For millennia, we Cherokees have provided for our
families by hunting and fishing the lands. Even before European encroachment,
it’s how we fed our communities, clothed our children and crafted tools. Hunting
and fishing are not simply honored traditions in our Cherokee culture, it’s
what kept us alive and sustained us. It is and was our basic way of life. We
had full reign of the land when our ancestors lived in the southeast United
States, and we retained those rights by an 1828 treaty with the United States
that carried over to our removal to present-day Oklahoma.
In the modern Cherokee Nation, those traditions
continue. Hunting and fishing are skills that are passed from one generation to
the next. I remember learning from my father and granddad how to cast a line on
the lake or bring down a buck in the woods. These are skills I’ve shared with
my own children and now delight in sharing with my grandchildren.
That’s why I am so proud to announce an historic
agreement between the state of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation. This week I
signed a hunting and fishing compact with Governor Mary Fallin that both upholds
our inherent treaty rights to freely hunt and fish our own lands, and extends
those rights across all 77 counties in Oklahoma. Now Cherokees can go fishing
at Beaver’s Bend, or pheasant hunting in western Oklahoma. This right to hunt across
the state will be at no charge to Cherokee Nation citizens.
Our treaty rights say Cherokees can freely hunt on
tribal land. But as state and tribal jurisdictions have overlapped or
connected, there has been confusion on exactly where Cherokees can exercise
their inherent right to hunt and fish the land. The Cherokee Nation and state
of Oklahoma had separate laws which required different documents to be carried,
depending on who was hunting and fishing, and where they were engaged in the
sport. State law required people to purchase a license to hunt or fish within
the state, while Cherokee Nation required only that our citizens carry a copy
of his or her blue card.
Unfortunately, with these different laws in place,
Cherokees have been wrongly ticketed or fined by the state of Oklahoma, or made
to answer unnecessary questions about their fundamental rights as Cherokee
hunters or fishermen. Under this compact the the Cherokee Nation and Oklahoma
will unify regulation. Cherokees need to carry only one hunting and fishing
license issued by our tribe that will be honored by state game wardens.
When I assumed the office of Principal Chief, I took
stock of the lingering issues that could be resolved for the good of our
people. Hunting and fishing rights was one of them, and it became a major priority
for my office. We spent more than two years negotiating with the state on how
to protect the inherent rights of our citizens, and most importantly, our
tribal sovereignty. I’m proud to say this compact accomplishes that.
There are no more “gray areas” in Oklahoma when our
tribal citizens hunt or fish. They can now hunt and fish on tribal and state
land or, with landowner permission, on private property without fear they may
accidentally step into an area where they may be ticketed.
Beginning January 1, every Cherokee over the age of
16 residing in Oklahoma will be allowed to hunt with a Cherokee Nation issued
license, and receive one deer tag and one turkey tag. About half of our
Oklahoma Cherokees live outside our 14-county jurisdiction, so this is also a
way to help Cherokees living in central, southern and western Oklahoma. Too
often these Cherokees feel disconnected from our tribe and our services. Now
they can show their Cherokee Nation hunting and fishing license with pride and
know their tribe is reinforcing their inherent, sovereign rights as Cherokees.
Not only is this a great example of the Cherokee Nation
reinforcing our sovereign rights, we are once again leaders in all of Indian
Country. The Cherokee Nation is the first tribe to enter into a compact with
the state to properly recognize our long-held treaty rights to hunt and fish
the lands within our jurisdictional boundaries and now beyond.
Under our new agreement, the Cherokee Nation will
pay two dollars for every license issued to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation for environmental conservation. The state of Oklahoma can match these
funds with federal dollars, and reinvest it into conservation and wildlife
management. By law, the money from
Cherokee Nation to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation can never
be diverted to any other purpose. As good stewards of the land ourselves, it’s
very important to protect our natural resources and wild game and fish.
More details will be forthcoming in the following
weeks, but we encourage tribal citizens to make sure their registration and
contact information has been updated and is current by contacting the Cherokee
Nation Tribal Registration Department at (918) 453-5000 or at registration@cherokee.org.
I am honored to deliver this agreement to the
Cherokee people and deeply appreciate the outstanding work of Cherokee Nation
Attorney General Todd Hembree, Senior Assistant Attorney General Sara Hill and
other members of the Attorney General’s office and executive branch for their
work in negotiating this compact.
Through this compact, hunting and fishing will
remain a vital part of our survival. As our ancestors lived, and their ancestors
before them lived, hunting and fishing will continue to be a way of life for
Cherokees for generations to come.
Wado.
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