Missoulian: Tester, senators told road funding system on Indian reservations 'broken'
POLSON – Almost three-quarters of the roads on American Indian reservations are unpaved, yet too much of the federal money meant to rectify that goes to states and urban tribes that don’t need it, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester was told repeatedly Friday.
Tester, a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, took testimony on the issue at a field hearing at KwaTaqNuk Resort – the first time a U.S. senator has convened a committee hearing on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
The first of two panels to testify included some heavy hitters from Washington, D.C., including Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk, and Michael Black, the director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
But it was the second panel, of Montana and Wyoming tribal leaders critical of the current system, which was most interesting.
The Rocky Mountain region, with the largest land-based tribes and most miles of roadways, has actually lost money under the system, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Chairman E.T. “Bud” Moran charged.
