STANDINGROCKSIOUXRESERVATION - When Tony Moran grew up in the Trenton area, people lived in houses made of the wood from railroad tracks and hauled lake water home in barrels.

Moran is trying to win what is now the Trenton Indian Service Area promises the federal government made to American Indians 105 years ago.

Moran, a co-founder of TISA, wants the Chippewa in his area to be recognized as their own entity on the Bureau of Indian Affair's national list of tribes.

The residents of TISA are Turtle Mountain Chippewa who moved to homesteads 250 miles off the Turtle Mountain reservation in the early 1900s. They did so with the understanding they were ensured the same federally funded services given to those on reservations as stated in a 1904 congressional act.

More than a century later, TISA doesn't have services equal to those provided on reservations.

Moran presented a resolution to the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association on Monday that asked its endorsement of TISA's movement to get on the BIA list. Recognition on the list would grant TISA more services.

The issue moved no further Monday than when Moran presented the same resolution in 2007. The association ruled two years ago that it would support TISA's movement only if Turtle Mountain approved.

Turtle Mountain Tribal Chairman Richard Marcellais said TISA's autonomy cannot be determined by Turtle Mountain, but is up to Congress.

Marcellais said he hadn't heard of the 2007 resolution until Monday's meeting of tribal chairs, but he has met with TISA four times since taking office in December.

Congress established TISA in the 1970s, and local leaders organized some service contracts directly with the area BIA office. In the early 1990s, Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation ruled that TISA's contracts must flow through the reservation.

"That's when everything started going to heck," Moran said. "It was not accepted by the local population. They didn't have a say in it."

Today, TISA has five BIA-funded services. Turtle Mountain has about 65.

With comparatively little coming down the pipeline to TISA, Chippewa there fundraise with bake sales and raffle tickets to support their fire trucks and sewer system.

TISA's issue with Turtle Mountain expands beyond funding to civil rights.

The TISA board and its chairman at the association were suspended by Turtle Mountain in 2008. A new administration at the reservation reinstated the board and chairman in February.

TISA residents have no representation in Turtle Mountain government and cannot vote in its elections. Even if they could vote, said administrative council for TISA Karla Hauk, it could be difficult for elected officials on the reservation to understand TISA's needs.

"I think the distance is too great for meaningful dialogue," she told a group of chairmen who met with TISA representatives after the meeting.

The group was organizing a delegation of tribal chairmen to visit both Turtle Mountain and TISA later this summer to better understand the matter.

TISA Chairman Walt Moran said he didn't move to overturn the 2007 resolution because he didn't think the association would have gone through with it. He prefers to try to win Turtle Mountain's support with the delegation's trips.

TISA is seeking the consensus of the tribal chairs to demonstrate area support to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who told Tony Moran that he would like the issue settled once and for all.

(Reach reporter Rachel Albin at 250-8250 or rachel.albin@;bismarcktribune.com.)