Opinion ID: 741730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ute Indian Tribe I: 1981 District Court Opinion

Text: 15 In 1981, the district court issued Ute Indian Tribe v. Utah, 521 F.Supp. 1072 (D.Utah 1981) (hereinafter Ute Indian Tribe I ). The district court held that Congress's decision to open the unallotted lands to settlement did not diminish the Reservation's boundaries. Id. at 1132. The court recognized that the language of the 1902 Act directing that all unallotted lands be restored to the public domain would have diminished the Reservation had the unallotted lands then been opened for settlement. Id. at 1122. The court concluded, however, that the 1905 Act superseded the 1902 Act. Id. Unlike the 1902 Act, the 1905 Act provided only that the unallotted lands were to be disposed of under the homestead and township laws. Id. at 1132. The district court reasoned that the new language indicated that Congress did not intend to diminish the Reservation. Id. The district court therefore concluded that the unallotted lands remained part of the Uintah Valley Reservation. Id. 16 The district court reached a different conclusion on the status of the National Forest Lands and the Uncompahgre Reservation. Regarding the National Forest Lands, the court concluded that the language in the 1905 Act empowering the president to set apart and reserve timber lands for a national forest demonstrated Congress's clear intent to diminish the Uintah Valley Reservation. Id. at 1136. Likewise, the district court concluded that the language in the 1894 Act restoring unallotted reservation lands to the public domain showed a clear congressional intent to disestablish the Uncompahgre Reservation. Id. at 1106. 17