536 Coeur d'Alene Duck Valley See Nevada Electricity. Washington Power Company provides electricity. Water Supply. Solid waste is collected by private contractors and transported to county landfills. The tribe is currently expanding landfill capacity on the reservation. Transportation. The tribe's Transportation Plan 2003 addresses the motorized and non-motorized transportation issues of the tribe now and over the next 20 years. The tribe has identified the need for a public transit system on the reservation, a transit system for disabled tribal members, ferry transportation, and an airport. The tribe is developing a ferry project that would provide east/ west access to the eastern half of the reservation and Lake Coeur d'Alene. It is also developing plans for an airport near the Coeur d'Alene Casino and Resort. Furthermore, the tribe is in the process of developing the North U.S. 95 Casino Resort Corridor in collaboration with the cities of Worley and Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County, and local businesses and residents. The corridor extends over five miles from Worley into the reservation The nearest commercial airline service is in Spokane, 40 miles west. Commercial train and bus lines serve the city of Coeur d'Alene, about 25 miles from the reservation. Commercial truck lines serve the reservation directly. The tribe provides bus services for the tribal school. COMMUNITY FACILITIES AND SERVICES A wellness center provides community members with programs concerning wellness, recreation, fitness, pregnancy, child rearing, infant care, and general nutrition. The Youth Crisis Center is an emergency shelter available for tribal youth experiencing violent or potentially violent relationships in the home. There are also public libraries in Worley, DeSmet, and Plummer. The tribe operates a community center in DeSmet. The tribe sponsors an annual lottery for hunting moose on the reservation and in the ceded areas. The lottery is open to tribal members 14 years and older. Public Safety. The reservation is serviced by volunteer fire departments from Worley, Plummer, Sorento, or Tensed. Education. The tribal school system includes a Head Start program, a K-8 tribal school located in DeSmet, the Circling Raven Vo-Tech Program for adults, and a bachelor's degree program offered through Circling Raven and Lewis and Clark College.Tribal youth may attend the tribal school, public elementary and secondary schools, or a Christian academy located on the reservation. A new tribal school is currently under construction. The tribe offers instructional classes in the Schitsu'umsh language. Health Care. The tribe operates the Benewah Medical Center in Plummer, Idaho. The center offers outpatient services, an in-house pharmacy, a laboratory, X-ray facilities, dental services, mental health programs, and community health outreach services for Native and non-Native community members. Programs of the center include various fitness and exercise classes, sports teams, alcohol recovery programs, and swimming classes. The center has been nationally awarded and recognized as a national model for Indian health care and rural health care. A contract health service provides ambulatory health care and hospital services. Additional medical facilities are available in Spokane, Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS The Coeur d'Alene Basin Restoration Project springs from the largest natural resource damage lawsuit in American history. Over a 100-year period, the mining industry in Idaho's Silver Valley dumped 72million tons of minewaste into theCoeur d'Alene watershed. As mining and smelting operations grew, they produced billions of dollars in silver, lead, and zinc. In the process, natural life in the Coeur d'Alene River was wiped out. Today, the Silver Valley is the nation's second-largest Superfund site. The natural resource damages, however, extend upstream and far downstream from the 21-square mile "box" that is now under Superfund. The Superfund cleanup is expected to cost $200 million. The tribe's natural resource damage assessment for the river, its tributaries, the lateral lakes, and Lake Coeur d'Alene totals over $1 billion. The tribe, working with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Geological Survey, has taken the leading role in cleanup efforts and the leading role toward responsible stewardship of the basin. The tribe took its case to court not only with a plea for environmental stewardship, but also with detailed and peer-reviewed science. The issue has become the Interior Department's number one priority for cleanup. The Justice Department followed the tribe's lead, and the United States government filed suit against the mines and Union Pacific Railroad in the spring of 1996, echoing almost verbatim the tribe's 1991 lawsuit. Union Pacific has since settled. As the tribe works to create a basin cleanup, it also works to resolve ownership of Lake Coeur d'Alene. A lawsuit filed in October 1991 against the State of Idaho would enable the tribe to take the state into court and eventually prevent the state from interfering with tribal jurisdiction over Lake Coeur d'Alene, which is the heart of the tribe's homeland and reservation. The tribe's quest to resolve ownership was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the tribe has always been the owner of the lower one-third of Lake Coeur d'Alene and other related waters. Natural Resources. The tribe's natural resources department serves to enhance the quality of life for tribal members, to foster the development of social and economic benefits for the tribe, to protect and preserve natural resources on tribal lands, and to restore natural resources within the historical and traditional lands of the tribe. The department manages the forest management plan and lake management plan and is in the process of developing an environmental action plan. it is also creating a plan for the implementation of the tribe's comprehensive environmental statute. The tribe is also a member of the Panhandle Lakes Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D)Area. AUSDA project, the RC&D program facilitates community involvement in resolving environmental and economic problems. To date, over 300 projects have been completed in the area, with the emphasis shifting from traditional conservation practices to extensive involvement in rural economic development. In addition, the tribal council enacted an Interim Land Use Ordinance in 1988 that enables the tribe to review and regulate development and land uses that threaten or result in significant social, environmental, or economic impact on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. The establishment of water quality standards protects the tribe's rights to water sources located on or bounded by the reservation.
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