The People’s Rights Campaign to Overturn Tribal Water and Fishing Rights in the Klamath Basin

This article is the fourth in an ongoing series documenting the intervention of the far-right People’s Rights network into the Klamath River Basin drought situation. You can find the earlier pieces in the series here. For more on the People’s Rights network, make sure to check out the IREHR and Montana Human Rights Network special report, Ammon’s Army: Inside the Far-Right People’s Rights Network.

 

The People’s Rights Campaign to Overturn Tribal Water and Fishing Rights in the Klamath Basin

Amidst a severe drought that led the Bureau of Reclamation to curtail water for irrigation projects, tribes up and down the length of the Klamath River Basin are facing stress on fisheries that have sustained them and that they have sustained since time immemorial. The Klamath Tribes (Klamath-Modoc-Yahooskin) are confronted with deficient water levels in Klamath Lake, threatening their treaty-reserved C’waam [Lost River suckers] and Koptu [shortnose suckers] fisheries.[1]

In the Lower Basin, the Yurok, who hold federally reserved fishing rights, and the Karuk Tribe are facing large-scale parasitic infestations and die-offs in their salmon fisheries. The Hoopa Valley Tribe, also with federally recognized fishing rights, is deeply impacted by water quantity and quality conditions in the Basin, as is the Resighini Rancheria, a federally recognized tribe.[2]

In this installation on People’s Rights activity in Oregon and the Klamath Basin, we look at the profoundly anti-Indian ideas and alliances associated with People’s Rights and their mobilization in the Klamath Basin. The southern Oregon episode is by no means Ammon Bundy and company’s first brush with anti-Indian politics. In the context of the current Klamath Basin conflict, however, it is intensifying.

In gearing up for this potential “standoff,” local irrigators Dan Nielsen and Grant Knoll purchased land next to Canal A in Klamath Falls in April for $30,000. Nielsen and Knoll are allies of Bundy, and People’s Rights has been allowed to hold meetings on the newly-purchased property under a big red and white tent they’re calling the “Water Crisis Info Center.” Outside the tent is a sign that reads, “Ammon Bundy coming soon.” In recent weeks both Bundy and Knoll have openly discussed illegally breaching the headgates.

On June 10, the Klamath Irrigation District (KID) will meet to address ongoing developments in the water crisis. For some in Ammon Bundy’s People’s Rights network, this meeting is viewed as a critical moment.

The evening of the Klamath Irrigation District meeting, a People’s Rights network meeting at the Klamath County Fairgrounds is scheduled to feature noted far-right conspiracy-monger Debbie Bacigalupi.

The appearance of Debbie Bacigalupi at the behest of People’s Rights on the day of the KID meeting highlights the lateral alliances with the group has built with far-right figures alongside its growth in Oregon, including an overall jump in membership of 162% to 5,377 members statewide in the last seven months. Knoll’s alliance with Bundy highlights that these relationships were constructed even as the far-right paramilitary group forged a relationship with a board member of the quasi-municipal irrigation body and attracted local mayors and law enforcement officers to their meetings.

It also illustrates another undeniable feature of People’s Rights efforts – the deeply anti-Indian content of its political ideas, goals, and alliances – including allying its cause with the Citizens Equal Right Alliance, an organization dedicated to terminating tribal governments and abrogating all treaty rights with Indian Nations.

Debbie Bacigalupi, Conspiracy Theories and Distorting History to Deny Tribal Rights

Debbie Bacigalupi is a Siskiyou County, California, far-right conspiracy theorist with a history of promoting anti-tribal ideas and allying with leading figures in the organized anti-Indian movement.

When Bacigalupi spoke at a September 2015 “Regional Education Conference” hosted by the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) in Kalispell, Montana, Both were on display.

The Citizens Equal Rights Alliance is the leading national anti-Indian group in the country. For decades CERA has organized to terminate Indian tribal governments outright, abrogate all treaties with Indian Nations, and, in effect, seek an end to tribal nationhood itself.

CERA, and its longtime leader, Elaine Willman, have distorted facts about tribal treaty rights and tribal sovereignty, promoted far-right conspiracies that encourage bigotry and hostility toward tribal members, assailed Constitutionally-protected tribal rights, and aligned their cause with a broader movement that threatens civil rights and environmental protections.

Bacigalupi’s conspiracy chops were on display at the 2015 event. Her speech was titled “Integrating Federal Indian Policy with Agenda 21.” Bacigalupi began by recounting her familiarity with CERA, describing that, “I had the opportunity to meet many of you the last time.” She continued that “you probably heard about the Klamath River dams, largest dam removal project in worldwide history. But it’s a very similar issue, so that’s why I came up to Montana a couple weeks ago to hear Larry speak because, like you, we’re looking for solutions.”[3]

Here Bacigalupi likely referred to Lawrence Kogan, the New York-based attorney who, at the time, was working with CERA’s Elaine Willman in an effort to block the transfer of the former Kerr Dam (now the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam) to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT).

She continued by spelling out the conspiracy version of Agenda 21, which is in actuality a wholly voluntary set of principles signed by 178 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. The plan promoted sustainable development and measures to address poverty, particularly in developing countries.[4]

In the hands of Bacigalupi, however, the presence of terms such as sustainable development, regionalism, and economic and environmental justice “signal” the presence of Agenda 21 and U.N. machinations, whether a given project or group supports aspects of the Rio de Janeiro plan or not. What is more, Bacigalupi views this plan as akin to Adolph Hitler’s policies and ultimately implicated in a plot to destroy the Ten Commandments, private property, and the U.S. Constitution, leading to the takeover of the U.S. by U.N “bluehats”:

“This is my suggestion for United Nations agenda 21. There’s absolutely zero reason why everyone in this room should not be proud to talk about the facts the truth the details of this plan that would usurp our freedom that would steal our freedom and liberty away. This is not just a plan for the United States of America…Just like in the…one Bay Area Plan they are pushing these plans through of regionalism without any vote from the people, because just like Hitler told his people, we are going to appoint good people and they had regionalism… Sustainable development, the three E’s, you hear about this all the time. This is why I said…you can see all through their documents they refer to these things these three things: social equity, economic justice and environmental justice and right in the middle where everything comes together at once is what they call sustainable development… Our kids are being taught this too; this is Boy Scouts of America, this is their green to deep green dot org website, the three E’s, sustainable development in the middle…What did Hitler say about the youth – he who owns the youth gains the future…The United Nations earth charter is to replace the Ten Commandments the U.S. for Constitution the Declaration of Independence the Bill of Rights… People who want to call us conspiracy…theorists, and…tell…other people that you know, oh you’re going to hear about Agenda 21, and they’re going to say it’s about a private property take over. It is. How long before they send the blue hats, and well we already have blue hats; they’re in New York, United Nations headquarters is in New York…There are over a hundred and eight sustainable development goals one of them is to put a policy on ending poverty…”[5]

During the course of her presentation, Bacigalupi also makes clear that in her view, tribes are part of this Hitler-like conspiracy, their involvement in the plot “proven” simply by their use of the word “sustainable” in planning documents:

“In this United Nations document they define what sustainable development was for the 21st century. What this has to do with the tribes is, if you look at anything having to do with the tribes, you will see it has to do with sustainable development…The sustainable development challenge grant program is also a step in a plan implementing Agenda 21 the global plan of action on sustainable development. Have I shown you enough facts yet? This is the Kerr Dam, and you can see on a Kerr Dam, they talk about sustainable economic development. What do you hear? There it is, Agenda 21, it’s not a left-right issue, this is an American freedom issue.”[6]

Elsewhere, Bacigalupi has espoused spurious versions of history that erase crimes against tribes, an historical revisionism that constructs a framework justifying further encroachment on tribal rights and resources:

“We are now looking at ranchers and farmers [in Siskiyou County] who have lost their water rights to tribes. These were homesteaders who are now trying to figure out ‘how are we going to make it in America?’  In a country… where we were all Amer-I-cans, now we’re looking at being Amer-I-cants. You can’t do this, you can’t do that, you can’t have private property. You can’t put your kids in school unless they get vaccinated….. They are going to pit you against each other. First, you farmers and ranchers are going to be pitted against the Indians. You are going to look horrible, because you are not redressing. You are not paying back all the damage… you have done to those tribes. Here’s what I want to ask the tribes. If it weren’t our founding fathers who conquered this land… If it were not our founding fathers who believed in freedom and liberty for all people, which tyrannical king, which tyrannical kingdom would have been here first to create all slaves forever? I’d like to ask the tribes that. If it wasn’t the founding fathers who eventually gave you freedom and liberty, who was it gonna be that you would be the slave to? Which master would be here that you and I would not be free citizens. That’s what I want to ask them.”[11]

In no conceivable manner can the United States’ founding generation be understood as giving Indians “freedom and liberty.”

National leaders of this era frequently envisioned the gradual (or rapid) expulsion of indigenous peoples from their lands. In a famous 1783 letter, George Washington outlined a course of gradual encroachment on Indian lands (versus advocates of aggressive incursions, which Washington thought would lead to armed conflicts with tribes) that would “cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire.”[7]

President Thomas Jefferson advocated wholesale violence against tribes should they resist U.S. westward advances. Jefferson’s Arkansas territory policy foreshadowed the Indian removal policy adopted by Congress under the leadership of then-President Andrew Jackson in 1830. This policy would lead to a ramping up of wholesale attacks and genocide against Indian Nations in a quest for their lands and resources.[8]

Anti-Indian leader Elaine Willman, a participant in the 2015 Kalispell meeting, has also spewed conspiracy theories and distorted “histories” in the service of dispossessing Indian Nations.

In a 2017 interview with the far-right John Birch Societies’ New American magazine. Willman coupled anti-Indian politics to a far-right conspiracy theory alleging that federal Indian policies are a plot, in cahoots with the United Nations, to “tear down the fabric of the country”:

“There seems to be a movement to just tear down the fabric of this country. It’s hard to envision us in the long term being the United States with [the] combined marriage of the federal executive branch, and the United Nations and Agenda 21 folks, and the environmental groups and the big billionaires. And then when they’ve got 566 tribal governments and little reservations to use as little launch pads, you can tear up a country pretty quick.   So, this Indian policy is but one tool, this is one part of it.”[9]

At a 2013 CERA conference in Bellingham, Washington, Elaine Willman also spun a spurious “history” melded with a conspiracy theory of an Indian takeover of Washington State.

“Twenty-nine tribal governments that serve about 75,000 enrolled tribal members that have hijacked Washington State…These twenty-nine tribes are literally consuming and overpowering and now controlling that fixed land base of Washington State…“The real Trail of Tears here for Washington state, is Governor [Mike] Lowery, Governor [Gary] Locke,  Governor [Christine] Gregoire, and now Governor [Jay] Inslee. That is the real Trail of Tears. They have placed state sovereignty subservient, with the help of the legislature, too, they’re not innocent. They have placed Washington State sovereignty subservient to the sovereignty of twenty-nine tribes here.”

The “Trail of Tears” refers to the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from their homelands in Georgia and North Carolina to Oklahoma in 1838 and 1839. Some 4,000 tribal members died as they were forcibly marched during winter conditions. Many other tribes were removed in this period, which extended into the late 19th century.

Coupled with conspiracy theories depicting the dispossession of non-Indians by the Constitutionally-protected rights of tribes, such distorted histories can only promote bigotry and hostility toward tribal members, engender spurious ideas of white dispossession at the hands of Indian Nations, and justify attempts to further dispossess tribes of their homelands and resources.

Bacigalupi’s appearance at the 2015 event was not the California far-rightist’s sole alliance with CERA and Elaine Willman.

Bacigalupi is also a moderator of the 399-member “Klamath Basin Crisis” Facebook group—a project of the Tulelake, California-based Klamath Basin Water Crisis (KBC) website.

KBC has long served as a forum for far-right takes on the water conflict and other issues in the Klamath Basin.[10] In addition to promoting the Agenda 21 conspiracy theory, KBC directs individuals interested in tribal issues to a page titled “Ask Elaine,” a reference to Elaine Willman. The page prefaces its list of readings by Willman and others asking, “Are you a tribal member, or do you live within tribal rule? Elaine Willman… directs you to help in tribal corruption issues. She is former Chairman of CERA, and recommends these two websites for the help you need.” One is the website of the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance.[11]

Ammon Bundy’s Anti-Indian Politics

During an interview with Talking Points Memo, Ammon Bundy offered his thoughts on the treaty-reserved and inherent rights of Indian Nations in the Klamath River Basin.

“Those are nice talking points… ‘Oh, the tribes have rights, too. Oh, the endangered species, what about them? Oh, the drought and climate change.’ Those are liberal talking points that are there, designed to literally strip the people of their rights and to put the power in the government’s hands.”[12]

Bundy completely dismissed those rights, casting them in the conspiratorial terms that dominate his far-right, nationalist, and insurrectionary organization.

For Bundy, anti-tribal politics and behavior are nothing new. The disregard for tribal rights endemic to his movement came into relief during the Bundy-led 2016 armed takeover of the Malheur wildlife refuge. The takeover took place in the homelands of the Burns Paiute Tribe, over objections from the tribe. Some of those in Bundy’s group damaged a tribal archaeological site, and two of the paramilitary occupiers were ordered to pay restitution to the tribe.[13]

Like Bacigalupi, Bundy has also rubbed elbows with the anti-Indian group, Citizens Equal Rights Alliance. In October 2018, he appeared at a “New Code of the West” conference in Whitefish, Montana, alongside longtime Citizens Equal Rights Alliance leader Elaine Willman, as described by the Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN).

Bundy’s ties to CERA didn’t stop with sharing a platform.  Bundy wrote the foreword to Christopher Kortlander’s 2018 book Arrow to the Heart. Kortlander, director of the Custer Battlefield Museum, was listed as a board member of the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance at the time, according to MHRN.[14]

During the Malheur occupation, MHRN expressed concern over Bundy’s compatriots announcing plans to convene a so-called “common law court” – a pseudo-legal body derived from the Posse Comitatus, a far-right paramilitary organization whose ideas about government have influenced People’s Rights.

Willman came to the defense of the Malheur occupiers by lashing out at MHRN. In her opinion piece, Willman would wildly accuse MHRN of supporting a “One World Order that calls for the ending of state government, and a transition to an internationally governed North America.”[15]

Kristen Jarvie Clark

People’s Rights Area 6 (Klamath County) Assistant Kristen Jarvie Clark is also a member of the CERA-linked Klamath Basin Crisis Facebook group (the one moderated by Debbie Bacigalupi).[16] Clark has also circulated KBC material on her own Facebook group to frame the water conflict.[17]

Clark has been the contact for announced Area 6 events featuring Klamath Irrigation District Board Member Grant Knoll, local law enforcement officers, and People’s Rights Oregon state leader B.J. Soper. Clark has used the phone number for her Legacy Forge and Millwork Doors in Klamath Falls as the contact number for her People’s Rights activism.[18]

Kristen Jarvie Clark has recently emerged as the People’s Rights point-person for the group’s “Water Crisis Info Center.” She has helped coordinate its activities around the emerging conflict in the Klamath Basin. Kristen Jarvie Clark is also the contact person for the Bacigalupi event on June 10.[19]

Befitting such a role, Clark has herself spewed far-right conspiracy theories, writing on Facebook in December 2020 that,

“It has come to my attention that many of you might not really know my opinion on somethings. I’m not trying to hide it or make it confusing so let me share the following so you don’t have to wonder any more…

My Beliefs

1. I believe President Trump should be our President
2. I believe the Constitution of the United States was inspired of God and should be defended. I get upset when our basic constitutional rights are disregarded. And yes, I believe that our rights are being denied with this whole Covid deal.
3. I believe there is major corruption in our Nation and in the world. I do not agree with the One World Order (it will only work when Christ is reigning and I look forward to that kind of unity). I do not think things will get more peaceful before Christ’s return. I believe in The Tribulation. I believe that Christ will return and reign as King of Kings over a Zion’s people. I believe Socialism and Communism are Satan’s counterfeit attempt at Zion and any “agenda” or “reset” is all part of Satan’s plans. (The topic of the Last Days is actually my favorite topic and I would love to hear your thoughts on it.)
4.  I know Vaccines are a hot topic but I’ve been studying them for years and I’m not shy about sharing what I’ve learned. I know what I share is totally opposite to what the mainstream news is telling you and it might not seem that what I share could be true because you trust your doctors.  But let me just say I have yet to find a doctor who was taught about vaccines in Medical school. (They were only taught vaccines are good and how to give them.) I believe the pharmaceutical companies should be liable for the damages caused by vaccines. I believe we have the right to make the decision of what goes into our bodies. And I will fight hard to defend that right.  To say I don’t want a Covid Vaccine is an understatement. (You would have to threaten to hurt my children before I would get that vaccine.).”[20]

Grant Knoll, Ammon Bundy, and CERA’s Attorney

Land purchased by Klamath Irrigation District board member Grant Knoll and Dan Nielsen has become a center of People’s Rights activism, the location of the Water Crisis Info Center headed by Area 6 Assistant Kristen Jarvie Clark.

Nielsen told Jefferson Public Radio (JPR) that they purchased the property so they would not be “run off” by the federal government. Nielsen would continue that “The only thing separating us from the headgates is a chain-link fence…It’s good access, all right.” As Associated Press would paraphrase, Nielson would add that “he’s in regular contact with Bundy.”[21]

Grant Knoll elaborated to JPR that “I’m planning on getting D.C.’s attention…We’re going to turn on the water and have a standoff.” Nielsen told JPR that when they breached the headgates, “[We’re] not going to be armed but they’re probably going to be people on the outside protecting us, and if it’s not our sheriff, we’ll have people protect us.”[22]

At a June meeting, 80 to 100 people gathered at the People’s Rights tent to hear Oregon state leader B.J. Soper. At that meeting, Klamath County Sheriff Chris Kaber, who previously spoke at a People’s Rights meeting in March, stood up to say that he was interacting with the federal government on the issue, even as he betrayed his sympathies for the far right-led effort.

 “Sheriff, we’re in your hands,’ a rally attendee told him on Thursday. ‘We need your help. Are you with us?’ Kaber said he didn’t attend the rally to speak but because he had personal friends among the group gathered there. ‘I won’t take personal credit for it but the reason there aren’t federal agents out there guarding this right now is because of a lot of communication that’s going on,’ Kaber said. ‘I speak to Danny and Grant often … and I have a lot of conversations with the Feds…They’re not here because we’ve convinced them that this is a peaceful community, that we’re going to work through this however we need to work through it…I see my job mainly as keeping the peace and in order to do that, I need to appear somewhat neutral maybe at times.”[23]

Despite the event being hosted by an organization that promotes far-right ideas at odds with civil rights, advocates paramilitary organizing, and makes repeated references to abolishing the existing government, Sheriff Kaber only had to “appear somewhat neutral maybe at times.”

If Nielsen hinted that the group would have “protection” should they breach the headgates, Ammon Bundy was more to the point in an interview with the New York Times: “Who cares if there is violence? At least something will be worked out. Oh, we don’t want violence, we’ll just starve to death.’ Heaven forbid we talk about violence.”[24]

Grant’s Knoll’s activism on the issue and relationship with Ammon Bundy extends back further than his recent land purchase. Both Knoll and Nielson were, in fact, among a group of farmers who in 2001 opened the irrigation headgates amidst a similar closure.[25]

Likewise, Nielson’s relationship with Ammon Bundy also precedes the current situation. Nielson told the Klamath Falls Herald and News that he had met Bundy in 2016 (the year of the armed Malheur occupation) when he had spoken to the Siskiyou County Republican Party in Yreka.

In August 2020, Nielsen organized a “Come Stand for Freedom” fundraiser in Klamath Falls featuring Ammon Bundy. He told the press that “It’s just educational, sharing his side of the story, what he’s done, why he does it, why his dad (Cliven Bundy) stood up…We’re just bringing him here to educate, trying to get our county commissioners, our law enforcement, our farmers, trying to get everybody on the same page.”[26] Around this time, Nielson also posted a video of Bundy on his Facebook page.[27]

Grant Knoll and Larry Kogan

In addition to his relationship with Ammon Bundy and People’s Rights, Grant Knoll’s place on the Klamath Irrigation District board also brought him into a working relationship with a prominent figure in the Northwest anti-Indian movement and CERA ally.

In early 2016, members of the KID board hired New York-based attorney Lawrence Kogan to negotiate a project to rebuild the C Canal flume used by the irrigation project as well as to “give us some specialized guidance.”[28] Kogan’s role quickly landed Knoll and two other board members in controversy.

The situation deteriorated after Kogan drafted a letter to a consultant involved in moderating meetings concerning an agreement for dam removal on the Klamath River. Kogan’s letter demanded that federal, state, local, and tribal parties to the agreement “cease all activities that would lead to execution” of the agreement, threatening legal action if they did not.[29] Concern that Kogan had overstepped the bounds of his contract and that Knoll and other board members had authorized the action in violation of open meeting laws led a group of irrigators to initiate a recall petition in July 2016. While Knoll survived the recall attempt, board chair Brent Cheyne did not.[30]

Of particular interest here is that the same issue that sparked controversy – Kogan intervening in a dam-related matter on the opposite side of tribes – is the same path through which Kogan gained notoriety in the organized anti-Indian movement.

In September 2015, Kogan spoke at the same Citizens Equal Rights Alliance event as conspiracy “theorist” Debbie Bacigalupi, using his appearance to discuss his involvement in an effort to block the transfer of the former Kerr Dam (now the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam) to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). Kogan also hired anti-Indian leader Elaine Willman to further his cause.

Kogan’s briefs in the case also demonstrated the broader racism that often animates this movement, advancing a now-infamous passage claiming that the transfer to CSKT could result in advances for Islamic terrorists.[31]

In rejecting the lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras wrote,

“In their Motion, Plaintiffs make…somewhat perplexing arguments regarding the Turkish Government’s involvement with Native Americans. However, to the extent such injuries are cognizable, nowhere are those allegations substantiated in the record. Indeed, at hearing, counsel for Plaintiffs conceded that no such evidence has been submitted relating to the Plaintiffs’ alleged economic harm.”[32]

At the 2015 conference, both Lawrence Kogan and Elaine Wilman defended the Turkish-CSKT claim.[33]

Around the time that the Klamath Irrigation District hired Kogan, the New York attorney also appeared at multiple speaking events with CERA leaders. Kogan took his anti-Indian roadshow around Montana, appearing alongside Elaine Willman and CERA attorney Lana Marcussen, including presentations in both Polson and St. Ignatius on the Flathead Indian Reservation, home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The mobilization underway by People’s Rights threatens the sovereignty, treaty rights, and ancestral fisheries resources of the tribes of the Klamath River Basin. People’s Rights and other actors must not be allowed to breach Canal A at the Link River Dam. Any resolution of this conflict must take place in the context of federal support for the full water and fishing rights and sovereignty of the tribes in whose homelands the Klamath Basin lies.

 

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NOTES

[1] The Klamath Tribes. Klamath Tribes History. https://klamathtribes.org/history/

[2] Yurok Tribe. Yurok Tribe Written Testimony Regarding H.R. 5548, Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act January 14th, 2020. https://congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110359/witnesses/HHRG-116-II13-Wstate-MyersF-20200114.pdf; United States Department of Interior. Office of the Solicitor. Memorandum: Fishing Rights of the Yurok and Hoopa Valley Tribes. October 4, 1993; Karuk Climate Change Project. Chapter 2: “It’s Illegal to be a Karuk Indian in the 21^st Century. https://karuktribeclimatechangeprojects.com/chapter-2-its-illegal-to-be-a-karuk-indian-in-the-21st-century/; Resighini Rancheria. Who We Are. http://resighinirancheria.com/who-we-are/.

[3] Bacigalupi, Debbie. “Integrating Federal Indian Policy with Agenda 21.” CERA Regional Conference, September 26, 2015, Kalispell, Montana.

[4] United Nations. Agenda 21. 1992. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/outcomedocuments/agenda21

[5] Bacigalupi, Debbie. “Integrating Federal Indian Policy with Agenda 21.” CERA Regional Conference, September 26, 2015, Kalispell, Montana.

[6] Bacigalupi, Debbie. “Integrating Federal Indian Policy with Agenda 21.” CERA Regional Conference, September 26, 2015, Kalispell, Montana.

[7] Washington, George. Letter to James Duane. September 7, 1873. In Prucha, Francis Paul. 1990. Documents of United States Indian Policy. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press; Bolton, Charles S. 2003. For a discussion of this letter and its historical context, see Williams, Robert A. 2005. Like a Loaded Weapon: The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights, and the Legal History of Racism in America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

[8] . Jeffersonian Indian Removal and the Emergence of Arkansas Territory. The Arkansas Historical Quarterly. Vol 63(2):253-271; Jefferson, Thomas. Letter to Henry Dearborn. August 28, 1807. National Archives. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-6267

[9] Video embedded at Newman, Alex. U.S. Indian Policy Used to Assault Freedom, Expert Says. The New American. June 26, 2015. https://thenewamerican.com/u-s-indian-policy-used-to-assault-freedom-expert-says/. Video url: https://youtu.be/7qULvpSmej4

[10] Klamath Basin Water Crisis. http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/. Accessed May 31, 2021.

[11] Klamath Basin Water Crisis. “Agenda 21, The Big Picture.” http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/un/untoc.htm. Accessed May 31, 2021; Klamath Basin Water Crisis.

[12] Shuham, Matt. Ammon Bundy and Co. are Eyeing Another Standoff With Feds in Southern Oregon. Talking Points Memo. May 28, 2021. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ammon-bundy-and-co-are-eyeing-another-standoff-with-feds-in-southern-oregon

[13] Preacher, Amanda. “Tribe denounces Malheur occupation.” OPB. January 6, 2016.   https://www.opb.org/news/series/burns-oregon-standoff-bundy-militia-news-updates/tribe-denounces-malheur-refuge-occupation-/; Hammill, Luke. “$3.3 million and counting: The cost of the Malheur occupation.” The Oregonian. February 23, 2016. https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/02/33_million_and_counting_the_co.html; Bernstein, Maxine. “Repair of two trenches, road dug at Malheur Wildlife Refuge cost more than $100,000.” The Oregonian. https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/01/cost_most_than_100000_to_repai.html#incart_river_home; Bernstein, Maxine. “Two who dug trenches at Malheur Wildlife Refuge to pay $10,000 each in restitution.” The Oregonian. https://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/10/post_18.html

[14] Montana Human Rights Network. “A ‘New’ Code of the West Conference.” MHRN website. September 25, 2018. https://mhrn.org/2018/09/25/codeofwest/.

[15] Willman, Elaine. Letter to the Editor. Missoulian. January 18, 2016. https://missoulian.com/news/opinion/mailbag/montana-human-rights-network-disdain-for-state-authority-officials/article_ef01d689-a2f8-5040-a117-203d66d89f96.html

[16] Klamath Basin Water Crisis. http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/. Accessed May 31, 2021.

[17] Jarvie Clark, Kristen. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/kristen.j.clark/posts/10222740860203567

[18] People’s Rights. Area News. Oregon. Thurs May 27^th Dinner, BJ Soper Speaking at 6pm. May 24, 2021. https://www.peoplesrights.org/news_view?/thurs-may-27th-dinner-at-5pm-bj-soper-speaking-at-6pm&id=fa33cbc2-2dc1-4d91-9f5b-39d9d6d5f29e; People’s Rights. Area News. Oregon. Thurs 8^th and Sat 10^th + other announcements. April 5, 2021. https://www.peoplesrights.org/news_view?/thur-8th-and-sat-10th-other-announcments&id=6a68a30e-ed5c-49f2-b219-9c83cd625b05&pg=3.; People’s Rights. Area News. Oregon. March 18^th Police Captain to Speak. March 16, 2021. https://www.peoplesrights.org/news_view?/march-18th-police-captain-to-speak&id=7d8f68ee-5b97-4dc6-94d2-40e772ce2179&pg=3; People’s Rights. Area News. Oregon. “How to Open Businesses” at Sat. mtg/Sheriff Kaber on Thursday. March 10, 2021. https://www.peoplesrights.org/news_view?/how-to-open-businesses-at-sat-mtg-sheriff-kaber-on-thursday&id=dfebea0a-0a8f-4015-b6d3-06df7bef291c&pg=4; Sporting Classics Daily. The Craftsman Ship of Legacy Forge and Millworks Doors. Sporting Classics Daily. July 16, 2018. https://sportingclassicsdaily.com/the-craftsmanship-of-legacy-forge-and-millwork-doors/

[19] Kristen Jarvie Clark. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/kristen.j.clark. Accessed May 31, 2021.

[20] Kristen Jarvie Clark. Facebook. December 31, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/kristen.j.clark/posts/10221672041443766 .

[21] Associated Press. “Farmers with ties to Ammon Bundy buy land, make camp by shut Klamath irrigation canal.” The Register-Guard. May 26, 2021. https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/2021/05/26/farmers-buy-land-make-camp-shut-klamath-oregon-irrigation-canal-ammon-bundy/7457817002/ .

[22] Ibid.

[23] Dillemuth, Holly. “Irrigators say the play to force open Klamath headgates and release water.” OPB. June 2, 2021. https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/02/irrigators-say-they-plan-to-force-open-klamath-headgates-and-release-water/ .

[24] Baker, Mike. “Amid Historic Drought, a New Water War in the West.” New York Times. June 1, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/01/us/klamath-oregon-water-drought-bundy.html.

[25] Dillemuth, Holly. “Protestors threaten to breach Klamath headgates.” Capital Press. June 4, 2021. https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/water/protestors-threaten-to-breach-klamath-headgates/article_8f265616-c57b-11eb-9b73-fba2aaecdcf2.html

[26] Dillemuth, Holly. “Ammon Bundy speaks at private dinner in Klamath Falls.” Herald and News. August 28, 2020. https://www.heraldandnews.com/klamath/ammon-bundy-to-speak-at-private-dinner-saturday-in-klamath-falls/article_ffee0760-a185-53f5-8258-056bf167982f.html

[27] Nielson, Dan. Facebook. August 31, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/dan.nielsen.5201/posts/3531217130244636

[28] O’Brien, Gerry. “State clears two attorneys for KID of misconduct. Herald and News.” June 22, 2018. https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/agriculture/state-clears-two-attorneys-for-kid-of-misconduct/article_8f299717-8cb6-5fb6-bd47-8b069efabd88.html

[29] Letter From Lawrence Kogan of the Kogan Law Group P.C. to Mr. Edward Sheets of Ed Sheets Consulting. April 4, 2016.

[30] Jarrell, Lacey. “KID recall petitions filed.” Herald and News. August 24, 2016. https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/kid-recall-petitions-filed/article_c8208be4-b11f-55bf-9461-a115ce6e7e31.html; Jarrell, Lacey. KID may have violated open meeting laws. Herald and News. April 27, 2016. https://www.heraldandnews.com/news/local_news/kid-may-have-violated-open-meeting-laws/article_6cfc78da-c379-513c-ac15-7fffbc9be3e4.html; H & N reports. “KID’s Grant Knoll survives recall bid.” Herald and News. November 7, 2016. https://www.heraldandnews.com/breaking/kids-grant-knoll-survives-recall-bid/article_555df426-a56d-11e6-b1ea-f76485dbcd41.html.

[31] Bob Keenan et al v. Norman C. Bay et al. United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Complaint for Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction and Declaratory Relief.  Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-01440. The Kogan Law Group. https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/20-dct-order-denying-tro.pdf. Kogan’s brief had contained the following passage: “Whether or not it can be confirmed that it is the Turkish Government’s ambition to acquire raw nuclear materials that can later be refined for military purposes from Indian reservation lands, including from the Flathead Indian Reservation, it remains plausible that members of Turkish enterprises interested in and/or currently doing business with the CSKT on the Flathead Indian Reservation could have affiliations with terrorist organizations the Turkish Government has harbored (e.g., Muslim Brotherhood) or have employees bearing such affiliations that have their own bold agendas. And, given the CSKT’s technical capabilities and apparent gullibility/naivety, the CSKT, tribal members, Plaintiffs and similarly situated persons, may be at peril.”

[32] Judge Rudolph Contreras wrote, that “In their Motion, Plaintiffs make general claims of economic harm they will allegedly suffer should CSKT and EKI [Energy Keepers Inc.] take control of the Kerr dam. Additionally, Plaintiffs make general allegations regarding the natural security importance of the Kerr Project, as well as somewhat perplexing arguments regarding the Turkish Government’s involvement with Native Americans. However, to the extent such injuries are cognizable, nowhere are those allegations substantiated in the record. Indeed, at hearing, counsel for Plaintiffs conceded that no such evidence has been submitted relating to the Plaintiffs’ alleged economic harm. Accordingly, Plaintiffs have failed to meet their burden here.” (see Bob Keenan et al v. Norman C. Bay et al. United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Order.  Civil Action No. 1:15-cv-01440. https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/20-dct-order-denying-tro.pdf.)

[33] Wilson, Samuel. “Alliance cites fears of federal tribal policy.” Daily Inter Lake. September 27, 2015. https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2015/sep/27/alliance-cites-fears-of-federal-tribal-policy-6/