Western fires threaten parched American Indian tribal lands

BLY, Ore. (AP) — American Indian tribal lands are being threatened by fierce wildfires as they burn homes and forest lands across the Northwest. National Interagency Fire Center data shows that Blazes in Oregon and Washington are among some 60 large, active wildfires that have destroyed close to a million acres of land, mostly in the West. In north-central Washington, hundreds of people in the town of Nespelem on the Colville Indian Agency were ordered to leave because of lightning fires. In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire was threatening some 2,000 homes. A leader of the Klamath Tribes says the fire caused extensive damage to a forest where the tribe has treaty rights.