CSKT extends shelter in place order
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FLATHEAD RESERVATION – When Governor Bullock announced that areas around the state could begin opening businesses and relaxing restrictions, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes extended the shelter-in-place order.
According to the order, Flathead Reservation residents should leave their homes only for essential business. Tribal employees doing non-essential work are working from home, and tribal lands are closed to recreation for those who aren’t tribal members or residents of the reservation.
Tribal Chairwoman Shelly Fyant said tribal leadership took many factors into account when deciding to extend restrictions. “We’re thinking first and foremost about the public health and safety of all reservation residents,” Fyant said. “Whatever we can do to protect people is what we aim to do.”
Fyant said a large percentage of the residents of the reservation are vulnerable to the virus, which means, that if infected, their outcomes would be worse. Factors that make people more vulnerable to serious infection are older age or having a preexisting condition like diabetes, a respiratory condition or an autoimmune deficiency.
Fyant said the tribal community is particularly dedicated to preventing the spread of the virus because elders are valuable to the community and hold irreplaceable cultural knowledge. “We are concerned about our elders and those keepers of culture, whether it’s language, traditions or lifeways,” she said.
Fyant said residents are making sacrifices to prevent the spread of the illness: summer celebrations have been cancelled for the first time in years and people are missing family members. “Those are sacrifices we just know we have to make at this time,” Fyant said. “It’s about sustaining our future generations.”
She stressed that it’s important for people to recognize that staying home is inconvenient but it’s not the end of the world. Most people have their basic needs for food, shelter and clean water met while staying at home. “It’s a very small sacrifice compared to what our elders have gone through,” Fyant said.
CSKT is offering a number of economic relief programs for tribal members who are struggling to meet their basic needs due to economic losses related to the pandemic. The tribes’ housing authority is partnering with the CSKT Department of Human Resources to provide hotel vouchers for those who are homeless so that they can shelter in place.
The Salish Kootenai Housing Authority will also help tribal members pay for their housing if their income was affected by COVID-19. SKHA customers won’t be penalized for late payments or shut off water if customers do not pay. More information on SKHA programs can be found at skha.org.
Eagle Bank will give 90-day payment forbearances for customers who have been economically impacted by COVID-19. During the pandemic, Mission Valley Power is not disconnecting power or charging late fees because of failure to pay. Tribal Credit is providing short-term loans that will not include financing fees to those impacted by the pandemic. For more information on Tribal Credit’s programs, call 406-275-2727 or email Credit@cskt.org.
“If we can take off the stress of paying the rent or mortgage or choosing between groceries and the light bill, we want to minimize those hardships for our members,” Fyant said.
The tribe is also restricting recreation on tribal lands. Only tribal members or non-tribal residents who purchase tribal recreation permits are allowed to recreate on tribal land at this time. When the shelter-in-place order went into effect around the state, Fyant said the tribe saw an influx of out-of-state vehicles on tribal lands, which put local people at risk. “Our local reservation residents need to go unwind and recreate, so we want to reserve that for our residents,” she said.
In the near future, CSKT will station monitors at the entrances to popular recreation areas on tribal land to make sure only properly permitted locals and tribal members are using them. The tribe continues to encourage those who must leave their homes to wear masks and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the virus.
