Oregon Public Broadcasting

Tensions are building on the Columbia River between tribal fishermen and state wildlife police. At the heart of these tensions is a tangle of jurisdictional disputes, cultural differences and long-standing mistrust.

On top of all of that is the collapse of an agreement among Columbia River tribes to police the river themselves. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports.

On the Columbia River, a Washington Fish and Wildlife Police boat pulls alongside a tribal fishing boat.

Sgt. Morgan Grant checks a tribal fishing boat on the Columbia.

WA Fish and Wildlife Police Officer: "Hi how ya doing?"

An all-woman crew is pulling in a gill net.

Morgan Grant: "Pretty good fishing? Good. Got life jackets? Show us just a couple of them there so we know we got life jackets."

Sgt. Morgan Grant also asks the women if they have their tribal ID cards on them. They don't and he reminds them they're required by law. The whole interaction takes just a few minutes, but it's tense.

Morgan Grant: "Obviously in this case you could see there was a little bit of a cold eye on the contact – we can read that.

Grant knows that tribal fishermen often question the State's authority out here on the Columbia – especially since they have long-established treaty fishing rights. Add in the fact fishermen on the Columbia encounter multiple law enforcement agencies. Sgt. Grant says his goal is to keep the conversation about personal safety and protecting fish – or what he calls the resource.

Morgan Grant: "It's easy as an officer to pull up and see that cold shoulder and go in with a defense mode, but I think the important part is to protect that resource and make sure that we've got safety for all of the fishermen that are on the water."

Yakama tribal fisherman Babtist Lumley Jr. has fished the Columbia for four decades.

But when state cops ask tribal fishermen to prove they have lifejackets on board – or for their I.D. – it can also be seen as harassment.

Babtist Lumley Jr.: "I've dealt with them on the river and I can't believe what they do out there."

Babtist Lumley Jr. is a Yakama tribal member who has fished the Columbia for four decades. He complains Oregon Fish and Wildlife cops have stopped his boat six times this year. He doesn't buy that they're just trying to protect lives and fish.

Babtist Lumley Jr.: "You crazy. This one state game warden from Oregon stopped my boat and he had no authority to inspect me for having fire extinguisher, an oar and this and that and he wrote a citation to my son three times and never told him what he had to have each time."

Oregon authorities respond that tribal members – like everyone else - must obey boating safety rules. The states' authority to police the river is fairly well-established. It's when you hit the banks of the Columbia that jurisdictional lines start to get muddy.

Rob Lothrop: "The Columbia River happens to be one of the more complicated areas – probably in the United States – related to law enforcement jurisdiction."

Rob Lothrop is with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. It represents the four fishing treaty tribes on the river. Lothrop says his members haven't forgotten the 1960s when there was a lot of bad blood between wildlife police and tribal fishermen.

Rob Lothrop: "Many of the commissioners I work for were arrested in those days and remember those confrontations very vividly."

Those tensions linger today. And jurisdictional disputes continue. In fact, Washington's authority to enforce laws at tribal boat ramps is currently before the state Court of Appeals.

Back on the Columbia River, there's another source of tension between tribal fishermen and state wildlife cops. The tribes used to jointly police the river, but that ended when the Yakamas stopped credentialing inter-tribal police.

Sgt. Morgan Grant says that left a void that his officers are now trying to fill.

Sgt. Morgan Grant: "What we've seen is if everybody gets that same feeling well somebody else is handling it then ultimately what happens is maybe there's a reduced amount of activity or enforcement on the river."

Easing the tensions won't be easy. But there are plans for a summit later this year. It will bring together all Columbia River law enforcement in the hopes of calming the troubled waters.