Legislature eyes tribe's pact with state on hunting-fishing permits

HELENA, Mont. -- A hunting and fishing agreement between Montana and the tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation unfairly imposes tribal jurisdiction on non-Indians, a state lawmaker said Tuesday.

Rep. Rick Jore, R-Ronan, proposes to terminate the nine-year-old agreement, a move that state and tribal officials fear could poison the relations between state government and Montana's seven Indian reservations.

Montana has more than 500 agreements with Indian tribes on taxation, law enforcement, gambling and other governmental concerns, said Attorney General Joe Mazurek.

"Repealing this agreement would have a ripple effect across Montana," he said.

Mickey Pablo, chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said that to terminate the agreement "would send a message to all the tribes that the state of Montana will not live up to its written word."

Pablo also told legislators that, in virtually every instance where the tribes of the Flathead Nation have taken the state to court over sovereignty issues, the tribes have won.

The agreement, undertaken in 1990 and renewed after public hearings last October, was the product of a lawsuit by the tribes in U.S. District Court in which the tribes had already won a partial victory before the state moved to negotiate a settlement.

The agreement requires non-Indians to buy a tribal hunting or fishing permit to hunt on any land -- including privately owned land -- within the boundaries of the Flathead Reservation.

Jore said that about 15,000 non-Indians who own property inside the boundaries of the northwest Montana reservation are affected and must buy a permit to hunt or fish on their own land or anywhere else within reservation boundaries. It is issued jointly by the state and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The state and the tribes jointly enforce fish and game regulations inside the reservation and jointly issue hunting and fishing permits that are good on the reservation and anywhere else in Montana. However, state permits issued outside the reservation are not valid within its boundaries.

Jore's bill to terminate the agreement, House bill 427, was debated Tuesday in a hearing before the Montana House Fish Wildlife and Parks Committee. This is the third consecutive legislative session in which Jore has offered the bill.

"It's not an issue of racism or animosity," Jore said. "The state has an obligation to not simply forfeit their responsibilities toward non-Indians living within the boundaries of the reservation."

Among those testifying in support of Jore's bill were Sandra Shook of Charlo, Mont., who is suing the state to challenge tribal hunting rights; and Del Palmer of Charlo, who for many years has annually challenged the state-tribal fish and game agreement by hunting on his own property without obtaining a tribal permit.

Jore also offered a letter from the Lake County commissioners supporting the bill.