Klamath Indian Tribe v. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Appellant Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife appeals from part of the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Klamath Indian Tribe. The court held, in part, that the Tribe, and not the state, has the right to regulate tribal members’ hunting, fishing and trapping on lands ceded to the United States in 1901. We affirm.

FACTS

In 1864, the Klamath and Modoc Tribes, along with the Yahooskin Band of Snake Indians, ceded to the United States roughly 20 million acres of aboriginal lands. In return, they received a 1.9 million acre reservation. Treaty of October 14, 1864, 16 Stat. 707 (1866). A portion of the treaty provided:

Government surveyors twice surveyed the reservation boundaries, once in 1871 and again in 1888. Both surveys failed to include large tracts of land concededly intended for the reservation. Following years of tribal complaints, Congress authorized a commission to determine the amount and value of the excluded land. In 1896 the commission concluded that 617,-000 acres were erroneously excluded, and that the land was worth $553,270, or 86.36 cents per acre. This figure was based on soil quality, grazing lands, timber, and the quantity of rock…