COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) – Some descendants of the Chetco and Tututni Indians in Oregon want Congress to restore what they say is the state's 10th Indian tribe.

They've formed a coalition, the Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue, and if they succeed it would be the first restoration in Oregon since the Coquilles regained their status in 1989.

The effort could reshuffle tens of millions of dollars that flow into Oregon through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

That would siphon funds from other federally recognized tribes in Oregon, and one powerful group of Indians in particular: the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, which owns and operates the Chinook Winds Indian Casino. Siletz represents close to 5,000 members culled from 29 tribes and bands.

Siletz's leadership opposes federal recognition for the group and said so in a letter sent last week to U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat.

Siletz chairwoman Delores Pigsley said the Chetco and Tututni Indians are part of the Siletz. Both were among dozens of tribes marched to a reservation in Lincoln County at gunpoint after the Rogue River Wars in the mid-1800s, forced to set aside their individual heritages and form one new tribe under the name Siletz.

Pigsley said there is no longer a separate Chetco or Tututni Indian tribes and there never was a Lower Rogue tribe.

But coalition chief Donny Fry said he and his brother Larry applied to join Siletz decades ago, but were told they didn't qualify because they don't have relatives who live on the tribe's 3,600-acre reservation.

The brothers say they don't want to be a part of the Siletz tribe now, partly because members who want benefits such as health care must live in the tribe's 11-county service area, which does not include Coos or Curry counties, where most of about 200 unrecognized descendants live.

The Frys and other Rogue members have no connection to Lincoln County. Their male ancestors hid along the river, or pretended they weren't Indian. Women married whites, which allowed them to escape the march along Oregon's so-called “Trail of Tears.”

The Fry brothers want a separated federal designation and the clout that has in dealing with state and federal agencies to preserve artifacts. They want to establish a clinic on the south coast and funding to preserve their heritage and language.

The brothers amassed some key allies in years of campaigning for recognition. They're leaning on DeFazio, who sent a letter to BIA regional director Amy Dutschke this month asking her to help set up a meeting between the Rogue tribe and the Siletz.

“There's no question here that this group of people needs services,” DeFazio spokeswoman Jen Gilbreath said. “The status quo isn't acceptable, and we are trying to find a way to get them services.”

Pigsley told The Register-Guard the recognition would dishonor the Siletz's treaty with the federal government for the Lower Rogue to form their own tribe. She said her objection is not about money.

In her letter to DeFazio, however, Pigsley said recognition would threaten the Siletz.

“Such access would only take services and benefits away from members of recognized tribes,” Pigsley wrote. “We all know that funding and services for recognized Indian tribes is woefully inadequate and a violation of treaties signed by many Indian tribes, and it would be a further offense against Indian tribes and people to further diminish the limited funding and resources that are already provided.”

The Fry brothers say the opposition is understandable. The Siletz tribe has less than 5,000 members, and it's estimated that about 3,500 of them are of Chetco and Tututni heritage. Federal recognition for the Lower Rogue might mean some of those members defect south, weakening the Siletz influence and potentially affecting its federal funding.

Pigsley told the Register-Guard that she herself is descended from American Indians that lived on the Rogue River. But she said it doesn't make sense to split the tribes up again.

The Lower Rogue coalition said it wants its own autonomy to cater to its own people, and it has no intention of backing down.

“They think we'll go away,” Larry Fry said of the Siletz. “That will never happen. We're just as hard-headed as they are.”

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Information from: The Register-Guard,
http://www.registerguard.com