https://www.opb.org/article/20...ishing-restrictions/

Federal bills would allow Oregon tribes to renegotiate historic hunting and fishing restrictions

By Cassandra Profita (OPB)
Dec. 29, 2021 7 a.m.

For more than 35 years, the Grand Ronde and the Siletz tribes of American Indians have been bound by legal agreements that strip them of the right to manage their own hunting and fishing seasons on tribal land.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, is sponsoring legislation that would give those tribes a chance to renegotiate those agreements with the state and the federal governments.

Senate Bills 3126 and 3123 would make it legal for the tribes to amend the restrictive, permanent agreements that were written into the laws that created their reservations in 1980 for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and 1986 for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

The tribes were stripped of their land and federal status in 1954 when Congress passed the Western Oregon Termination Act. In the 1980s, the tribes signed agreements with the federal and state governments that restored their federal status and gave them some land on reservations.

But there was a catch: The tribes could only be restored if they agreed to give up their fishing and hunting rights outside of the reservation through a consent decree.

The Siletz and the Grand Ronde are the only tribes that still have these consent decrees in place, and they prevent the tribes from ever updating the agreements so they might one day manage traditional salmon fishing and elk hunting on their own land.

Cheryle Kennedy, Grand Ronde Tribal Council chairwoman, said the bills’ passage would correct an injustice that happened when the tribes were restored.



“The consent decree was thrust upon us and really had us in a stranglehold,” she said. “A cultural practice that had been within our people since time immemorial has been restricted and misunderstood. Sometimes I don’t think it’s really misunderstood. It’s just that, that was the will of the ones who were in power at the time.”

Kennedy remembers the hostile meetings with Oregon fish and wildlife managers in the 1980s before her tribe agreed to give up its rights. She was also on the tribal council back then.

“It was horrible,” she said. “They’re pushing and pushing us to sign a consent decree. There were meetings that were held that were deafening when you walked into the room because there was so much yelling and screaming at us.”

The state of Oregon wouldn’t agree to the federal restoration of the tribe unless the tribe signed a consent decree waiving its hunting and fishing rights, Kennedy said.

“A lot of hunting and fishing organizations in Oregon believed that if we had our hunting and fishing rights that we would be taking away from them,” she said. “So, agreements had to be made before the state of Oregon would concur with the restoration.”

The Grand Ronde people agreed to give up their rights, “but it was a sorrowful agreement,” Kennedy said. “We lived off the land, so to not have hunting and fishing rights was a hardship.”

Kennedy said she is hoping her tribes will be able to renegotiate their agreement with the state of Oregon so the tribal government can manage its own hunting and fishing seasons on about 12,000 acres that the tribe now owns.

“I think the reasonable person when you hear it thinks, ‘My gosh, why, that seems like an easy fix. Why can’t it just happen?” she said. “Well, yeah. We think that, too.”

In a statement, Merkley said his bills are needed to restore traditional hunting and fishing rights for the tribes because the consent decree restrictions are written into federal law

“It is a historic travesty and injustice that the Siletz and Grand Ronde were forced to give up their traditional hunting and fishing rights as the price to restore their reservations,” Merkley said. “This injustice is now enshrined in federal law, and it’s long past time to get it out so that the Siletz and Grand Ronde can finally exercise their traditional hunting and fishing rights.”

quote:

and it’s long past time to get it out so that the Siletz and Grand Ronde can finally exercise their traditional hunting and fishing rights.”

Its long past time for this "Indian tribal" bs.

Indians lost, we won, its time to move on and just be american......

.

"Its long past time for this "Indian tribal" bs.

Indians lost, we won, its time to move on and just be american......""""

Amen!

Twelve thousand acres is not a lot of land. I don't understand this issue as it appears details are not provided. Is it that they don't like State authorized hunting regs or are they not permitted to hunt/fish at all?

Tribal people might have lived off the land hundreds of years ago but so did all people. Seems like an odd argument.

My take on this has always been, if they want to preserve their cultural ways then yes they can hunt any where any time as long as it is all done with stone age equipment. This includes transportation to and from hunting area. Otherwise, join the rest of us in participating in regulated sport hunting according to the rules and laws that have resulted in there being anything left to hunt.

They sure have some big bull elk on the Fort Apache and San Carlos reservations that border each other in Arizona. If those two reservations can manage their wildlife then surely these Oregon tribes can do the same.

The "Woke" folks will give them whatever they want.
Several tribes now hunt everything, anywhere they want (off reservation) at any old time of year as long as it's "unoccupied" land (whatever that means). How's that game management?

If it's ONLY their 12000 acres, I'd agree with the move but it won't be. There's no end.

A billboard I saw said something like this:
"American, You've lived on our land long enough and your rent is due".

They don't want just a little something. Don't kid yourself, they want it all.

Zeke

quote:

If it's ONLY their 12000 acres, I'd agree with the move but it won't be. There's no end.

That's what I am thinking will happen. I know there have been articles posted here on 'natives' going off and killing as many trophy bighorns that they want. Honestly, such policies just don't work in our populated continent.

I have hunted pronghorn on a Rez and it was a good hunt. I know others who hunt on Rez land and those tribes do manage game very well but they are much larger than 12,000 acres. So I am kind of torn over the situation. I would like to think the intended tribe could manage well but gosh, I keep going back to that being a relatively tiny property. If they exterminate everything then what? I just don't see such a small piece of land being able to support a community strictly on fish and game.

While I certainly see means for improvement for hunter access, we should all be treated the same and all do so with regulated game seasons based on actual wildlife populations, quality of environment and not on politics. Especially the touchy-feely shit.

All situations are different. I lived near a res for 12 years. All game was was decimated within 20 miles of res. Year round subsistence hunting is no longer viable with pickups, spot lights, and H V rifles if you want to maintain populations.