Number: 1978-16
WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation continues to be dedicated to the principles of sound, scientific wildlife management; and
WHEREAS, the scientific management of fish and wildlife is in jeopardy because of special privileges granted to the Indian people through judicial interpretation of treaties, making it difficult to regulate the taking of fish and wildlife; and
WHEREAS, the States have the authority to enact laws and promulgate rules and regulations concerning the amounts, times, and manners of taking surplus resident fish and wildlife outside Indian reservations;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 16-19, 1978, in Phoenix, Ariz., hereby expresses its support of the following principles relating to native rights and claims upon fish and wildlife resources:
- Indian tribes should have the right to regulate their members to on-reservation hunting and fishing for resident species and to control access to Indian lands within the exterior boundaries of reservations by non-Indians, including the establishment of fees for the privilege of using Indian lands for hunting and fishing by non-members. However, non-Indians hunting and fishing on Indian lands shall be subject to all laws and regulations of the State in which the reservations are located.
- Indians should have no preferential rights or privileges on fish and wildlife resources outside the actual boundaries of their reservations; Because apportionments of surplus fish and wildlife resources are difficult to determine and counterproductive to sound management, all taking must be terminated when surpluses are exhausted;
- Fish and wildlife which migrate on and off or through reservations should be harvested in accordance with State or Federal regulations, the purpose of which may include preserving numbers of the migratory species which the State agency deems appropriate to accommodate an equitable off-reservation harvest; the protection of adequate brood stocks to insure a continuing optimum sustainable yield must be given primary consideration by all governmental authorities and user interest groups.
- Indian ceremonial and subsistence rights on reservations should not result in losses of endangered species of wildlife and/or the brood stocks of any species which may fall below the optimum sustainable yield level;
- After consultation with the Indians, the Department of the Interior and State wildlife agencies should identify the types of management assistance which can be made available to enhance fish and wildlife resources on Indian lands and to provide aids and options other than decimating wildlife populations when subsistence does not meet the individual families’ nutritional needs, and the Congress should appropriate funds for federal assistance if the natives agree to share resources with other citizens.
- Congress should more specifically define “subsistence rights for Indians” in current treaties along the lines herein recommended to clarify and bring order out of the current chaotic conditions of court interpretations.