Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife v. Klamath Indian Tribe

What happened

By an 1864 treaty, the Klamath and related tribes ceded their aboriginal title to lands in Oregon to the United States. A reservation was created that secured to the Tribe "the exclusive right of taking fish in the streams and lakes, included in said reservation." No right to hunt or fish outside the reservation was expressly preserved.

A dispute later arose over the reservation's boundaries and the value of land that had been erroneously excluded. In 1901 the Tribe and the United States signed a Cession Agreement, ratified by Congress. The United States agreed to pay the Tribe $537,007.20 for 621,824 acres of reservation land, and the Tribe agreed to "cede, surrender, grant, and convey" all its claim, right, title and interest in that land. The reservation was reduced to about two-thirds of its original size.

Tribal members kept hunting and fishing on the ceded land. In 1982 the Tribe sued Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop interference with that hunting and fishing. The lower courts sided with the Tribe.

On July 2, 1985, the Supreme Court reversed. Justice Stevens wrote that the Tribe's exclusive right to hunt and fish on the reservation lands "did not survive as a special right to be free of state regulation" on ceded lands outside the reservation after the 1901 Agreement. The Court said the 1864 treaty language tied the right to the reservation, and nothing in the 1901 Agreement showed an intent to keep special off-reservation rights. Justice Marshall dissented, joined by Justice Brennan.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error