https://www.oklahoman.com/stor...-may-sue/6596280001/



Gov. Stitt says Oklahoma owed millions after Cherokee, Choctaw hunting compacts expire


Molly Young
Oklahoman



A dispute over hunting and fishing compacts between the state of Oklahoma and its two largest tribes is intensifying three weeks after the agreements expired.

Gov. Kevin Stitt says the state lost out on $16.7 million in federal funding and $810,000 in direct payments that it should have received after signing compacts with the Cherokee and Choctaw nations.

But Cherokee officials say needless state rules prevented the tribe from meeting a key term of its compact — that it buy 150,000 state hunting licenses every year. The bulk sales helped Oklahoma land more federal funding.

The compacts expired Dec. 31. Days later, Stitt wrote to Cherokee Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Choctaw Chief Gary Batton to launch a dispute resolution process spelled out in the agreements.


If state and tribal leaders can’t reach a resolution within a 30-day negotiation window, Oklahoma may sue the tribes in federal court, Stitt wrote in separate letters to Hoskin and Batton, first reported by online news outlet NonDoc.

“The hope is that, by negotiating in good faith and ultimately remitting payments owed to all Oklahomans, the Choctaw Nation lives up to your recent statement that you signed the compact to benefit all Oklahoma citizens,” Stitt wrote Jan. 5 to Batton.

In his letters, Stitt invited Batton and Hoskin to meet in person. Neither Batton nor Hoskin has responded, the governor's office said.

Friction has continued to build. Stitt has consistently described the hunting and fishing compact terms as unfair and has said that he is working to protect the interests of all Oklahomans and the state's wildlife and natural resources.

Weeks before the compacts expired, Stitt proposed the tribes start paying full retail price for the hunting licenses they bought every year, a change from $2 apiece to at least $42. Hoskin and Batton immediately rejected the idea. Their tribes instead launched their own hunting programs for tribal citizens Jan. 1.


Stitt told an Enid civic group on Jan. 10 that tribal citizens would be arrested and fined for hunting without a license. Four days later, Batton and Hoskin criticized the governor and his handling of the hunting and fishing compacts, which they described as a win-win.

In a statement, the Choctaw Nation said it had received Stitt's recent letter. The tribe said the hunting and fishing compact benefited all parties.



"The Choctaw Nation and its licensed tribal members have assisted the state and the Department of Wildlife Conservation in securing millions in fees and federal funding under the compact as it was implemented," the statement said.

"We remain disappointed and confused that Gov. Stitt focuses so much time and energy on needless conflict with Native American tribes, when we are open to cooperating with him to again benefit our members and all Oklahomans," the tribe said.


The state and tribes agreed to pursue shared wildlife management practices as part of the compacts, negotiated by then-Gov. Mary Fallin in 2015 and 2016. The tribes agreed to collectively buy 200,000 state hunting and fishing licenses for citizens for $2 apiece. That helped the state, because license sales factor into yearly federal wildlife conservation funding.

Stitt learned that tribal license sales were falling short in late 2021, as the compacts were expiring, said spokesman Charlie Hannema in an email.


Annual reports published by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation show the number of licenses purchased by the tribes fluctuated in a typical year between 2017 and 2021, from 124,000 to 148,000. The exception was 2020, when statistics show the tribes bought fewer than 3,700 licenses amid the pandemic, according to statistics.

Cherokee Natural Resources Secretary Chad Harsha said Oklahoma wildlife regulators knew the tribe was buying fewer licenses than what was spelled out in the compact. Federal funding rules accepted tribal identification as sufficient for the hunting and fishing licenses, but the state required Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers, he said.



Cherokee officials alerted state regulators multiple times in 2015 and 2016 that the extra identification requirements were cutting into demand, he said.

A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation did not respond to a message to comment about the compacts.

On the ground, state game wardens and tribal law enforcement officers are still working together to regulate hunting, Harsha said. They are cross-deputized to enforce one another’s laws, which are nearly identical.

“The nation remains hopeful that Gov. Stitt will change course and work cooperatively with Oklahoma’s Indian tribes for the benefit of all 4 million Oklahomans,” Harsha said in a statement. “But if Gov. Stitt insists on filing pointless litigation, the Cherokee Nation stands ready to protect its treaty rights.”

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs for the USA Today Network's Sunbelt Region of Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.