Lower Brule Sioux Tribe v. Southn Dakota

540 F. Supp. 276, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17794
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Dakota
DecidedApril 30, 1982
DocketCIV 80-3046
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 540 F. Supp. 276 (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe v. Southn Dakota) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe v. Southn Dakota, 540 F. Supp. 276, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17794 (D.S.D. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BOGUE, Chief Judge.

The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe brought this action against the State of South Dakota and Jack Merwin, Secretary of the State Department of Game, Fish, and Parks. In its complaint the Tribe seeks declaratory and injunctive relief concerning regulatory jurisdiction over hunting and fishing on the Lower Brule Reservation, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202. This Court has jurisdiction over the controversy under 28 U.S.C. § 1362. 1

*278 BACKGROUND

The territory of the Sioux Nation was defined first by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, 11 Stat. 749, and later, by the Second Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, 15 Stat. 635. See, United States v. Sioux Nation, 448 U.S. 371, 100 S.Ct. 2716, 65 L.Ed.2d 844 (1980). The Act of March 2, 1889, 25 Stat. 888, divided the Sioux Nation and described the boundaries of the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. The reservation, generally, was situated in central South Dakota adjacent to and extending westward from the Missouri River. See, Plate 1. The eastern boundary of the reservation was established in “the center of the main channel of the Missouri River,” from “Old Fort George,” south to “Fort Lookout.” The eastern boundary as of 1889 remained in the river even though the reservation was diminished along the western boundary in 1899, 30 Stat. 1362, and again in 1906, 34 Stat. 124. The General Allotment Act, 24 Stat. 388, authorized the issuance of fee patents to individual Indians covering land within the reservation. Title to some of these parcels eventually passed to non-Indians. Today the Tribe states that land ownership within the reservation is divided among the Tribe, individual allottees, the United States, and both Indian and non-Indian owners of fee land.

Under the 1944 Flood Control Act, P.L. 534-78, 58 Stat. 887, Congress authorized a comprehensive flood control plan which included the construction of several dams and reservoirs on the Missouri River. In order to construct the Big Bend and Fort Randall dam and reservoir projects, Congress authorized the acquisition of tribal and trust lands belonging to the Lower Brule Tribe, along the eastern boundary of the reservation. Tribal lands needed for the Fort Randall project were taken by the power of eminent domain. Congress enacted P.L. 85-923, 72 Stat. 1773, September 2, 1958, (hereinafter, “the Ft. Randall Taking Act”), to provide compensation to the Tribe and its members for the land taken. On October 3, 1962, Congress enacted P.L. 87-734, 76 Stat. 698, to authorize the acquisition of and payment for tribal and trust lands needed for the Big Bend project. This case, in part, concerns the allocation of regulatory jurisdiction over hunting and fishing within these “taking areas.”

The Tribe has adopted various hunting and fishing ordinances to improve management of wildlife resources on the reservation and within the taken areas. These ordinances were adopted pursuant to the tribal constitution. Some of the ordinances are inconsistent with state laws. For example, the Tribe does not prohibit the use of lead shot or other toxic shot shells by individuals hunting water fowl within the Reservation. The State prohibits the use of lead shot or other toxic shot in this area. In the past, the Tribe and the State have established different water fowl hunting season restrictions affecting the Missouri River and reservoir areas. The State established a Missouri River Refuge in portions of the River which include the Big Bend Reservoir and Lake Sharpe. Since the Tribe alleges that these areas are within Reservation boundaries, the Tribe established its own refuge in the same area and asserts the power to regulate hunting and fishing by all persons. The Tribe seeks to derive income through fees .md licenses arising from its hunting and fishing regulation of the area.

Accordingly, the Tribe requests a declaration by this Court that the State lacks jurisdiction to regulate the hunting and fishing activities of any person within the exterior boundaries of the reservation. The Tribe also seeks to enjoin the State from applying and enforcing its hunting and fishing laws against both members and nonmembers of the Tribe. Conversely, the State contends that the Lower Brule Reservation was di *279 minished by the 1944 Flood Control Act and by the specific enactments which provided for the acquisition of tribal and trust lands needed for the Big Bend and Fort Randall dam and reservoir projects. The State further asserts that these acts abrogated the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, to the extent that it reserved hunting and fishing rights of the Tribe within the taken area. Consequently, the State seeks a declaration by this Court that the State has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate hunting and fishing by all persons within the taken area. 2

Having filed numerous depositions, exhibits and affidavits, both the Tribe and the State assert that there are no genuine issues as to any material fact. Thus, the merits of this case, as it applies to the “taking” areas, are before this Court on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. The pleadings initially state two issues:

(1) Did the acquisition of tribal and trust lands by the United States, pursuant to the 1944 Flood Control Act, diminish the Lower Brule Reservation and its boundaries to the extent of the taking?
(2) Did the acquisition of these lands abrogate the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s treaty right to hunt and fish within the area acquired free of State regulation?

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540 F. Supp. 276, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17794, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lower-brule-sioux-tribe-v-southn-dakota-sdd-1982.