U.S. Moves to Recognize Snoqualmie Tribe Story-Date: 11:15 a.m. PST Sunday , September 14, 1997 U.S. Moves to Recognize Snoqualmie TribeIndian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News CARNATION, Wash.--Sep. 15--The Snoqualmie Tribal Organization has been granted federal recognition by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ada E. Deer, but almost another three months will pass before the formality is final. ``We are very pleased that we are in the final phase of our federal acknowledgment,'' said Tribal Chairman Andy de los Angeles. But he added, ``Any discussion about where our reservation is going to be, business ventures, social and health programs is premature.'' In the decision that overrode a past court case, the Bureau of Indian Affairs decided that the Snoqualmie Tribe has been a continuously separate tribe, even though it does not have a reservation. Mr. de los Angeles said, ``We were not the only tribe in the U.S. that has this problem. There are several tribes that enjoy state acknowledgment but don't have the federal. There are some tribes that signed treaties and there are some that didn't because they were still at war when their lands were taken from them,'' Mr. de los Angeles said. ``In our tribe, we have several families that are Snoqualmie that live on lands they homesteaded and in turn were put into federal trust for them. In the early 70s, we were finally paid our share of the and we ceded from the Point Elliott Treaty. In the early 40s the federal government, realizing what they had done to us, was working on a reservation for us, but World War II broke out and we were again put into the past. We always believed we had a good case.'' Among other things, the tribe was able to show that it has its own political processes and that it distinguishes itself by keeping to a 1/8 blood-degree requirement. The tribe has been on a quest for federal acknowledgment since 1975. Other tribes can come forward during the 90-day period to appeal the case to the Interior Board of Indian Appeals. ``Yes, we do have some concerns regarding this process, because for several years the American Indians at Tulalip have been against our acknowledgment,'' said Mr. de los Angeles, citing the time since the tribe did not join other Washington tribes in a U.S. vs. Washington court case. The U.S. Dept. of Interior ``has not accepted the Tulalip Tribes' position'' in the past, a recent Department press release on the Snoqualmie recognition stated. The Tulalip Tribes have contended that a Federal appeals court ruling in U.S. vs. Washington in 1981 precludes the Department from considering the STO and four other groups under the acknowledgment regulations. The ruling said the groups had not continued to exist as tribes since the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, and so they were not entitled to treaty fishing rights. The decision to acknowledge the Snoqualmie Tribal Organization does not address treaty fishing rights. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------