.

These management practices also led to the removal of

the dominant ponderosa pine and western larch trees.

Many stands now have a species composition that is

dominated by second growth Douglas fir or other true

firs, and no healthy trees are left to help naturally seed

the site back to the more desirable ponderosa pine and

western larch species.

The absence of fire on the landscape has also contributed

to the decline in forest health. In the 1920’s, aggressive

fire suppression policies were adopted that effectively

removed fire from the ecosystem. The removal of fire contributed to the shift in species

composition and the development of multilayered stand structures and increased stand

densities.

Species that would have burned during the frequent fires, such as Douglas-fir and other

true firs, became established in the understory. The absence of fire has allowed the quantity of needle litter and dead woody fuels on the forest floor to increase over time. These

changes have created a forest condition that is much more susceptible to catastrophic fire.

When fire occurs there is an increased likelihood that the fire will burn with more intensity and be more destructive then would have occurred historically.

Integrated Resource Management Plan

Draft

Forests

Management Under the IRMP

The ecological change in the forest created numerous management challenges for the Tribes’ natural

resource programs. Desired species such as western

larch and ponderosa pine, that are more resistant

and resilient to fire, require a lot of sunlight (as they

are shade intolerant) to establish and grow. In order

to restore the forest to a more historic species composition, an even-aged management strategy was

prescribed in the IRMP.

Many of the large, scattered ponderosa pine and

western larch that would have dominated the landscape have been removed, died or have severe

dwarf mistletoe infections. Consequently, there is

not enough western larch and ponderosa pine left

on the landscape for these tree species to naturally

regenerate. A significant portion of the landscape A fast growing plantation of western

must be planted with seedl

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