Tribal commission hopes to add land to reservation Passamaquoddys considering business ventures

INDIAN TOWNSHIP – The Passamaquoddy Tribe will have to jump through a number of hoops before a 6,000-acre parcel in Grand Lake Stream Plantation, purchased more than 10 years ago, can be designated as reservation land.

If the land becomes part of the reservation, it would be eligible for federal funds for reforestation and the tribe could extend its jurisdiction over the property, including the use of tribal wardens to police the area.

A public hearing is scheduled tentatively for Dec. 6 in Grand Lake Stream.

The matter was discussed Friday during a meeting of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. Although members of MITSC questioned tribal state Rep. Donald Soctomah, it was members of a visiting eighth-grade class from the Indian Township Elementary School who asked some of the more pointed questions.

MITSC was formed after the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and is a hybrid tribal-state entity charged with the task of reviewing the effectiveness of the settlement act.

As a result of the settlement act, the tribe was allowed to purchase 150,000 acres within the state. Although the tribe preferred to purchase land near its reservations at Indian Township and Pleasant Point, little land was available in Washington County.

In 1988, when the 6,200-acre Webber lot became available, the tribe bought it. The land is located east of the Musquash Stream on the south side of the Talmadge town line, and north of the Grand Lake Stream Road. It is bounded on the west by the Indian Township Reservation.

The tribe now pays $8,000 in yearly taxes to Grand Lake Stream. Soctomah said the tribe would be willing to pay money in lieu of taxes, but he said no figure had been established. The land would become part of the Indian Township Reservation.

Soctomah said he had introduced legislation on the issue, but the Legislature decided not to take the matter up in January. He said he planned to appeal that decision before the legislative executive council.

The bill would allow the tribe to make the change only if the voters of Grand Lake Stream agreed.

“It is going to be a public hearing; it will be informational, hopefully it will be a voting night,” Grand Lake Stream Third Selectman Kurt Cressey said. “What we have to do is make sure that the information is completely out there and there’s no hidden agendas, which I don’t think there is, and let the people of Grand Lake decide.”

Soctomah said he also supported legislation introduced by Rep. John Morrison, R-Baileyville, to extend the tribe’s right to purchase 100 acres in Calais and designate it as tribal land. He said the tribe was looking at several business ventures.

“The bill was previously introduced and had a seven-year limitation on it, and that period expired last year. All this new legislation would do is extend that date … until 2020,” Soctomah explained.

Dan Dana, 13, asked the tribal leaders if they would consider placing a high school for American Indian students on a part of the 100 acres. He suggested that students from Pleasant Point and Indian Township as well as Canadian Passamaquoddy could attend the school.

Chairman Cushman Anthony agreed that was an excellent idea, but he said the issue needed to be addressed by the Passamaquoddy Joint Tribal Council, not MITSC.

At one time, the tribe planned to build a casino on 100 acres in Calais, but those plans were dashed by the Legislature and Gov. Angus King. Since then, the idea has languished.

Asked if the tribe might renew plans to build a casino in Calais, Soctomah and Pleasant Point Gov. Rick Doyle declined to comment on that issue during a break in the meeting.

Soctomah would say only that the tribe was looking at several business ventures.

“I guess at this point that’s all they are. We don’t have any concrete plans or anything,” Doyle added.