TESTIMONY OF DIANA WHITE HORSE CAPP

Before the U. S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Resources,
Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health
February 15, 2000

THE FUNDING OF ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES AND
THEIR IMPACTS ON LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Madame Chairman, Committee Members, thank you for this hearing. I'm Diana White Horse Capp, from Ferry County, Washington-- 4.6 million acres -- in the Kettle Mountains, 7200 people. I'm Chairman of the Upper Columbia Resource Council.

Madame Chairman, history shows the elite gain power by pitting the masses against each other. Our Constitution, based on the Iroquois Great Law of Peace, is intended to prevent this.

Elite foundations now funnel their wealth to environmental groups who pit the masses against each other. Rural Americans are condemned as savages just as Natives once were. Rural Natives and Whites work in the same occupations.

Our welfare is connected. The South Half of my county is Colville Reservation.On the North Half, Colvilles and other Native descendants live in peace with Whites. The community is intermarried. We cannot afford the division these foundations instigate.

The environmental elite use Native people. They preach about Tribal Rights and promise to restore justice. Yet they do little for Native people but use them as poster children to buy the clout of Treaty Rights in their lawsuits.

Local activists courted favor on the Reservation and Colville Indian Environmental Protection Alliance emerged. This is a foundation grant handled by Native recruiter Winona LaDuke of Minnesota to fight people like me in Ferry County. (See page 2) LaDuke's webpage says the Colville group she funds is opposed to gold mining on the Reservation. (pg 3) But this article says that group lobbied the Tribal Council to oppose Crown Jewel Mine. (pg 4) Madame Chairman, the Crown Jewel Mine isn't on the Reservation-- it's 30 miles away, minimum. This kind of deception smears the Tribe's name. Political upheaval rocks the Reservation and some Tribal members want the FBI to step-in.

These foundations use environmental groups to destroy rural cultures. Our county is crippled by their attacks on timber, mining, and ranching. Jobs are scarce.

Our children feel hopeless-- the elite have raped their future. These grants target Ferry County with $105,000 just to silence the so-called "incivility" of people like me concerned with human rights. (pg 5) These are grants to Environmental Media Services! They're headed by Arlie Schardt-- Al Gore's former Press Secretary!

Slick media activists hound urbanites , screaming that rural cultures destroy the planet, when in fact we feed and shelter them. The 1998 National Wilderness Conference announced its plan for Wilderness designation of the Kettle Mountain Range-- Ferry County is the Kettle Range. Their millions wage a high- dollar war for Wilderness in Ferry County along with local Kettle Range Conservation Group. (pg 6) Our county is beautiful. They covet this beauty enough to rape our culture! We don't want them to squeeze us out. This cultural genocide must be acknowledged. That's why the Kootenai Tribe joins Idaho's fight against more Wilderness. (pg 7) This petition by Bret Roberts of Ferry County Action League is signed by many area residents opposed to more Wilderness.

Federal insiders reshape policy to destroy rural cultures. This map shows some of the plans to push us out. Colville National Forest's Public Affairs Officer took vacation time to picket for more Wilderness. Pacific Biodiversity Institute boasts that government agencies request their wilderness maps. (pg 8) This Wilderness Society map is part of a local Forest Service Plan. (pg 9) This environmental group's grant says their lynx study will be used by the Forest Service. (pg 10) This job notice (pg 11) even says Nature Conservancy biologists write policy on Indiantown Gap Military Reservation -- adding salt to the wound.

You see, government troops forced my Mother's people out of Indiantown Gap in 1932. I don't want that happening to my children, too!

Madame Chairman, this juggernaut must be stopped. Thank you.