Warm Springs negotiating tribal hunting control

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is well on its way to greater control of hunting within the reservation, and on its vast ceded lands around the state.

For the last several years, the tribes have quietly negotiated with the state of Oregon on an agreement allowing them to issue their own tags and set their own bag limits on game like deer and elk.

A public records request by NewsChannel 21 found a temporary agreement reached in 2014 is already allowing the tribes to manage hunting. The temporary agreement was renewed again in 2015.

For decades prior, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife issued Warm Springs a percentage of the tags it makes available to the public for various hunting seasons.

According to Wildlife Division Administrator Ron Anglin, the tribes expressed interest in more control about five years ago.

“The tribe has been looking to self-regulate their hunting and move away from the set percentage of tags that had been issued by the department,” Anglin said Friday. “Those negotiations are still ongoing.”

The temporary hunting agreement is set to expire Sunday. Anglin said he is hopeful a permanent agreement will be reached soon.

Tribal Vice-Chairwoman Evaline Patt told NewsChannel 21 she couldn’t comment on the ongoing negotiations. Calls to the Warm Springs Natural Resources Department were not returned.

It’s the biggest change to Warm Springs tribal hunting since 1986, when ODFW and the tribes signed an agreement that ODFW would issue them free deer and elk tags.

ODFW records show the department issued the following tags to Warm Springs for use on ceded lands in 2013: 570 deer tags, 1,000 elk tags, 40 pronghorn tags and two bighorn sheep tags.

Ceded lands are rights the tribes have to lands outside the reservation, as part of original treaty agreements with the federal government.

“Essentially, it extends from the crest of the Cascades east, slightly east of John Day down toward Burns, then back and bordered by the Columbia River on the north and back to Bend,” Anglin said.

The agreement says tribal hunters will not be required to have state-issued tags or licenses while hunting.

It also says the tribes will adopt regulations that are conservative and sensitive to biological concerns for all large species.

“We do have agreements to share harvest data back and forth,” Anglin said, adding that ODFW and the tribes both have concerns about over-harvest of animals.

“They are just as concerned about healthy and robust populations of deer and elk as we are,” he said.

Documents show the tribes will have set limits on other game, such as bighorn sheep and fowl.

With 650,000 acres, Warm Springs is the largest Indian reservation in Oregon. There are eight other federally recognized tribes in the state.

Anglin said the Confederated Tribes of the Umitilla Reservation and the Klamath Tribes both manage and regulate their own hunting. ODFW has management hunting agreements with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.