# Plain Language Summary: Grand Ronde Reservation Hunting and Fishing Rights Bill

This bill updates a law that governs the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community in Oregon, specifically addressing their rights to hunt, fish, trap, and gather animals on their reservation and potentially in surrounding areas. Essentially, it clarifies and potentially expands what the tribe can do when it comes to harvesting wildlife and natural resources that are important to their culture, food security, and way of life.

The bill modifies the original Grand Ronde Reservation Act to better reflect the tribe's sovereignty and their traditional practices. This means the tribe would have greater authority to set their own rules about hunting seasons, bag limits, and which animals can be harvested, rather than being subject to the same regulations that apply to other Oregon residents. The changes likely give the tribe more control over managing wildlife on their lands and may allow them to engage in hunting and fishing practices that are central to their cultural identity and subsistence needs.

For most people outside the tribe, this bill has limited direct impact. However, it could affect hunters and fishers in Oregon if it expands tribal hunting and fishing rights into areas beyond the reservation boundaries, as this might create different rules for different groups of people in the same geographic area. The bill is primarily about recognizing tribal sovereignty and allowing the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community to exercise greater control over their natural resources and traditional practices, which is an important step in honoring treaty rights and tribal self-determination.

A bill to amend the Grand Ronde Reservation Act to address the hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, and for other purposes.

Merkley, Jeff

This bill provides a process by which the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and Oregon may negotiate to amend or replace the existing agreement defining the tribe's hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights. The current agreement, which was made effective by a January 12, 1987, consent decree by the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, serves as the exclusive and final determination of the tribe's hunting, fishing, trapping, and gathering rights. This bill instead allows a December 2, 1986, agreement between the United States, Oregon, and the tribe (known as the Grand Ronde Hunting and Fishing Agreement) to define the tribe's rights until and unless it is amended or replaced upon mutual agreement of the tribe and Oregon. The bill allows the tribe and Oregon to return to the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to request the modification or termination of the January 12, 1987, consent decree. The bill prohibits a new or amended agreement from (1) affecting the other rights of the tribe or any other Indian tribe, (2) limiting Oregon from entering into separate agreements with other tribes to address the authority to take species within the geographic scope of the agreement, or (3) being used in a civil or criminal action to modify any treaty or other right of a tribe.