United States v. Washington (Boldt decision). We represented
multiple tribal clients in this seminal dispute regarding treaty
fishing rights. After ten years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme
Court in the Fishing Vessel decision held that Washington tribes
were entitled to 50% of all harvestable fish and could regulate
their own fisheries. The case is of great economic benefit
to the tribes and is important as a recognition of their sovereignty.
We continue to represent the Makah Tribe in on-going proceedings
in this case.
Columbia River Hydropower Litigation. We represent the Confederated
Tribes of the Colville Reservation in the ongoing litigation
over the Federal Government’s biological opinion for
the Federal Columbia River Power System, National Wildlife
Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service. The firm also
represents the Colville Tribes in the coordinated development
with federal agencies of the Chief Joseph Hatchery and several
other Columbia River fisheries issues.
Puget Sound Chinook Salmon. We represented the Makah Tribe
and coordinated the amicus participation of several other Northwest
treaty tribes in defending the Puget Sound Chinook Management
Plan in both the federal district and appellate courts, Salmon
Spawning & Recovery Alliance v. NOAA.
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Water Rights Settlement Act. In 1906,
the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe exchanged 31,000 acres of
land for a 4,680-acre reservation and the government's promise
of an irrigation system. The government breached its promises
-- the irrigation system was never completed. We helped the
Tribe achieve a favorable legislative settlement of its claims,
including a $43 million settlement fund. Our work also included
representing the Tribe in complex, multi-party water litigation
and participating in the Interior Department's water rights
negotiations program.
Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians v. State of Minnesota. We commenced this litigation in August 1990 to vindicate the
treaty hunting, fishing and gathering rights of the Mille Lacs
Band and its members. Six other Chippewa bands participated
in later phases of the case. We served as lead counsel throughout,
and argued the case in the United States Supreme Court. In
March 1999, the Court held that the Bands’ treaty rights
remain intact and are subject to regulation by the state only
to the extent necessary for conservation. The decision has
been hailed as the most significant treaty hunting and fishing
rights decision in 20 years.
Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes v. United
States. On behalf of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, which shares the Wind
River Indian Reservation with the Eastern Shoshone, we have
pursued breach of trust claims against the United States for
mismanagement of tribal trust assets and funds before the United
States Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Circuit Court of
Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Thus far, the
tribes have recovered almost $60 million, and several phases
of the complex case remain pending.
Spirit Cave Human Remains. We have represented the Fallon-Paiute
Shoshone Tribe in administrative agency and federal court proceedings
in an effort to repatriate human remains and associated funerary
objects that are 9,500 years old. The federal district court
ruled that the involved federal agency had acted in an arbitrary
and capricious manner when it denied the Tribe’s repatriation
claim, and ordered that the agency issue a new decision.
Moapa Band
of Paiute Indians Water Rights Agreements. We represented the
Moapa Band of Paiutes in multiple complex water rights
proceedings involving the Las Vegas Valley Water District and
other Nevada water users, and negotiated a series of agreements
to secure a fair share of the limited surface and groundwater
rights available in one of the driest regions in the country.
Makah Tribe’s Treaty Whaling Rights. We have represented
the Makah Tribe since 1995 in its efforts to resume exercise
of its treaty whaling rights. We were successful in obtaining
an aboriginal subsistence whaling quota from the International
Whaling Commission, and are defending the Tribe in two major
federal court lawsuits challenging the Federal government’s
approval of the hunt. We are now helping the Tribe participate
in an administrative process to obtain a waiver from the Marine
Mammal Protection Act’s prohibition on the taking of
marine mammals.
Coal Bed Methane Development in Southeastern Montana. We represent
the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in ongoing efforts to protect natural
and cultural resources from the adverse effects of off-Reservation
coal bed methane development. These efforts have included successful
federal court litigation challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s
approval of full-field coal bed methane development surrounding
the Reservation and enforcing Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act. We also represent the Tribe before the Montana
Supreme Court in a challenge to the State of Montana’s
issuance of water discharge permits to the CBM industry in
violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
Washington Water Rights Law. We represent the Makah Tribe and
coordinate briefing for several other Northwest treaty tribes
in a challenge to the State of Washington’s 2003 Municipal
Water Law. The case is currently pending before the Washington
Supreme Court after the tribes and conservation groups won
a trial court decision invalidating major components of the
law which retroactively expands water rights for new residential
development at the expense of the vested rights of Indian tribes
and others.
Hollowbreast v. Northern Cheyenne. We represented the Northern
Cheyenne Tribe in U.S. Supreme Court proceedings in which
the Court confirmed the Tribe's ownership of oil, gas,
coal and
other mineral deposits lying beneath the surface of the Reservation,
as well as the power of the Tribal Council to control those
deposits for the benefit of all Tribal members. The decision
unanimously reversed an adverse Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
decision.
Colville Mount Tolman Project. The firm was principal attorney
to the Colville Confederated Tribes in connection with
the agreements for the Mount Tolman Project, a world-class
molybdenum
and copper open-pit mine to be developed on the Colville
Reservation. We played a pivotal role in the consummation
of an exploration
agreement which provided for major exploration payments
to the Tribes and development expenditures by the operator,
as well as other features of unique benefit to the Tribes.
Thereafter,
we played a similar role in negotiating a mining agreement
which provided unprecedented financial returns to the Tribes,
rights of tribal participation, and monitoring and accountability
of operator activities and transactions.
