BLACKFEET LEASE POLICY LOSES $45,849,000 TO WHITE RANCHERS

The history of Blackfeet economic development shows the 1893 Blackfeet cattle industry is the only successful enterprise creating 500 tribal brands [citizenship of cattle] 25,000 cattle, improving cattle ranches with fencing, homes, barns, and selling beef to the agency, shipping steers to Chicago, watering hay meadows with ditches from reservation streams to produce hay for winter feed and cash for all needful things. In the 1896 Agreement/Article Five white ranchers were banished from the reservation and Blackfeet cattle ranchers were awarded a treaty right for "exclusive use and occupancy of reserved grazing lands" [citizenship of cattle] and the United States pledged the continued support of the self-reliant Blackfeet cattle industry. Blackfeet Chiefs called cattle the "new buffalo" meaning cattle ranching was the new staff of life of the Blackfeet people. For 80 years we have suffered a tribal council regime that is despotic, corrupt, stingy, arbitrary, that destroyed the successful cattle industry and began the corrupt leasing policy we have today. The Blackfeet Constitution "Preference Policy" is the clause elected tribal council members use to lease tribal lands to themselves and sub-lease to white ranchers leaving out Blackfeet ranchers. Blackfeet cattle ranchers do not have equality in leasing tribal grazing lands for their cattle operations, but must instead compete with third-party Blackfeet leasers who sub-lease to white ranchers and they profit from tribal and allotted lands instead of Blackfeet landowners and cattle ranchers. The current leasing system leaves Blackfeet landowners and Blackfeet ranchers out of the reservation economy. White ranchers are a security threat to the wellbeing of the Blackfeet people draining millions of dollars that ought to go to Blackfeet landowners and Blackfeet ranchers. The cost of leasing and sub-leasing to white ranchers is $12 million for the Blackfeet and $45 million for the white ranchers. The tribal council leasing policy and BIA leasing policy are threats to the well being of the Blackfeet people who live in third-world poverty on their own reservation. That is why we need Blackfeet landowners association and Blackfeet cattle ranchers association to elect our own people to the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council and to make the right decisions for our own good not the white man and tribal council. It is the only way to band together and fight back against the corrupt tribal council and BIA who are robbing us of our land and lease income-our only possession. I have all of the research we need to force a change in the lease  policy but who will help us? We need ranchers and landowners to band together to change the lease policy as per the 1896 Agreement banishing white cattle from the reservation on the orders of Chief White Calf. The tribal council and BIA have violated our treaty.
Bob Juneau Sr. Please call me to begin the process of organizing ourselves. (406) 493-0894