Upper Skagit Tribe v. United States

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedAugust 6, 2009
Docket07-35061
StatusPublished

This text of Upper Skagit Tribe v. United States (Upper Skagit Tribe v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Upper Skagit Tribe v. United States, (9th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE,  Plaintiff-Appellee, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. STATE OF WASHINGTON, Defendant, and No. 07-35061 SUQUAMISH INDIAN TRIBE, D.C. Nos. Defendant-Appellant,  CV-70-09213-RSM SP-05-00003-RSM v. OPINION JAMESTOWN S’KLALLAM TRIBE; LOWER ELWHA KLALLAM TRIBE; LUMMI INDIAN NATION; NISQUALLY INDIAN TRIBE; PORT GAMBLE S’KLALLAM TRIBE; SKOKOMISH INDIAN TRIBE; TULALIP TRIBE, Plaintiff-intervenors-Appellees, SWINOMISH INDIAN TRIBAL COMMUNITY, Cross-claimant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Ricardo S. Martinez, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted October 21, 2008—Seattle, Washington

10533 10534 UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON Filed August 6, 2009

Before: Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Pamela Ann Rymer, and Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Kleinfeld 10536 UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON

COUNSEL

Michelle Hansen, Suquamish Tribe, Office of Tribal Attor- ney, Suquamish, Washington, for the appellant.

Harold Chesnin, Office of the Tribal Attorney, Seattle, Wash- ington, and Andrew H. Salter (briefed), Salter Joyce Ziker, PLLC, for appellee Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.

James M. Jannetta, Office of Tribal Attorney, LaConnor, Washington, for appellee Swinomish Indian Tribal Commu- nity. UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON 10537 Lauren P. Rasmussen (briefed), Law Offices of Lauren P. Rasmussen, Seattle, Washington, for appellees Port Gamble S’Klallam and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribes.

Mason D. Morisset (briefed), Morisset, Schlosser, Jozwiak & McGaw, Seattle, Washington, for appellee The Tulalip Tribes.

OPINION

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge:

This case concerns the geographical scope of the Suqua- mish Indian Tribe’s treaty right fishing grounds in the Puget Sound.

I. Background.

In 1850s, the United States signed a series of treaties with the tribes1 of the Pacific Northwest.2 In the treaties, “[t]he Tribes ceded their aboriginal lands to the United States for settlement, receiving in exchange exclusive title to defined lands, free medical care, schools, occupational training, and annuity payments.”3 1 See United States v. Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312, 355 (W.D. Wash. 1974) (“No formal political structure had been created by the Indians liv- ing in the Puget Sound area at the time of initial contact with the United States Government. Governor Stevens . . . deliberately created political entities for purposes of delegating responsibilities and negotiating treaties. In creating these entities Governor Stevens named many chiefs and sub- chiefs.”) [hereinafter Decision I]. 2 See, e.g., Treaty of Point No Point (Jan. 26, 1855), 12 Stat. 933 (1859); Treaty of Point Elliott (Jan. 22, 1855), 12 Stat. 927 (1859). See generally Washington v. Wash. State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Ass’n, 443 U.S. 658, 661-69 (1979). 3 United States v. Washington, 157 F.3d 630, 638 (9th Cir. 1998). For a general overview of the history of the treaties and the ensuing fishing rights litigation, see id. at 638-41. 10538 UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON The treaties also reserved to the Tribes the “right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations . . . .”4 The term “usual and accustomed grounds and stations” includes “every fishing location where members of a tribe customarily fished from time to time at and before treaty times, however distant from the then usual habitat of the tribe, and whether or not other tribes then also fished in the same waters.”5

In 1970, the United States initiated the underlying case, United States v. Washington, against the State of Washington in order to vindicate the tribes’ treaty right to fish. As part of his lengthy and detailed opinions, Judge Boldt determined the various tribes’ usual and accustomed fishing grounds and sta- tions.6 He stated that he was particularly aided in his determi- nations by the “authoritative and reliable summaries of relevant aspects of Indian life” prepared by Dr. Barbara Lane.7

As relevant to this case, Judge Boldt determined that:

The usual and accustomed fishing places of the Suquamish Tribe include the marine waters of Puget Sound from the northern tip of Vashon Island to the Fraser River and including Haro and Rosario Straits, the streams draining into the western side of this por- tion of Puget Sound and also Hood Canal.8

This conclusion was based on Dr. Lane’s report. Her report indicated that the Suquamish customarily fished at the mouths 4 Treaty of Point Elliott, 12 Stat. at 928. 5 Decision I, 384 F. Supp. at 332. 6 Id. at 359-82; see also United States v. Washington, 459 F. Supp. 1020, 1049, 1059-60 (W.D. Wash. 1978) [hereinafter Decision II]. 7 Decision I, 384 F. Supp. at 350; see also United States v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 901 F.2d 772, 777 & n.13 (9th Cir. 1990) (noting Judge Boldt’s reliance on Dr. Lane). 8 Decision II, 459 F. Supp. at 1049. UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON 10539 of the Duwamish and Snohomish Rivers9 in the fall and win- ter, and in wider areas in the spring and summer. She also noted that an October 1827 journal entry indicated that the Suquamish had traveled all the way north to the Fraser River and Fort Langley in what is now British Columbia.10 Dr. Lane reported that “the Suquamish regularly travelled through the San Juan Islands and to the Fraser river . . . . It is likely that one of the reasons for travel was to harvest fish.”

Almost thirty years after Judge Boldt reviewed Dr. Lane’s report and made the initial determination of Suquamish’s ter- ritory, the tribe changed its fishing patterns to include Sara- toga Passage and Skagit Bay. The Upper Skagit Tribe then initiated this case by filing a request for determination11 that the Suquamish were fishing outside of their adjudicated grounds. Both Upper Skagit and Suquamish moved for sum- mary judgment. The relevant facts are undisputed and set forth above; the parties only dispute the inferences to be drawn from those facts.

The district court granted summary judgment to Upper Skagit, finding that it had met its burden of demonstrating that Judge Boldt did not intend to include these areas in Suqua- mish’s traditional fishing grounds. The court reached this con- clusion even though it held that Judge Boldt used the term Puget Sound unambiguously to refer to all the marine areas inward from the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Suqua- mish timely appeals. 9 Both rivers are on the east side of the Puget Sound. The Duwamish empties into Elliott Bay near Seattle. The Snohomish empties into Port Gardner Bay near Everett. 10 The Fraser River empties into the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver. 11 Requests for determination are similar to a complaint. They are the mechanism by which a party may invoke the continuing jurisdiction of the court in United States v. Washington. See Decision I, 384 F. Supp. at 419. Such requests begin new subproceedings in the original case. The judg- ment at the end of subproceedings are final judgments appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. 10540 UPPER SKAGIT TRIBE v. WASHINGTON II. Analysis.

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