Wetlands, graves concern tribes

Corps continues to accept comments

The state’s desire to finish the South Lawrence Trafficway through the Baker Wetlands is running up against opposition from American Indian tribes, but government officials are confident they can clear the hurdles.

For the project’s draft environmental impact statement, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sought input from 573 American Indian tribes in the United States, including 29 with historical or existing ties to Kansas.

Kimberly Henderson and her fellow consultants equipped themselves with ground-penetrating radar and searched the Baker Wetlands for evidence of unmarked American Indian graves in April, but turned up none. The consultants, working for Denver-based Geophysical Investigations Inc., came to town in April upon request from the Kansas Department of Transportation, which paid 2,000 for their services. American Indian tribes have indicated that they are concerned about the possible presence of graves in the wetlands, attributed to the early days of Haskell Institute, now haskell Indian Nations University.

The written responses nearly 100, including nine from tribes with close connections to the state revealed the following results, according to the corps’ document:

35 tribes said they were concerned about unmarked American Indian graves in the wetlands.

34 said no construction should occur on property owned by Haskell Indian Nations University or Baker University.

32 support listing Haskell and the wetlands as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places.

32 signed a form letter objecting to completion of the trafficway.

10 said they found there would be no impact apparent.

Interpreting responses

The conclusions mean different things to different people. Mike Rees, chief counsel for the Kansas Department of Transportation, took the responses as general support for the department’s position that building on a 32nd Street alignment would be the best choice.

KDOT’s choice would remove a section of 31st Street from the southern edge of Haskell’s campus, he said. Going with the corps’ other “preferred” alignment along 42nd Street, running south of the Wakarusa River would not include the removal and relocation of 31st Street to off-campus property.

“You get the feeling they can see the benefit: 31st Street isn’t going to be vacated if the trafficway isn’t on 32nd Street,” Rees said. “But because of the politics, they can’t come out and support it.”

For the tribes, Rees said, supporting the 42nd Street route “would be like stabbing your feet. Why would you do it? Then you don’t get 31st Street removed. You get everything you don’t want.

“This is the only case where the potential exists for everybody to lose. And I think Haskell would be the big loser in those circumstances.”

Rees said concerns about unmarked graves would be addressed through established procedures. If a grave were discovered before or during construction, a panel that includes members of four American Indian tribes would be called in to oversee the proper relocation of the remains.

Another perspective

But Anna Wilson, a Haskell graduate and spokeswoman for the Wetlands Preservation Organization, said doing nothing with the unfinished trafficway would be better than driving a highway through the wetlands and subjecting any burial sites to potential disturbance.

Besides, she said, the corps’ letter focused on asking tribes to comment on the prospects for designating Haskell and the wetlands as a historic district.

The overall project was not the focus, Wilson said, and therefore the tribes’ comments were not as directed toward particular routes.

“Those comments are not complete,” she said. “We’re going to have to take a look at that. Most tribes said they didn’t want a road through the wetlands at all, and wanted the area designated as a historic landmark.”

The corps agreed to seek tribal comments to comply with rules associated with environmental justice. The consultations with tribes closely associated with Kansas were considered to be conducted on a government-to-government basis, and therefore carrying more weight than comments from other tribes.

Consultations will continue until the final environmental impact statement is completed, said Robert Smith, the corps’ trafficway project manager.