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8
OCTOBER 1, 2005
Smoke Signals
Part 1
Tribal Hunting
& Fishing Mights
HUNTING & FISHING
continued from front page
lever that limited the Tribe's bar
gaining power for its hunting and
fishing rights.
Even within the Consent Decree,
the parties agreed to disagree on the
point. "There is disagreement
about the Tribe's hunting and fish
ing rights," it said. "The Tribe con-
to our head," because it was felt
that without agreement that lim
ited hunting and fishing rights to
far less than the Confederated
Tribes' ceded lands, the effort to
secure the land base could have
unraveled.
In a letter to the membership in
a 1986 issue of Smoke Signals,
then Chairman Mark Mercier
wrote, "The Council sought to
"The state of Oregon was adamant tliat there would be no hunt
ing and fishing rights. We had several meetings in our cham
bers, very emotional meetings. It was a very tearful time for
the women. They basically told us that there was no way we
could (fight for the hunting and fishing). "
Cheryle Kennedy
Tribal Chairwoman
tends that it possesses Tribal hunt
ing, fishing, trapping, and animal
gathering rights. The State, on the
other hand, disagrees and presently
enforces state law whenever the
Tribe or its members hunt, fish,
trap, or gather animals, contrary to
any provision of the law."
Some Tribal members look back at
the bargain as one made with "a gun
leave this issue out of the Reserva
tion Plan until a bill (for the land
base) was passed. The Council felt
that a land resource base was the
key. Hunting and fishing was an
issue that could have been taken
up at a later date.
"In order to establish a strong le
gal case for hunting and fishing a
great deal of legal research must be
done. There was too little time and
money to carry out this research be
fore the plan was to be submitted."
But the state wanted hunting and
fishing included and the Tribe was
under time pressure to settle the
question of a land base. The Tribe
essentially let go of the hunting and
fishing issue to take on the question
of a land base.
"The state of Oregon was adamant
that there would be no hunting and
fishing rights," said Tribal Chair
woman Cheryle Kennedy, who even
then sat on Tribal Council.
"There was another clock ticking,"
said Kennedy. "In our Restoration
bill, we had two years to come for
ward with a land bill or we wouldn't
get any land.
"And we needed to get support.
The state was looking at all of the
affected parties, so we had to deal
with the Steelheaders and the tim
ber companies. We would go into
these (community) meetings, the
nine of us, into a hostile crowd of
hundreds. I remember a meeting
with the BLM in South Salem.
Their auditorium was full and they
were all there.
"No way they were even going to
listen to us. A very boisterous
group. It felt like we were not mak
ing any headway there.
"We had several meetings in our
chambers, very emotional meet
ings," said Kennedy. "It was a very
tearful time for the women. They
basically told us that there was no
way we could (fight for the hunting
and fishing)."
' .-. ' ' c
p
o
Today Tribal Elder Gary LaChance
fishes on the Nehalem River in Novem
ber of 2003.
"We looked at the land base issue
and weighed it with the hunting
and fishing, and we had to wonder,
without any land, what would
hunting and fishing rights mean?
We sat in that meeting with tears
streaming down our faces.
"The hardest part for me was that
(the hunting and fishing consent
decree) was forever. Even on our
own land."
And Tribal need at the time could
be seen in almost every demo
graphic measure. Overall Tribal
household income was about 83
of overall Oregon household in-
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