MVSKOKE RESERVATION – Attorney General Gentner Drummond released a binding legal opinion regarding hunting and fishing on tribal land on Dec. 18. The opinion, requested by State Representative Chris Kannady, declares that the actions of Stitt and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation are needless, illegal, and will only damage the already strained relationship between the State and the tribes.
“The supremacy of federal law dictates that it preempts application of the Oklahoma Wildlife Code to Members and Nonmember Indians hunting and fishing on the Nations’ reservations,” Drummond wrote in his statement.
Drummond’s binding opinion comes as three Tribal Nations — the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations — are pursuing a federal lawsuit against Gov. Stitt, the ODWC, and Stitt’s special prosecutor, Russ Cochran, citing violations of tribal sovereignty and government overreach.
According to Drummond’s press release, his decision centers around the court case New Mexico v. Mescalero Apache Tribe, in which the Supreme Court argued that trust lands held by Tribes are generally the jurisdiction of the Tribes rather than the state.
As Drummond states, state wildlife agencies such as the ODWC cannot enforce state jurisdiction on lands where tribes already have their own wildlife agency. The three tribes involved in the lawsuit all have their own wildlife agencies: the Cherokee Nation Wildlife Conservation Department, the Chickasaw Nation Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Choctaw Nation Department of Wildlife Conservation (CNDWC).
Since the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes have their own wildlife agencies, the tribal agencies have primary jurisdiction over their lands in regards to hunting and fishing, according to Drummond.
Drummond also pointed to the successful partnerships in conservation the Tribes and ODWC have had for years. Drummond wrote, “We should be strengthening this collaboration, not allowing political agendas to undermine decades of cooperative wildlife management. Oklahomans deserve elected officials who respect the law and these longstanding working relationships.”
