Opinion ID: 759493
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim based on the 1854 Treaty

Text: 54 The Menominee also claim the right to fish for sturgeon off of the reservation because manmade dams are preventing tribal members from exercising their 1854 Treaty right to catch sturgeon on the reservation. Purportedly, the 1854 Treaty reserved 50% of the sturgeon resource exclusively for the use of the Menominee, and now, because the dam prevents 50% of the sturgeon from reaching the reservation, the Tribe wants equitable relief in the form of a declaration of off-reservation fishing rights. Because the terms of the 1854 Treaty do not expressly entitle the Tribe to a specific proportion of sturgeon, the Menominee are not entitled to relief on this claim. Indeed, Article 2 of the 1854 Treaty, which established the Wolf River Reservation, does not explicitly mention either fishing or sturgeon: 55 In consideration of the foregoing cession the United States agree to give, and do hereby give, to said Indians for a home, to be held as Indian lands are held, that track of country lying upon the Wolf River, in the State of Wisconsin ... [describing the boundary of the Wold River Reservation]. 56 The treaty does not guarantee any amount or quantity of sturgeon to the Tribe and we must interpret a treaty as a contract. 57 In each of the cases the Tribe cites in support of this claim, the treaty at issue explicitly secured off-reservation fishing rights to the Indians. See Washington, 443 U.S. at 661, 99 S.Ct. 3055 (treaty guaranteeing the right of taking fish ... in common with all citizens of the Territory. ); Puyallup v. Department of Game of State of Washington, 433 U.S. 165, 177 n. 16, 97 S.Ct. 2616, 53 L.Ed.2d 667 (1977) (The right of taking fish, at all usual and accustomed grounds and stations, is further secured to said Indians, in common with all citizens of the Territory. ); United States v. Winans, 198 U.S. 371, 378, 25 S.Ct. 662, 49 L.Ed. 1089 (1905) (treaty securing the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places, in common with citizens of the territory. ). Additionally, the treaties at issue in Washington, Puyallup, and Winans expressly provided that the tribal off-reservation fishing rights would be shared with non-treaty, or non-Indian, fishermen. In other words, the tribes in Washington, Puyallup and Winans had a textual handle, or specific treaty language, see Sokaogon Chippewa Community, 2 F.3d at 223, supporting their claims to a specific proportion of fish. The Menominee Tribe, on the other hand, has not pointed to any language in the treaties supporting its claim to a specific proportion of the sturgeon catch. 58 The Tribe attempts to develop such a textual handle by reference to the Supreme Court's Menominee decision. 391 U.S. 404, 88 S.Ct. 1705, 20 L.Ed.2d 697 (1968). The Menominee contend that the Supreme Court, by recognizing the 1854 Treaty's silence on hunting and fishing rights but interpreting the Treaty as reserving such rights, essentially re-wrote the Treaty to explicitly reserve fishing rights to the Tribe. This argument is problematic for several reasons. First, the Supreme Court did not re-write the treaty; rather, the Court interpreted ambiguous treaty language. Id. at 405-06, 88 S.Ct. 1705 (interpreting for a home, to be held as Indian lands are held.). Here, the treaty (contract) is not ambiguous. The language is clear and not subject to the interpretation offered by the Tribe. Moreover, the Supreme Court was not interpreting the 1854 Treaty in the context of allocating usufructuary resources between the Indians and non-Indians. Compare Washington, 443 U.S. at 684-85, 99 S.Ct. 3055 (Both sides [i.e., Indians and non-Indians] have a right, secured by treaty, to take a fair share of the available fish.). A declaration of on-reservation fishing rights is not equivalent to a right to some proportion of the sturgeon catch. In this case, it is not possible to interpret as Indian lands are held as a reservation of a specific proportion of the sturgeon catch as against non-Indian fishers. 59 Furthermore, the Menominee decision involved on-reservation usufructuary rights, while here, the Menominee seek a declaration of off-reservation rights. This distinction differentiates the Tribe's claims from those of other Indians, which rely on treaties securing off-reservation usufructuary rights. For instance, in Winans, the Court declared an easement on privately held lands for the Indians to enforce a treaty securing off-reservation fishing rights. 198 U.S. at 382; see also Washington, 443 U.S. at 685-86, 99 S.Ct. 3055 (affirming district court's allocation of certain percentage of harvestable portion of fish in order to secure treaty right to take fish in common with others at all usual and accustomed places). As discussed in a prior section of this opinion, the Menominee did not reserve off-reservation usufructuary rights in any of the earlier treaties, and the 1854 Treaty is silent on the issue. We are unaware of any Supreme Court decision authorizing a declaration of off-reservation fishing rights to remedy the inability to exercise a claimed right not even mentioned in a treaty. As stated in Choctaw Nation, Indian treaties cannot be re-written or expanded beyond their clear terms to remedy a claimed injustice. 330 U.S. at 179, 67 S.Ct. 650. 60 The Menominee can prove no set of facts entitling them to a declaration of off-reservation fishing rights based on the 1854 treaty. Therefore, the district court correctly dismissed the Tribe's sturgeon claims. 61