Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/73/982/557379/
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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1061', '§ 1061', '§ 475', '§ 1062', '§ 1062', '§ 475', '§ 528']

Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis, 73 F.3d 982 (10th Cir. 1995) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Tenth Circuit › 1995 › Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis
Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis, 73 F.3d 982 (10th Cir. 1995)
US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit - 73 F.3d 982 (10th Cir. 1995)
Dale T. White of Fredericks, Pelcyger, Hester & White, Boulder, Colorado (Bruce P. Badley of Badley & Rasmussen, P.C., Sheridan, Wyoming, with him on the brief), for appellant.
Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General, State of Montana (Clay R. Smith, Solicitor), Helena, Montana; Gale A. Norton, Attorney General, State of Colorado, Denver, Colorado; Alan G. Lance, Attorney General, State of Idaho, Boise, Idaho; Mark Barnett, Attorney General, State of South Dakota, Pierre, South Dakota; Jan Graham, Attorney General, State of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, on the brief for Amici Curiae States of Montana, Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota and Utah.
Marvin G. Amiotte, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, on the brief for Amicus Curiae Oglala Sioux Tribe; L. Robert Murray, Office of Tribal Attorneys, Wind River Reservation, Ft. Washakie, Wyoming, on the brief for Amicus Curiae Eastern Shoshone Tribe; Marc D. Slonim of Ziontz, Chestnut, Varnell, Berley & Slonim, Seattle, Washington, on the brief for Amicus Curiae Northern Cheyenne Tribe and Northern Arapaho Tribe.
Before KELLY and BARRETT, Circuit Judges, and O'CONNOR* , Senior District Judge.
The Crow Indian Tribe and Thomas L. Ten Bear (collectively referred to as "the Tribe") appeal the district court's order of October 25, 1994, Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis, 866 F. Supp. 520 (D. Wyo. 1994), dismissing the Tribe's complaint for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief based on alleged violations of its rights under the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, and the Unlawful Inclosures of Public Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1061-1066.
On November 14, 1989, Thomas L. Ten Bear, a Crow tribal member and resident of Montana, was cited by Chuck Repsis, a game warden employed by the Wyoming Fish and Game Department, for shooting and killing an elk on lands within the Big Horn National Forest without a Wyoming hunting license. Ten Bear was prosecuted and convicted of illegally killing an elk in violation of Wyo.Stat. Sec. 23-3-102(a). As part of his unsuccessful defense, Ten Bear argued that he had an unrestricted right to hunt in the Big Horn National Forest as "unoccupied lands of the United States" under Article 4 of the Treaty with the Crows, 1868.
The Indians herein named agree, when the agency house and other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will make said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts.
The Tribe initiated this action on January 6, 1992, against the State of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, and individual defendants Chuck Repsis, Director of the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, and Francis Petera, Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission (collectively referred to as "the State"). The Tribe sought a declaration that the treaties entered into between the Tribe and the United States in 1851 and 1868 reserved to the Tribe and its members the unrestricted right to hunt and fish on all "unoccupied land of the United States" in Wyoming, which the Tribe ceded in 1868, including but not limited to national forest lands. The complaint was subsequently amended to include an additional count seeking the removal of a six-mile long "elk proof fence" constructed by the State along the southern border of the Crow Indian Reservation on the grounds that the fence violated the Unlawful Inclosures of Public Lands Act (UIA), 43 U.S.C. §§ 1061-1066, and the Tribe's treaty rights under the 1851 and 1868 treaties.
On October 8, 1993, the district court heard oral argument on the State's and the Tribe's motions for summary judgment. On October 25, 1994, the district court entered its Decision Granting Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment and Dismissing Case. The district court found that the Tribe's off-reservation hunting right was foreclosed by Ward v. Race Horse, 163 U.S. 504, 16 S. Ct. 1076, 41 L. Ed. 244 (1896). Crow Tribe, 866 F. Supp. at 522-24. The district court also found that the Tribe had no standing to bring an action under the UIA and that, in any event, no relief could be granted because the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, rather than the individual defendants, constructed, owned, and maintained the fence. Id. at 524-25.
On appeal, the Tribe contends that: (1) its unrestricted right to hunt and fish on off-reservation ceded lands under the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, was not foreclosed by Ward v. Race Horse, and (2) it has standing and may maintain an action against Francis Petera, Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, for violations of the UIA.1
We review the grant or denial of summary judgment de novo, applying the same legal standard used by the district court under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c). Wolf v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 50 F.3d 793, 796 (10th Cir. 1995) (citation omitted). "Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine dispute over a material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law," Russillo v. Scarborough, 935 F.2d 1167, 1170 (10th Cir. 1991), but "we must view the record in a light most favorable to the parties opposing the motion for summary judgment." Deepwater Invs., Ltd. v. Jackson Hole Ski Corp., 938 F.2d 1105, 1110 (10th Cir. 1991).Discussion
In Race Horse, the Court considered whether the language of the Fort Bridger Treaty of February 24, 1869, between the United States and the Bannock Indians that "they shall have the right to hunt upon the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon" gave the Indians an unrestricted right to hunt in violation of Wyoming's game laws. 163 U.S. at 504, 16 S. Ct. at 1076. In formulating the issue, the Court stated that:
Id. at 507, 16 S. Ct. at 1077.
Id. at 505, 16 S. Ct. at 1076 (emphasis added).
This is the same language found in Article 4 of the Treaty with the Crows, 1868. See Treaty with the Crows, 1868, Article 4, 15 Stat. at 650. Since the Court's focus was on the interpretation of the emphasized language, it is immaterial whether it appears in the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1869 or the Treaty with the Crows, 1868.2 2.
On appeal, the Tribe recognizes its treaty hunting and fishing rights are subject to State regulation "in the interest of conservation, provided the regulation meets appropriate standards and does not discriminate against the Indians." Puyallup Tribe v. Department of Game of Wash., 391 U.S. 392, 398, 88 S. Ct. 1725, 1728, 20 L. Ed. 2d 689 (1968) (Puyallup I) . However, recognizing this limitation on appeal does not distinguish its argument from that of the Bannock Indians in Race Horse. In its complaint, the Tribe argued that the treaties "reserve to [the Tribe and its members] unrestricted hunting ... rights on all of the ceded lands ..., including but not limited to the National Forest Lands." (J.A., Vol. I at 3 p 7 & 151 p 5) (emphasis added). This is indistinguishable from the argument of the Bannock Indians in Race Horse.
In order to address the Tribe's contentions, we must first examine Race Horse itself. As noted above, Race Horse decided whether the reserved "right to hunt on unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts" reserved to the Indians an unrestricted right to hunt within Wyoming, even in violation of Wyoming's game laws. 163 U.S. at 505, 16 S. Ct. at 1076. The Court approached this issue by first defining the nature of the right reserved to the Indians in the treaty and then determining whether that right had survived Wyoming's admission into the Union.
To determine the nature of the reserved right, the Court examined the literary and historical context of the treaty and Article 4. Initially, the Court concluded that unoccupied lands "were only such lands of that character embraced within what the treaty denominates as hunting districts" and not all the lands ceded by the Indians which were owned by the United States and not yet settled. Id. at 508, 16 S. Ct. at 1077-78.
After careful historical analysis, the Court concluded that the hunting right reserved by the treaty "clearly contemplated the disappearance of the conditions therein specified" and was of a "temporary and precarious nature." Id. at 510, 16 S. Ct. at 1078. The Court noted that " [t]he construction that would affix to the language of the treaty any other meaning ... would necessarily imply that Congress had violated the faith of the government and defrauded the Indians by proceeding immediately to forbid hunting in a large portion of the Territory" by the creation of Yellowstone Park Reservation in 1872 "for it was subsequently carved out of what constituted the hunting districts at the time of the adoption of the treaty." Id.
Once it established that the hunting right reserved by the treaty clearly contemplated the disappearance of the conditions specified in the treaty and was thus temporary, the Court addressed the conflict between the Indians' treaty right to hunt and the exercise of this right in violation of the laws of the newly created state of Wyoming. Id. at 510-11, 16 S. Ct. at 1078-79.
Race Horse, 163 U.S. at 506, 16 S. Ct. at 1076-77. "The act contains no exemption or reservation in favor of or for the benefit of Indians." Id.
"That 'a treaty may supersede a prior act of Congress, and an act of Congress supersede a prior treaty' is elementary." Id. at 511, 16 S. Ct. at 1078 (citations omitted). "Of course the settled rule undoubtedly is that repeals by implication are not favored, and will not be held to exist if there be any other reasonable construction. But in ascertaining whether both statutes can be maintained it is not to be considered that any possible theory, by which both can be enforced, must be adopted, but only that repeal by implication must be held not to have taken place if there be a reasonable construction, by which both laws can coexist consistently with the intention of Congress." Id. (citations omitted).
Determining, by the light of these principles, the question whether the provision of the treaty giving the right to hunt on unoccupied lands of the United States in the hunting districts are now embraced within the limits of the State of Wyoming, it becomes plain that the repeal results from the conflict between the treaty and the act admitting that State into the Union. The two facts, the privilege conferred and the act of admission, are irreconcilable in the sense that the two under no reasonable hypothesis can be construed as co-existing.
Id. at 514, 16 S. Ct. at 1079-80.
The Court "conceded that where there are rights created by Congress, during the existence of a Territory, which are of such a nature as to imply their perpetuity, and the consequent purpose of Congress to continue them in the State, after its admission, such continuation will, as a matter of construction, be upheld, although the enabling act does not expressly so direct." Id. at 515, 16 S. Ct. at 1080. However, " [h]ere the nature of the right created gives rise to no such implication of continuance, since, by its terms, it shows that the burden imposed on the Territory was essentially perishable and intended to be of limited duration."3 Id. Therefore, the treaty "does not give [the Tribe] the right to exercise this privilege within the limits of [Wyoming] in violation of its laws." Id. at 504, 16 S. Ct. at 1076.
The Tribe contends that in Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322, 99 S. Ct. 1727, 60 L. Ed. 2d 250 (1979), the Supreme Court overruled the doctrine of state plenary control over game relied on in Race Horse; therefore, " [t]here is no irreconcilable conflict between the state power to regulate and the exercise of federal authority as mistakenly supposed in Race Horse." (Brief of Appellants at 21). In support of its position, the Tribe cites a string of cases upholding federal authority to regulate wildlife notwithstanding claims of interference with state sovereignty: Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416, 40 S. Ct. 382, 64 L. Ed. 641 (1920); Hunt v. United States, 278 U.S. 96, 100, 49 S. Ct. 38, 38, 73 L. Ed. 200 (1928); Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529, 96 S. Ct. 2285, 49 L. Ed. 2d 34 (1976); and New Mexico State Game Comm'n v. Udall, 410 F.2d 1197 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 961, 90 S. Ct. 429, 24 L. Ed. 2d 426 (1969).
In Hughes, the Court expressly overruled the doctrine of state ownership of game, concluding that challenges under the Commerce Clause to state regulation of wild animals should be considered according to the same general rule applied to state regulation of other natural resources. 441 U.S. at 322, 99 S. Ct. at 1729. Hughes involved an Oklahoma statute that prohibited the transportation or shipping outside the State of natural minnows seined or procured from waters within the State for sale. Id. The Court struck down the statute as facially discriminatory against interstate commerce and "repugnant to the Commerce Clause." Id. at 337-38, 99 S. Ct. at 1737. However, in so doing, the Court reiterated that:
The overruling of Geer [v. Connecticut, 161 U.S. 519 [16 S. Ct. 600, 40 L. Ed. 793] (1896),] does not leave the States powerless to protect and conserve wild animal life within their borders. Today's decision makes clear, however, that States may promote this legitimate purpose only in ways consistent with the basic principle that 'our economic unit is the Nation,' and that when a wild animal 'becomes an article of commerce its use cannot be limited to the citizens of one State to the exclusion of citizens of another State.'
Id. at 338-39, 99 S. Ct. at 1737-38 (internal citations omitted).
"Unquestionably the States have broad trustee and police powers over wild animals within their jurisdiction." Kleppe, 426 U.S. at 545, 96 S. Ct. at 2294 (citations omitted). "But, as Geer v. Connecticut cautions, those powers exist only 'in so far as [their] exercise may be not incompatible with, or restrained by, the rights conveyed to the Federal government by the Constitution.' " Id. (citing Geer, 161 U.S. at 528, 16 S. Ct. at 604). See also Baldwin v. Fish and Game Comm'n of Mont., 436 U.S. 371, 386, 98 S. Ct. 1852, 1861-62, 56 L. Ed. 2d 354 (1978) ("The fact that the State's control over wildlife is not exclusive and absolute in the face of federal regulation and certain federally protected interest does not compel the conclusion that it is meaningless in their absence); Puyallup I, 391 U.S. at 399, 88 S. Ct. at 1729 ("The overriding police power of the State, expressed in nondiscriminatory measures for conserving fish resources, is preserved."); Tulee v. Washington, 315 U.S. 681, 684, 62 S. Ct. 862, 864, 86 L. Ed. 1115 (1942) (the state has the power to regulate as necessary for the conservation of fish); Hunt, 278 U.S. 96, 49 S. Ct. 38 (the power of the federal government to regulate game independent of state game laws springs from the federal ownership of the lands affected pursuant to the Property Clause); Holland, 252 U.S. 416, 40 S. Ct. 382 (valid treaty and statute preempt state regulation under the treaty making power conferred by Art. II, Sec. 2 of the Constitution).
Therefore, the Court in Hughes has not stripped the states of their authority to regulate and control game; it has merely removed the 19th century legal fiction of state ownership of game. Hughes, 441 U.S. at 336, 99 S. Ct. at 1736. And absent any conflict between federal and state authority to regulate the taking of game, the state retains the authority, even over federal lands within its borders. Kleppe, 426 U.S. at 543, 96 S. Ct. at 2293-94 (citations omitted).
In Race Horse, the Court recognized the "power of a State to control and regulate the taking of game." 163 U.S. at 507, 16 S. Ct. at 1077. However, contrary to the Tribe's assertion, the Court did not find a "plenary" power to regulate the taking of game nor did the Court rely on such a power in reaching its decision. The Court stated that:
Id. at 514, 16 S. Ct. at 1080. Furthermore, the "irreconcilable conflict" in Race Horse was between the right conferred by the treaty and the act admitting Wyoming into the Union, not between the state's power to regulate and the exercise of federal authority. 163 U.S. at 514, 16 S. Ct. at 1079-80.
The equal-footing doctrine requires that all states admitted into the Union after the original thirteen states be admitted on "equal-footing" with the original states; the newly admitted states must have the same rights and sovereignty at the time of admission as the original states. California ex rel. State Lands Comm'n v. United States, 457 U.S. 273, 281 n. 9, 102 S. Ct. 2432, 2437 n. 9, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1982) (citing Pollard v. Hagan, 44 U.S. (3 How.) 212, 229, 11 L. Ed. 565 (1845), and Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 26 & 30, 14 S. Ct. 548, 557 & 559, 38 L. Ed. 331 (1894)).
In United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371, 371, 25 S. Ct. 662, 662, 49 L. Ed. 1089 (1905), the Court upheld an Indian treaty right to take "fish at all usual and accustomed places in common with the citizens of the Territory of Washington" concluding that the treaty language imposed a servitude on the lands bordering the Columbia River that was intended to be continuing against the United States and its grantees and the State and its grantees. In Winans, the Indians sought access across lands bordering the Columbia River which were privately owned either under patent from the United States or grant from the state of Washington in order to exercise their treaty fishing right. Id. at 379, 25 S. Ct. at 663.
In interpreting the treaty language, the Court determined that although the Indians were not given an exclusive right but one "in common with citizens of the Territory," their right was a continuing one. Id. at 381-82, 25 S. Ct. at 664-65. The Court concluded that:
The contingency of the future ownership of the lands, therefore, was foreseen and provided for--in other words, the Indians were given the right in the land--the right of crossing it to the river--the right to occupy it to the extent and for the purpose mentioned. No other conclusion would give effect to the treaty. And the right was intended to be continuing against the United States and its grantees as well as against the State and its grantees.
Once the Court determined that the right to fish was a continuing right, it addressed the state's argument that the equal-footing doctrine prevented the United States from granting or retaining rights in the shore or to the lands under the water. Id. at 382-83, 25 S. Ct. at 664-65. The Court held that while the United States held the lands as a Territory, it had the power to create rights which would be binding on the States, id. at 383, 25 S. Ct. at 665; therefore, "surely it was within the competency of the Nation to secure to the Indians such a remnant of the great rights they possessed as 'taking fish at all usual and accustomed places.' " Id. at 384, 25 S. Ct. at 665.
Hence, the equal-footing doctrine does not prevent the United States from creating a right in a territory which would be binding on the state upon its admission into the Union. However, in order for such a right to be binding on the state, it must be a continuing or perpetual right--a right that is intended at its formation to be continuing against the United States and its grantees, including the state. See Winans, 198 U.S. at 381-82, 25 S. Ct. at 664-65.
In Race Horse, the Court was fully aware of Congress's power to create binding continuing rights. 163 U.S. at 515, 16 S. Ct. at 1080. However, the Court concluded that the right conferred by the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, was "temporary and precarious"; it was not a continuing right. Id. In addition, the Court found that it was the intent of Congress to repeal the right to hunt upon Wyoming's admission to the Union. Id. at 515, 16 S. Ct. at 1080. The Court stated:
The Tribe asserts that the Supreme Court has, subsequent to Race Horse, fashioned rules of treaty construction favoring Indian tribes that have replaced and repudiated those used in Race Horse. The Tribe asserts that "Race Horse 's application of rules of treaty construction to resolve the supposed conflict between Wyoming's admission to the Union and the [Treaty with the Crows, 1868,] has been discredited and no longer represents the law;" therefore, Race Horse should not be followed. (Brief of Appellants at 30).
The language used in treaties with the Indians should never be construed to their prejudice. If words be made use of, which are susceptible of a more extended meaning than their plain import, as connected with the tenor of the treaty, they should be considered as used only in the latter sense.... How the words of the treaty were understood by this unlettered people, rather than their critical meaning, should form the rule of construction.
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515, 582, 8 L. Ed. 483 (1832). See also In re Kansas Indians, 72 U.S. (5 Wall.) 737, 760, 18 L. Ed. 667 (1866); United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375, 6 S. Ct. 1109, 30 L. Ed. 228 (1886); Choctaw Nation v. United States, 119 U.S. 1, 28, 7 S. Ct. 75, 90-91, 30 L. Ed. 306 (1886). Therefore, contrary to the Tribe's view, the canon of construction favoring the Indian interpretation and resolving ambiguities in favor of the Indians was well established at the time the Court decided Race Horse in 1896.
Additionally, the Court recognized this canon of construction in Race Horse and declined to follow it. The Court stated that:
Race Horse, 163 U.S. at 516, 16 S. Ct. at 1080.
As noted above, the Court has recognized that states may regulate off-reservation treaty rights "in the interest of conservation, provided the regulation meets appropriate standards and does not discriminate against the Indians." Puyallup I, 391 U.S. at 398, 88 S. Ct. at 1728. In order to be effective, state conservation regulations must be "reasonable and necessary." Department of Game of Wash. v. Puyallup Tribe, 414 U.S. 44, 45, 94 S. Ct. 330, 332, 38 L. Ed. 2d 254 (1973) (Puyallup II) . See also Puyallup Tribe, Inc. v. Department of Game of Wash., 433 U.S. 165, 175, 97 S. Ct. 2616, 2622-23, 53 L. Ed. 2d 667 (1977) (Puyallup III) ("Rather, the exercise of that right was subject to reasonable regulation by the State pursuant to its power to conserve an important natural resource."); Tulee, 315 U.S. at 684, 62 S. Ct. at 865. ("Washington has the power to impose on the Indians equally with others such restrictions of a purely regulatory nature concerning the time and manner of fishing outside the reservation as are necessary for the conservation of fish.").
However, this is not our case. The Tribe's right to hunt reserved in the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, was repealed by the act admitting Wyoming into the Union. Race Horse, 163 U.S. at 514, 16 S. Ct. at 1079-80. Therefore, the Tribe and its members are subject to Wyoming's game laws and regulations regardless of whether the regulations are reasonable and necessary for conservation.
When the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, was executed the lands located in what is now the Big Horn National Forest were unoccupied; they were open for settlement in the westward expansion of the United States. However, in 1887, Congress created the Big Horn National Forest and expressly mandated that the national forest lands be managed and regulated for the specific purposes of improving and protecting the forest, securing favorable water flows, and furnishing a continuous supply of timber.4 See 16 U.S.C. § 475. These lands were no longer available for settlement. No longer could anyone timber, mine, log, graze cattle, or homestead on these lands without federal permission. See Act of June 4, 1897, Ch. 2, 30 Stat. at 35-36 (1897). Thus, the creation of the Big Horn National Forest resulted in the "occupation" of the land.
The Tribe contends that the district court erred in dismissing its action relating to the elk fence. The Tribe argues that it has standing to bring this action under the UIA and that it may maintain such action against Francis Petera, Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission.5
Under the UIA, "it shall be the duty of the United States Attorney for the proper district, on affidavit filed with him by any citizen of the United States that section 1061 ... is being violated ... to institute a civil suit in the proper United States district court, or territorial district court, in the name of the United States." 43 U.S.C. § 1062. Thus, the UIA specifically provides for federal enforcement to be brought in the name of the United States; there is no private right of action. See Camfield v. United States, 167 U.S. 518, 522, 17 S. Ct. 864, 865-66, 42 L. Ed. 260 (1897) ("it is made the duty of the district attorney ... to institute a civil suit in the name of the United States").
The role of a private party is explicitly defined as the filing of an affidavit alerting the United States Attorney for the district of potential violations of the UIA. See 43 U.S.C. § 1062. Once a case is properly commenced by the United States, it is possible for an interested party, such as the Tribe, to obtain permission to intervene. See United States ex rel. Bergen v. Lawrence, 848 F.2d 1502, 1504 (10th Cir.) (Wildlife Federation joined as intervenors in UIA case), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 980, 109 S. Ct. 528, 102 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1988). However, the private party lacks standing to assert a violation of the UIA on its own.
We AFFIRM the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the State and dismissal of the Tribe's UIA claim. Unlike the district court's apologetic interpretation of and reluctant reliance upon Ward v. Race Horse, we view Race Horse as compelling, well-reasoned, and persuasive.6 Also, contrary to the Tribe's views, there is nothing to indicate that Race Horse has been "overruled, repudiated or disclaimed;" Race Horse is alive and well.
Race Horse conclusively established that "the right to hunt on all unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, ..." reserved a temporary right which was repealed with Wyoming's admission into the Union. 163 U.S. at 504, 16 S. Ct. at 1076. In addition, although the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, reserved a right to hunt on "unoccupied lands;" the lands of the Big Horn National Forest have been "occupied" since the creation of the national forest in 1887. Therefore, we hold that the Tribe and its members are subject to the game laws of Wyoming.
The Honorable Earl E. O'Connor, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of Kansas, sitting by designation
Although the Tribe discusses its right to "hunt and fish," there is nothing in the Treaty with the Crows, 1868, regarding fishing rights. Therefore, we restrict our discussion to the right to hunt as it was expressly delineated in the treaty
This is consistent with the Court's decisions in United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371, 25 S. Ct. 662, 49 L. Ed. 1089 (1905) (treaty of 1859 made with the Yakima Indians), and Puyallup Tribe v. Department of Game of Wash., 391 U.S. 392, 88 S. Ct. 1725, 20 L. Ed. 2d 689 (1968) (Puyallup I) (Treaty of Medicine Creek made with the Puyallup and Nisqually Indians in 1854). These cases involved the interpretation of identical provisions of two separate treaties with two separate Indian tribes providing "the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, in common with citizens of the Territory." See Puyallup I, 391 U.S. at 397, 88 S. Ct. at 1728
Race Horse, 163 U.S. at 506, 16 S. Ct. at 1076.
In 1960, Congress passed the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 which provided that "national forests are established and shall be administered for outdoor recreation, range, timber, watershed, and wildlife and fish purposes" as well as the original purposes set forth in 16 U.S.C. § 475. 16 U.S.C. § 528
Although the claim was originally filed against both individual defendants, on appeal the Tribe challenges the district court's decision solely in regards to Francis Petera, Director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. Therefore, their claim against Chuck Repsis, the Director of the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, has been abandoned. (Brief of Appellants at 35)
State v. Tinno, 94 Idaho 759, 497 P.2d 1386 (1972), which was authoritatively cited by the district court and argued before us by the Tribe, is obvious by its omission from this opinion. In Tinno, the Idaho Supreme Court found that Race Horse had been "entirely discredited" and "require [d] no further discussion." Id. 497 P.2d at 1392 n. 6. However, this conclusion was made with no analysis and in a case where the court acknowledged that it lacked jurisdiction. Id. at 1388 ("We are constrained by I.C. Sec. 19-2804 to hold that the appeal must be dismissed.")