Nev. tribal member wins cattail fight at US refuge

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RENO, Nev. (AP) – A federal judge in Reno has thrown out a U.S. wildlife citation issued to a tribal craftsman in Nevada said he who drove off a road on a national wildlife refuge to gather cattails like his ancestors have done there for centuries.

Wesley Dick of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe argued he had a treaty right to gather the plants at the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge near Fallon as part of his people's cultural tradition.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert McQuaid Jr. ruled in Dick's favor on Wednesday and dismissed the $175 citation but said it had nothing to do with culture.

He told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday it was because the Fish and Wildlife Service didn't post any signs prohibiting off-road travel until after Dick gathered the plants in May about 70 miles east of Reno.

“It's not fair to cite people if they don't have notice about what's prohibited,” McQuaid told the newspaper.

Dick said he's been collecting cattails at the refuge for more than 20 years and was there in May to get plants to make duck decoys as a demonstration for his son's school class.

McQuaid dismissed a $625 citation for gathering plants illegally in August, but U.S. prosecutors proceeded with the $175 fine for driving a vehicle off a designated roadway.

Dick, who served as his own lawyer, argued that only tribal courts, military courts or Congress have the right to hear American Indian cases involving cultural issues and that a federal court does not have such authority.

“I tried to base my defense on the (Indian) culture, but the judge didn't want to hear it,” Dick told the Gazette-Journal.

McQuaid said the game warden who issued the summons to Dick noted that the rules against driving off a designated road are mentioned in a brochure available at the entrance to the refuge, but not all visitors pick up the pamphlet. The game warden testified there were no signs in the area prohibiting off-road travel until some time after he cited Dick.

“I let (Dick) present quite a bit of what he wanted to say, but that was not the basis for my decision,” McQuaid said. “There were no signs out there, so it was a fairly simple case.”

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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com