The tribal entity wants to have jurisdiction. The memorandum of understanding was inked this spring. It helps chart the development of nearly half the reservation's land, known as fee-simple. It's land that isn't held in trust by the federal government like much of the tribe's acreage but is owned privately by tribal and nontribal members alike. All it did was set up a procedure for jointly implementing the plans with the goal of making them harmonious, rather than having the county and tribe at issue over anything.
Differences remain, however.
Copyright 1998 by Skagit Valley Herald.