Yakama Nation wins victory in treaty lands case

WASHINGTON, D.C.-In late June, the federal appeals court confirmed that the Yakama Nation has been right all along about its treaty lands in Washington state.

In a unanimous decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 1.4-million acre Yakama Reservation includes a parcel known as Tract D, which was set aside by treaty more than 150 years ago.

"The Ninth Circuit's decision is a resounding victory for the rights that our ancestors reserved in the Treaty of 1855," Chairman Delano Saluskin said in response to the 26-page ruling.

Tract D consists of 121,465 acres in the southwestern part of the reservation and includes land near Mount Adams. Tribal ancestors recognized the land as critical for food, water and other resources.

With its decision, the 9th Circuit acknowledged some "ambiguity" with Tract D and its boundaries. But when all of the evidence is considered, including the fact that tribal negotiators weren't completely proficient in English in 1855, the court upheld the Yakama Nation's interpretation of the treaty.

"Under the Indian canon of construction, the treaty's ambiguity must be resolved according to the Yakamas' understanding that Tract D was included within the Yakama Reservation," Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for the appeals court.

As a result, the 9th Circuit's ruling forecloses Klickitat County from prosecuting Yakama citizens and other Indians for most offenses on the reservation. Jurisdiction over juvenile delinquency, for example, is shared between the tribe and the federal government, the decision notes.

At the invitation of the 9th Circuit, the Department of Justice submitted a brief in support of the tribe's interpretation of the treaty. An official Bureau of Land Management map that places Tract D within the reservation was included in the record.