Tribal Fishing & Hunting Rights
For this week's Tribal Perspective we will focus on the fishing and hunting rights of tribal people as set forth in treaties conducted between tribes and the U.S. government in the mid-1800s.
The controversial court case United States v. Washington, 1974 (better known as the Boldt Decision), affirmed the rights of Indian tribes in Washington state to continue harvesting salmon "at all usual and accustomed grounds." In this landmark case, Judge Boldt critically examined the minutes of treaty negotiations and determined that the United States intended an equal sharing of fish resources between the Tribes and the settlers.
In the following clips you will hear tribal members from the Puyllup, Chinook, Kootenai, and Wasco tribes discuss personal experiences and historical incidents that underscore the importance of treaties, which guaranteed tribal rights to hunt and fish "usual and accustomed places" that included off-reservation areas..
Tony Johnson - Chinook
Kootenai Hunting Rights
- 02 min 26 sec
Vernon Finley - Kootenai
Language Instructor, Salish Kootenai College
Reading Materials:
Explore the full text of The Boldt Decision (pdf file):
http://www.nwifc.org/aboutus/documents/BoldtDecision8.5x11layoutforweb.pdf
Monte Beck, "State v. Stasso: Off-Reservation Hunting Rights," Montana Law Review, Vol 39, No. 2, (Summer 1978), pp. 323-330. Article courtesy of HeinOnline.org, accessed 2/6/08.
MBeck State v Stasso
Jovana J. Brown, "Treaty Rights: Twenty Years after the Boldt Decision," Wicazo Sa Review, Vol 10, No 2 (Autumn 1994) pp. 1-16.
Treaty Rights: Twenty Years after the Boldt Decision
Link to article courtesy of HistoryLink.org, "Federal Judge George Boldt issues historic ruling affirming Native American treaty fishing rights on February 12, 1974": http://historyink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5282
HistoryLink.org is the Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
Link to Seattle Times article by Alex Tizon, "25 years after the Boldt Decision: The fish tale that changed history." 2/7/99 (accessed 2/8/2008)
http://kohary.com/env/bill_020799.html
Link to Seattle Times article, "After 153 Years, Treaty Tree lost to storm"
http://www.washingtonhistoryonline.org/treatytrail/treaties/pdf/treaty-tree-seattle-times.pdf
Additional Resources regarding Peacock Spit:
For a brief historical account of fishing at Peacock Spit, please visit the following link, courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society:
http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=DC05D464-F266-BC4A-FB8434B840643B49
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) website provides a valuable chronology of treaty fishing on the Columbia River, as well as links to the full text of treaties with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, Umatilla, Yakama, Nez Perce, and the Middle Oregon tribes: http://www.critfc.org/text/timeline.html
Other General Resources:
Northwest Intertribal Court System, Lynwood WA: http://www.nics.ws/index.html
The Northwest Intertribal Court System (NICS), organized in 1979 as a result of the US v. Washington fishing case (commonly known as "the Boldt decision"), is a federally-funded, non-profit organization incorporated under Washington state law. This consortium consists of several small Western Washington Indian tribes and is headquartered in Lynnwood, Washington.
The following link takes you to an article posted by the Tolerance.Org website, founded by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 1991. This article pertains to Nisqually fishing rights, and is supplemented with classroom discussion ideas and writing assignments. In addition, this website provides a variety of educational kits and a free subscription to their magazine:
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?ar=747