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Treaty Rights are Under Threat in Washington State

The Department of the Interior is considering a proposal for a new casino in Washington State that would destroy decades-long policy regarding Tribal gaming in Washington State and spark the proliferation of distant off-reservation casinos without regard for local interests, Indian tribes, or Treaty rights.

THE ISSUE

A Tidal Wave of Tribal Gaming

Since its establishment by Executive Order, the Colville Tribe has resided near the Canadian border.

Over the past 100 years, it has made many false claims to the lands and histories of other Indian tribes in both the US and Canada.

Following in the footsteps of its past leaders, the Colville Tribe is now attempting to open a casino in Pasco, over 150 miles away from the Colville Reservation, despite the Colville Tribe having never claimed a presence in Pasco until such claims suited its needs.

The United States, Washington State, and the courts are all in agreement that the Colville Tribe does not have tribal rights or treaty rights in the Pasco area. Nevertheless, the Department of the Interior has accepted and is considering the Colville Tribe’s “fee-to-trust” gaming application. If approved, the decision could have dire consequences, spawning a tidal wave of new off-reservation casinos that ignore legal boundaries, disrupt carefully balanced economies, and endanger the well-being of Indian tribes both locally and across the United States.

THE LAND

Pasco is the Land of the Yakama

Since time immemorial, the ancestral homelands of the Yakama Nation’s Palouse Band have included the full Tri-Cities region, including the area in and around Pasco.

The Palouse are a named signatory to the Treaty with the Yakamas of June 9, 1855, along with thirteen other Tribes and Bands, who together reserved permanent treaty rights throughout the Pasco area.

The Yakama Nation’s Treaty Territory extends across 12 million acres of the state of Washington, from Lake Chelan in the north, all the way down to the Columbia River in the south, and the Tri-Cities region in the east. Pasco rests within the legally defined boundaries of the Yakama Nation’s Treaty Territory.

The United States and Washington State continue to honor and respect these boundaries, recognizing that the Yakama Nation maintains constitutionally protected rights throughout its Treaty Territory – rights that are exclusive or primary to the Yakama Nation and its people.

Yakama Nation’s ceded territory includes Pasco and the Tri-Cities region.

ABOUT TREATY TRIBES

What is a Treaty Tribe?

Not all Indian tribes are treaty tribes. Federally recognized Indian tribes have a government-to-government relationship with the United States. Many Indian tribes derive their political relationship with the United States through Executive Orders or Acts of Congress, while other Indian tribes derive this political relationship through the negotiating and signing of a treaty.

OUR IMPACT

Good Stewards and Neighbors

The Yakama Nation takes its commitment to its land and community seriously. The Yakama Nation honors its heritage in ways that benefit the broader community through habitat restoration, including the multi-decade effort to clean up the Hanford nuclear waste site. The Yakama Nation invests in fisheries, hatcheries, other natural resources, and its members exercise and enjoy Yakama Treaty hunting, fishing, and gathering rights throughout the Yakama Nation’s Treaty Territory, which includes Pasco.

Yakama Nation’s Contributions to the Tri-Cities Community:

The Yakama Nation contributes to the environment and communities throughout its Treaty Territory. The Yakama Nation has been heavily involved in the Tri-Cities area to support fish and wildlife habitat and survival; such work includes but is not limited to:

Participating in Yakima River Delta restoration activities that will benefit fish and wildlife, increase water quality, reduce fire risk, and reduce mosquito populations around the river mouth.

Supplementation and production of Yakima river stocks that support recreational fisheries in the area.

Hanford Reach fish management activities for Hanford stocks; the largest wild stock of fall chinook remaining in the mainstem Columbia.

Fisheries that the Yakama Nation supports through the management of habitats, hatcheries, hydro operations, and harvests, directly benefit Tri-Cities fisheries–especially the Hanford and Yakima fish runs. These activities benefit more than just the Yakama Nation. Yakima River restoration efforts will result in water quality that will allow not only more fish, but better recreational opportunities for the entire region. Additionally, the Yakima Basin Integrated Plan objectives directly benefit water needs of irrigators in the Tri-Cities.

The Yakama Nation has also worked to provide Native and Fisheries education in the Tri-Cities:

The Yakama Nation’s enterprise, Yakama Nation Legends Casino Hotel, has also stepped in to support community events and initiatives in the Tri-Cities in multiple ways:

In 2024, twenty Tri-Cities area nonprofits—including the Richland Police Foundation, Columbia Basin College Foundation, and Camp Woods Legacy—shared in $106,000 of the Yakama Cares grants.
Legends supports nonprofits that directly impact education by, for example, sponsoring nonprofits including the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the Washington Secondary Schools Athletic Administrator’s Association, and the Children’s Developmental Center.
Legends actively seeks out opportunities to directly interact with and support community members through sponsoring events such as the Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo, Tri-Cities Men’s Expo, and the Tri-Cities Senior Expo.

These represent only a few of the ways in which the Yakama Nation is working to the benefit of the environment for enjoyment by everyone and otherwise contributing to the Tri-Cities community. The Yakama Nation has been in the Tri-Cities since time immemorial and will continue to work to benefit the Tri-Cities into the future.