Under a reappraisal ordered by Congress, lands belonging to the Klamath Indian Tribe of Oregon have now been appraised as having a realization value of $90, 791,123, the Department of the Interior announced today.
The new appraisal total figures out to about $44,000 for each of the 1,659 withdrawing tribal members, and also includes realization values of land that will be administered for the non-withdrawing members.
In a congressional enactment of last August, which required the reappraisal, the “realization value" of the tribal property was defined as "the fair market value of the forest and marshlands as if they had been offered for sale on a competitive market without limitation on use during the interval between the adjournment of the 85th Congress" and the final date for termination of Federal trusteeship of the Klamath properties, which is August 13, 1961.
The $90,791,123 figure was arrived at by adding to the realization values of the forest and marshlands the appraised values of grazing and farm units and other miscellaneous parcels.
In February 1958, the properties of the tribe, including cash assets, were appraised at $119,758 ,029. Since then, however, cash distributions have been made which amount to more than $1,000 for each tribal member.
Under terms of the law the review was made by three appraisal firms. They are Hammon, Jensen and Wallen, Oakland, California; Bigley and Feiss, Eugene, Oregon, and Marshall and Stevens, Los Angeles, California. The new figure is an average of their computations.
Since the original appraisal and the recomputation, timber market prices for ponderosa pine dropped about 15 percent. That contributed to the decrease in appraised value. Moreover, all three firms participating in the reappraisal had lower final totals than the original estimate by Western Timber Services, Arcata, California.
Another factor in the appraisal decrease was the fact that cash distributions had cut into the tribe’s cash assets since the original appraisal.
The appraisal covered 694,000 acres of forest land, 128,000 acres of open range, 23,421 acres of marsh, 1,245 acres of farmland and 14,524 acres of other miscellaneous types.
