Federal wildlife-refuge logging supplied Potlatch mills from reservation lands.

Evidence

Federally managed lands are equally problematic. President Bill Clinton, early on in his administration, talked about providing economic opportunity for Indian tribes, by “bringing backlogged Indian timber to market,” something Native forest activists have referred to as “equal opportunity clearcutting.” Federal officials prioritized logging and cultivation of aspen in the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, which spans some 21,000 acres of the reservation. Between 1982 and 1992, 97,970 cords of wood were taken from refuge lands, 83 percent of it “popple,” or aspen. The vast majority of the harvest was taken from the areas of the refuge that fall within the reservation borders, and 66 percent of the total harvest was designated for Potlatch and other paper mills in the region. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 665