Cooperation Is Key When Dealing With Tribal Hunting Issues
Richard Stone

WDFW is working hard to develop cooperative approaches to implement tribal hunting requirements. Cooperative approaches save valuable time and money that can be better spent managing and improving big and small game species. Cooperative approaches also lessen the risks associated with court proceedings and lawsuits.

During the 1850s the federal government negotiated a series of treaties with northwest Indian tribes. In return for giving up claims to ownership of most of the lands that make up Washington State, the treaty retains for the tribes “the privilege of hunting on open and unclaimed lands.” Like fishing, hunting is an important part of the culture of the northwest tribes. Hunting provides food and is an important part of tribal religious and cultural practices. Tribal governments around the northwest take the issue of hunting very seriously.

Figuring out how to implement tribal hunting opportunity, and how this fits with WDFW management and non-tribal opportunity has been difficult. As you might imagine there are different interpretations about what all this means. The rules for treaty fishing rights are much clearer, mainly because there were a whole series of court rulings in the 1970s and 80s that provided a much clearer definition of the operating rules. Hunting issues have lagged behind fishing and there have been fewer court cases and thus definition of the rules. WDFW and the tribes have been trying to learn from the lessons of the fishing issues and develop better ways of proceeding on hunting.

There are a number of examples that show how this cooperative spirit can work. WDFW, the Muckleshoot Tribe, and a host of volunteers relocated over 80 elk from the Chehalis Valley where they were causing damage to local farms to the Green River watershed. The elk population in the Green River has been declining and the transplant should provide a much-needed boost. The tribe paid much of the cost of the operation and they will provide much of the monitoring of long-term survival. WDFW provided capture expertise and helped organize the strong volunteer turnout. A similar cooperative approach for the North Cascades elk herd is in the planning stage.

WDFW and the tribes have been cooperating on the development of herd plans for Washington’s elk herds. These spell out the goals for each herd and some of the steps that will be needed to recover and maintain the health of each herd.

Rather than spending time in court WDFW, county prosecutors from several counties, and tribes from the Medicine Creek treaty area (south Puget Sound) took part in a mediation process to help create a working definition of the southern boundary of the Medicine Creek hunting area. Differing accounts of the treaty process and other documents from that time lead to different interpretations of the boundary. The mediation process lead to a working agreement that will simplify enforcement, lessen the burden on county prosecutors, and create a better working relationship with tribal governments.

These are just a few examples of how working together in a cooperative fashion can allow us all to focus on the important issues of improving and managing our wildlife resources.