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[article forwarded by Lona. Thanks!]

 http://news.theolympian.com/stories/20000223/Northwest/39262.shtml
 

High court rebuffs Indian's hunting case

TRIBAL RIGHTS: Nooksack man claims an 1855 treaty gives him the right to
hunt whenever and wherever he wants.

The Associated Press

YAKIMA -- A Nooksack Indian accused of illegally hunting elk on public land
might soon have to return to Yakima County Superior Court to face charges
filed against him in 1995.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by Donald Ray Buchanan
of Kent in which he contended the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty gave him the
right to hunt on state land -- out of season and without a license.

The case had been stayed until the Supreme Court made its ruling. A trial
date in Yakima will now be set, Yakima County Prosecutor Jeff Sullivan said.

David Vogel, a Seattle lawyer representing Buchanan, said his client also
has the option of seeking to have the case moved to U.S. District Court for
review.

A decision has not been made on whether to do that, Vogel said.

In January 1995, a state game agent found Buchanan and two other men loading
a pair of bull elk into a pickup truck at the Oak Creek Wildlife Area, off
U.S. 12, 30 miles west of Yakima.

Buchanan was charged with two felony counts of possessing big game during a
closed season and a misdemeanor of hunting while his state license was
revoked.

Buchanan asked a state judge to dismiss the charges on grounds the state
hunting regulations did not apply to members of Indian tribes with treaty
rights to hunt on "open and unclaimed" land.

A trial judge dismissed the charges, saying the 1855 treaty gave the Indians
the right to hunt on open land anywhere in the former Washington Territory.

A state appeals court agreed, but the Washington Supreme Court reinstated
the charges.

Nooksack Indians' right to hunt on open land is restricted to their
traditional hunting areas, the state's top court ruled. It added that
Buchanan should be given the chance to prove that the Oak Creek Wildlife
Area -- on the opposite side of the Cascade Range -- was a traditional
hunting area.

Both sides appealed to the Supreme Court. Buchanan's appeal said the treaty
granted the Indians hunting rights to "open and unclaimed" land and did not
restrict their rights to traditional hunting grounds.

The state's appeal said any hunting rights granted by the treaty ended when
Washington became a state.

For the past five years, the case has fueled a dispute among Indian and
non-Indian hunters, some of whom contend tribes get an unfair share of
resources.

Prior to the lower court decisions, most tribal members hunted only on their
customary hunting grounds, and many tribes had agreements with the state
setting their own seasons on public lands.

"I'm very pleased the Supreme Court has rejected Mr. Buchanan's appeal,"
Sullivan said.

The decision helps clarify geographic limits for hunting in the case, but
many other complex issues remain unresolved, he said.

He had hoped for "a very bright line rule," which would say that hunters
must do what the tribe says on the reservation and what the state says on
state land.

The Supreme Court ruled without comment.

No one at Nooksack Tribal Council offices in Deming was immediately
available for comment on the decision.

---
The Olympian Copyright 2000
 

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