What good are #TreatyRights if the fish are poisoned?
Monday, July 14, 2025
By George Ochenski, Daily Montanan
"By virtually any measure, the #ConfederatedSalishKootenai Tribal Nation is an incredible success story against all odds. Forcibly removed from their homeland in the Bitterroot Valley, despite not having waged war against the white settlers or army, their own '#TrailOfTears' brought them to the Flathead Valley to live within the boundaries of the vastly reduced lands they retained in the #HellgateTreatyOf1855.
"Although the #HellgateTreaty is widely regarded as one of the best treaties signed by any of the nation’s #IndigenousPeople, even land supposedly reserved for the exclusive habitation of the #SalishKootenai was opened to purchase by non-tribal #settlers by the #DawesAct of 1887.
"The act’s intentions were to allocate reservation lands the tribes already owned to individual families as private property and, as part of the 'civilization' of #NativeAmericans, it required tribal members to register with the federal government to receive their 'allotment.'
"The entire debacle was part of the #AllotmentAndAssimilationEra from 1887 to 1934. Simply put, the federal government’s plan was to force Native Americans to be 'assimilated' into #EuropeanAmerican culture.
"Importantly, any reservation lands not allocated to tribal members was deemed
'surplus' land and opened to purchase by non-tribal settlers. This excursion into #ReservationLands was further exacerbated by the ability of tribal members to sell their allotment parcels to non-tribal members.
"The fracturing of the Salish-Kootenai’s tribal lands through sales to non-tribal members continues to cause serious problems today, including the long and on-going battle to retain their #water, #hunting and #fishing #TreatyRights.
"Article III of the Hellgate Treaty could not be more clear regarding the Tribe’s fishing rights: 'The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams running through or bordering said reservation is further secured to said Indians; as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places…'
"Yet, just last month the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal Nation issued a very serious warning to tribal members regarding the fish they have treaty rights to catch because they are poisoned.
CSKT Fish Consumption Advisory
"The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes issued a fish consumption advisory on June 24, 2025, warning tribal citizens not to eat fish due to the presence of Polychlorinated biphenyls (#PCBs), #dioxins and #furans at levels deemed unsafe for humans: Source: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
"The #FishConsumptionAdvisory urges 'all tribal members to avoid consuming all species and sizes of fish harvested from the lower Clark Fork River from the Bitterroot River near Missoula to the Flathead River near Paradise. Recent testing has confirmed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in fish at levels that are unsafe for consumption by Tribal peoples. It is also advisable to avoid consuming rainbow trout and northern pike harvested from the Bitterroot River and the upper Clark Fork River above the Bitterroot River to Rock Creek, and, to avoid consuming rainbow trout from the Blackfoot River.
"As the Advisory explains: 'These contaminants pose a health risk to all fish consumers, and an even greater health risk to the most sensitive members of the Tribal population including women of child bearing age, pregnant nursing women, and young children. These contaminants have been linked to negative health effects in the immune, and nervous systems and may be associated with birth defects…PCBs and dioxins are classified as probable and definite #HumanCarcinogens, respectively.'
"So what good are treaty fishing rights if you can’t eat the fish because they’re poisoned? Are they really 'rights' — or is this just another in our nation’s long and shameful history of abrogating its treaties with Native Americans?
"Moreover, #Montana’s poison fish affect us all. Just as our government has failed the Salish-Kootenai, they have likewise failed to uphold our rights to the 'swimmable/fishable waters' guaranteed by the #CleanWaterAct — because no one, tribal or non-tribal, is immune to poisoned fish."
Source:
https://indianz.com/News/2025/07/14/george-ochenski-another-shameful-chapter-in-treatment-of-tribal-nations/
