Reservation Sharing Settlement

Washington, DC: (Dec-08-07) The Yurok Tribe brought a lawsuit against the neighboring Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe, over a long standing dispute over reservation sharing. Sources stated that at the heart of the issue was money from logging five decades ago at a time when the two tribes shared a reservation. To end the dispute, Congress passed a settlement act in 1988 that gave the Yurok their own reservation along the Klamath River. The legislation also created a settlement fund containing the disputed logging proceeds plus some additional money. The money was to be divided equally, but only if each tribe agreed not to sue the federal government. The Hoopa tribe signed a waiver in 1991 and collected $34 million. But the Yuroks filed a lawsuit that dragged on until 2001. The Hoopa argued that the Yuroks were not entitled to the remainder of the fund, which by then had grown to $90 million with interest deposits, because they had sued. After a long winded legal battle, the Hoopa agreed to split the remaining settlement money, but the Yurok insisted it all belonged to them. In a recent development in the case, following the Hoopas losing an appeal over the fund's distribution before the Interior Department's Board of Indian Appeals, members of theYurok Tribe in the northwest corner of California stand to receive about $15,500 apiece. The figure was reached after dividing the bulk of a $92 million settlement fund, resolving the dispute. Sources stated that tribal members decided between retaining half of the money for tribal use, with the remainder dispersed in checks to the 5,200 enrolled members. [SACBEE: RESERVATION SHARING SETTLEMENT]

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Published on Dec-11-07