National Indian Law Library NILL No. 0 \'"??,Dq / 1Cf3'7- The Native American Rights Fund is a non-profit organization specializing in the protection of Indian rights. The priorities of NARF are: (1) the preservation of tribal existence; (2) the protection of tribal natural resources; (3) the promotion of human rights; (4) the accountability of governments to Native Americans; and (5) the development of Indian law. Board of Directors Sy Gomberg National Indian Law Library Norman Ration (Navajo-Laguna) Will H. Hays, Jr. deana harragarra waters Chairman Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. (Kiowa/Otoe-Missouria) Arizona Billy Mills (Oglala Sioux) Law Librarian George Kalama (Nisqually) N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa) Ed Bristow (Cherokee/Choctaw) Vice-Chairman Alfonso Ortiz (Sanjuan Thwa) Legal Research Associate Washington Amado Pena (Yaqui/Chicano) Mary Mousseau (Santee Sioux) A. Kenneth Custalow (Mattaponi) David Risling, Jr. (Hoopa) Librarian Assistant Virginia Pernell Roberts Bonnie Davis Ada Deer (Menominee) Dr. Jonas Salk (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Wisconsin Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) Secretary Gene Gentry (Klamath) Connie Stevens Professional Staff Oregon Maria Thllchief (Osage) Mahealani Ing (Native Hawaiian) Studs Terkel Susan Arkeketa (Otoe-Missouria/Creek) Grantwriter /Editor Hawaii Ruth Thompson Rose Brave (Oglala Sioux) Danny Little Axe (Absentee-Shawnee) Tenaya Torres (ChiricahuaApache) Office Manager Oklahoma Thomas N. Tureen Marilyn Pourier (Oglala Sioux) Chris McNeil, Jr. (Tlingit) Dennis Weaver Development Assistant Chairman Corporate Officers Alaska (Thrm expired Fall '87) Support Staff Wayne Newell (Passamaquoddy) John E. Echohawk (Pawnee) Executive Director Mary Bumbera Maine Legal Secretary Rick Dauphinais Leonard Norris, Jr. (Klamath) Mary Chaddlesone (Kiowa) Oregon (Term expired Fall '87) (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Deputy Director Legal Secretary Harvey Paymella (Hopi-Thwa) Kim Crandall Arizona (Thrm expiredFall '87) Susan Rosseter Hart Secretary/'freasurer Bookkeeper Calvin Peters (Squaxin Island) Tia Hudson Washington Mary L. Hanewall Development Officer Legal Secretary Caleb Pungowiyi (Siberian Yupik) Sheila Mccampbell (Euchee/Creek) Alaska Staff Attorneys Legal Secretary Lois J. Risling (Hoopa) Lare Aschenbrenner Pat Moses (Santo Domingo Pueblo} California (Term ended Spring '87) Robert Anderson (Nett Lake Chippewa) File Clerk Anthony L. Strong (Tlingit) Jerilyn Decoteau Sonya Paul (Navajo) Alaska (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Administrative Secretary Bill Thorne (Pomo} Utah Walter R. Echo-Hawk (Pawnee) Rita Pitka (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) Wade Teeple (Chippewa) K. Jerome Gottschalk Legal Secretary Michigan (Resigned Fall '87) Yvonne T. Knight (Ponca/Creek) Mary Lu Prosser Verna Williamson (Isleta Pueblo) Arlinda Locklear (Lumbee) (Cheyenne River Sioux) New Mexico (Resigned effective October 1, 1987) Administrative Assistant Melody McCoy (Cherokee) National Support Committee Debbie Raymond (Navajo) Scott B. McElroy Administrative Assistant Owanah Anderson (Choctaw) (Resigned effective November 1, 1987) Patrita Ime Salazar Edward Asner Don B. Miller ('lb.as/Santa Ana Pueblo) Katrina McCormick Barnes Steven C. Moore Receptionist David Brubeck Robert M. Peregoy (Flathead) Patricia Stinnette Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell Faith Roessel (Navajo) Bookkeeper (Northern Cheyenne) Henry J. Sockbeson (Penobscot) Marilyn White (Mohawk) Iron Eyes Cody (Cherokee-Cree) Of Counsel Legal Secretary Val Cordova (Taos Pueblo) Krista Wilber Norman Cousins Richard B. Collins Accountant Richard Dysart Charles F. Wilkinson Jackie Vaughn James Garner Direct Mail Coordinator ~atlonal Indian Law library ! 522 Broadway Bou:~,~r. CO 80302 Chairman's Letter . 2 Executive Director's Report . 3 The Board of Directors . 4 The National Support Committee . 5 Introduction . • . 6 The Preservation of Tribal Existence . 7 The Protection of Tribal Natural Resources .............. 10 The Promotion of Human Rights . 13 The Accountability of Governments . 15 The Development oflndian Law . 17 Treasurer's Report ................................. 18 A Sacredness Of Their Own by Benjamin Harjo, Jr. (Shawnee-Seminole) Credits Photos: Monty Roessel, John Youngblut, Kim Crandall, Western History Collections, Univer­ sity of Oklahoma Library. Since 1970, the Native American NARF will continue its fight for Rights Fund has successfully repre­ Native American tribes and individ­ sented Native American tribes and uals in asserting their rights. As it has individuals. In the court and in Con­ in the past, NARF intends to play a gress, NARF has provided expert major role in Indian rights protection legal representation on behalf of in the coming years. tribes and individuals to protect their However, in order to continue to inherent rights. provide legal assistance to Native This past year NARF was suc­ Americans throughout the country, it cessful in assisting the Alabama­ is critical that we secure the neces­ Coushatta Tribe and Ysleta del Sur sary financial support. Federal budget Pueblo of Texas restore their status as cuts and the increasing competitive­ federally recognized tribes. NARF's ness for available funds have made past accomplishments include estab­ NARF's job even harder. We thank lishing a homeland for the Traditional everyone who has supported us these Kickapoo in Texas, asserting treaty past years and we hope you will con­ fishing rights of the Bay Mills Com­ tinue to assist us in protecting the munity in Michigan, and settling rights of all American Indians. historic land claims for the Passama­ Norman Ration quoddy and the Penobscot Tribes Chairman of Maine. Despite these victories, there re­ mains much work to be done. Pres­ ently, NARF is involved in many ongoing disputes which would have far-reaching effects on Indians in this country. The issues involve land claims, tribal recognition, water rights claims, taxation and jurisdic­ tion. These rights of Native Ameri­ cans must continue to be protected. Texas tribes attained the same legal NARF was also successful in assist­ and political status and protection as ing the Kootenai Indians of Montana, other Indian tribes. Idaho and British Columbia in stop­ The Ely Colony Shoshone in ping the construction of a hydroelec­ Nevada regained criminal and civil tric dam on the Kootenai River in jurisdiction over its reservation when Montana. The dam would have the Department of the Interior was diverted the River around Kootenai persuaded by NARF to accept the Falls, a sacred religious site for the State of Nevada's offer to retrocede Kootenai religion. The denial of a jurisdiction. Nevada had been given project license by the Federal Energy such jurisdiction by Congress in Regulatory Commission ended a 1955, but a 1968 amendment allows nine-year struggle for the Kootenai. retrocession back to the Tribe if Amicus curiae briefs were also filed accepted by the Interior Department. by NARF on behalf of tribal clients in NARF succeeded in challenging two Indian cases decided favorably the Department of the Interior's by the United States Supreme Court refusal to place certain off-reserva­ in 1987. In California v. Cabazon tion tribally-owned lands in federal Band of Mission Indians, the Court trust status for the St. Croix Chip­ held that California did not have pewa Tribe of Wisconsin. The Tribe jurisdiction to apply its gaming laws In 1987 the Native American Rights claimed that the refusal was unlawful to reservation gaming enterprises Fund continued to provide legal because the Department of the Inte­ governed by federal and tribal law, advice and representation to Indian rior relied on a rule which they recognizing that gaming is a legiti­ tribes, organizations and individuals adopted illegally. A federal court in mate method of raising revenue for on issues of major significance to Washington, D.C., agreed and ordered tribal governments as it is for state Indian people throughout the nation. the Interior Department to review the governments. In Iowa Mutual v. The access. to justice made possible 'fribe' s petition under its previous LaPlante, the Court held that when a by NARF's assistance resulted in policy and without any recourse to citizen of another state brings a suit several important legal victories in fis­ the illegal rule. against a reservation resident, the cal year 1987 for Native Americans. The Muckleshoot Tribe in the State case must first be brought in tribal NARF successfully represented the of Washington will have its salmon court and not federal court, but that a Gay Head Wampanoag Tribe of fishery in the White River restored as federal court may later review the Massachusetts in its petition for the result of an out-of-court settle­ case to determine if tribal jurisdiction federal recognition of its tribal status ment secured by NARF. The power was proper. to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. company whose hydroelectric dam These and other significant devel­ Following federal recognition, Con­ has been diverting most of the White opments in 1987 prove that the gress then passed land claim settle­ River away upstream from the reser­ American system of justice can work ment legislation resolving a land vation since 1910 agreed to a fourfold for Native Americans. In hundreds of claim lawsuit filed by NARF for the increase in the amount of water flow­ cases since 1970, NARF has made Tribe in 1974. Under the terms of the ing through the dam which will allow the legal process work for the benefit settlement legislation, the 'fribe gains restoration of the tribal fishery. The of Indian people.