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The legislation should also support, in accordance with the Self-Determination policy, 

 the operation of tribal natural resource programs and should encourage the coordination of 

 federal programs which impact on natural resource protection and enhancement. Presently, 

 tribes deal with many federal agencies -- the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Environmental 

 Protection Agency, the United States Geological Survey, United States Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, among others -- on natural resource matters. Each agency may have its own Indian 

 Policy — which may or may not be the same as others. This creates inconsistencies in the 

 implementation of the Self-Determination policy and makes it far more difficult for the 

 tribes to coordinate their natural resource programs. These inconsistencies should be 

 rectified by the inclusion of a clear and concise statement of the federal trust responsibility 

 in the legislation and by its consistent implementation in accordance with the terms of the 

 legislation. 



2. Integrated resource management plans should be supported . The protection and 

 enhancement of on and off-reservation natural resources is vitally important to the tribal 

 future. Our culture, our religion and our economy all rely on the availability of the plants 

 and animals on which we have depended from time immemorial and which our treaties 

 provide us with a right to harvest. 



To protect these resources, our decisions in other areas - economic development, 

 environmental protection, and infrastructure development, for example - must be made with 

 an understanding of what impact these decisions will have on our resource base and what 

 alternatives are available. Initially, this will require that the tribes undertake the substantial 

 task of acquiring the baseline data about the reservation resources and environment which 

 is needed to develop such a plan. Once this information is acquired, it must be organized 

 and stored in an efficient and cost effective manner which makes it accessible for planning 

 purposes. The use of systems such as the GIS system, which many governments are now 

 using, should be encouraged to enhance the utility of natural resource information. 

 Developing this data base and converting it to a useful form will take time and require 

 funding. This funding should be viewed as an investment in the reservation's future and 

 should be provided for in the legislation. 



In sum, we believe it critical that the legislation support and provide funding for the 

 development and implementation of integrated natural resource management plans, such 

 as that which the Band has sought to develop. These plans are essential to the tribes' ability 

 to make decisions which are in accordance with their religious, cultural, environmental, 

 subsistence and economic objectives. The legislation should also recognize the tribes' 

 inherent rights to make and implement decisions which are necessary to protect the 

 reservation natural resources and environment. 



3. The U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Brendak and Montana should be 

 legislatively modified . Many states, relying on the Brendale and Montana decisions, generate 

 substantial revenues from the sale to non-Indians of licenses to hunt on fee lands and fish 

 on navigable waters within reservation boundaries. This occurs on our Reservation, on 



