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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Tribes win key ruling; others will have to pay 8/23/07 • Tribes win federal suit against state over salmon 8/22/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, October 22, 2006 Facts about Indian law Indian Treaties: The federal government began signing treaties with Indian tribes in the 1770s. It stopped after the Indian Appropriations Act in 1871, when federal lawmakers ended the right of the president and the Senate to negotiate directly with tribes. Treaty Interpretation: Today, vague or ambiguous language in historic Indian treaties is required by law to be interpreted as the tribes would have understood them when they were negotiated. U.S. Supreme Court cases: The nation's highest court first ruled on Indian law in 1831, when the Cherokee Nation sued Georgia to stop the state from enforcing its laws on Cherokee land. Georgia won. Since then, the court has heard hundreds of Indian law cases. The Boldt Decision Dispute: Many western Washington Indian tribes were guaranteed the right to fish at "usual and accustomed grounds" through the treaties they signed with state Gov. Isaac Stevens between 1854 and 1856. Later the state Legislature banned weirs and fish traps used by Indians to catch fish. By the 1960s, Indians were routinely fined and arrested for using the banned gear or fishing out of season. Tribal members began conducting "fish-ins" - protests in which they blatantly fished in areas ruled illegal by the state, but guaranteed to them through the Treaty of Point Elliott. Decision: In 1970, 14 different Indian tribes, including the Tulalips, sued Washington state for the right to fish in their "usual and accustomed" places. In 1974, Judge George Boldt, a U.S. District Court judge for Western Washington, ruled that the tribes had a right to 50 percent of the fish harvest in Western Washington. What it meant: For Indian tribes, the decision was a cultural and economic victory. Profits from their catch were the basis of their current-day infrastructure and businesses. Today: Washington state and the tribes have continued to file "sub-proceedings" in the case to clarify Boldt's decision. In 1980, in a decision commonly known as "Boldt II," a federal district court judge ruled that the state must take "reasonable steps" to protect fish habitat. That ruling was rejected by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A group of Western Washington tribes have filed a "Habitat Claim," which argues that they have a right to an environment that will support their hunting and gathering rights under the Treaty of Point Elliott.

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