Oct. 27, 1996

MIAMI -- The Miccosukee Indians will be allowed to build 30
houses in the Everglades preserve under an agreement signed
Saturday, but the tribe said it wants to build more houses in the
delicate ecosystem.

The agreement, signed by Chief Billy Cypress and Interior
Secretary Bruce Babbitt, is a milestone in the two-year court
battle between the tiny Florida tribe and the National Park
Service.

The deal will allow the tribe to build 30 concrete houses in the
heart of the Everglades. The tribe said current housing is
inadequate and some tribe members have been forced into
trailers.

Five trailers, used for storage space, have become the
"slum-area" of the reservation, Cypress said.

Although the deal gives the go-ahead for 30 houses, the tribe is
still fighting to build an additional 35.

The National Park Service contends that additional structures in
the park may jeopardize the fragile ecosystem, home to
threatened plants and animals.

"We've agreed to disagree and keep moving," Cypress said at
the agreement signing ceremony in Miami on Saturday. "This is a
new peace process."

The tribe, which never surrendered in the Seminole wars with
the Army, has only about 700 members left and claimed it was
being forced toward extinction by not being able to build more
homes.

Babbitt interceded in the dispute when he met with Cypress
about two weeks ago at a national Indian gathering in Colorado.

"This tribe has the longest and richest history of all of Florida's
inhabitants," Babbitt said at the signing. "This deal will allow the
Miccosukees to get on with their immediate needs."

Babbitt said the Clinton administration is committed to
prioritizing the housing needs of American Indians. He said the
Department of Housing and Urban Development is working on
ways to boost housing finances and options.

"We believe that Indian housing should get the same priority as
all the other urgent housing needs," Babbitt said.

Construction is set to begin in the next two months. The
concrete dwellings will be situated on a 20-mile dirt road that
forms a loop around a portion of the Everglades and is home to
basking alligators and long-legged birds.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the Miccosukee and the Park Service
continue to debate whether the additional 35 houses will upset
the balance in what has become known as the River of Grass.

"We know that we have a responsibility in protecting the
Everglades," Cypress said. "And I am confident that we will be
able to prove that and win the right to build additional houses in
the preserve."

© 1996 News-Journal Corp.
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