Oklahoma tribes announced a step Friday that unites the entities, makes hunting and fishing easier for all tribal members, and combines expanding tribal wildlife management efforts.

It further solidifies the end of state-tribal compacts severed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2021.

The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes announced the Five Tribe Wildlife Management Reciprocity Agreement at its July quarterly meeting at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. The agreement allows hunting and fishing licenses issued through each tribe to be recognized by the other tribes on respective reservation lands.

According to the announcement, tribal members and citizens of the Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Muscogee Nation, and soon the Seminole Nation can use their tribal membership to hunt and fish on lands of all tribes’ treaty territories.

The announcement notes that the new agreement will allow the Five Tribes to collaborate on wildlife management within their reservations and enhance their ability to manage natural resources.

“Hunting and fishing are inherent treaty rights among our five tribal nations and have been vital to food security for generations of Cherokees,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. “As Cherokees, we can use tribal citizenship photo IDs to hunt and fish on our 7,000-square-mile reservation. For the past two years, this has proven to be a highly successful initiative for both the tribe and our outdoor sportsmen. This new Five Tribes agreement makes hunting and fishing in eastern Oklahoma more sustainable, and more diverse for all our citizens. The adoption of uniform codes by all tribal governments involved is a significant accomplishment and demonstrates the strength of our collective sovereignty.”

The announcement completes tribal efforts to replace a system that ended in December 2021 when Gov. Stit refused to renew state and tribal hunting and fishing compacts.

Under the compacts, tribes paid the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to license their members. It meant lower costs to tribal citizens but kept participation in the state’s records for tracking harvest on all lands within the state and preserved participation numbers that influence federal funding formulas based in part on participation compared state-to-state.

According to department records, the department last received $689,240 for tribal-compact license sales in fiscal 2021. That year, estimated participation in deer hunting alone totaled 457,020 license holders statewide. The following year, that statistic fell 35 percent to 294,796.

In October 2022, tribes made hunting and fishing licenses available to members and citizens. Most tribes allow their tribal membership cards to serve as their credential or license. Friday’s announcement noted that all Oklahoma residents with valid state-issued hunting and fishing licenses remain eligible to hunt and fish within these tribal treaty territories under all applicable laws. Hunting and fishing activities by tribal members and citizens will be subject to the laws of the tribe on whose reservation the activity is taking place.

“We have established the Choctaw Nation Wildlife Conservation Department to assert our tribal sovereignty. This department determines how our citizens hunt and fish on our reservation by using their tribal membership,” said Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton. “We have now taken a significant step forward by partnering with the Inter-Tribal Council. This partnership will provide further opportunities for our tribal members to hunt and fish on our reservations using their tribal membership. Together, we are asserting our tribal sovereignty and benefiting approximately 815,000 tribal citizens as well as all Oklahomans.”

The announcement notes that hunters and anglers on the various reservations are responsible for knowing and abiding by any applicable laws. Tribal citizens will also be responsible for securing permission to access land owned by others. Each Tribe will manage programs to provide access to Tribally owned areas.

Tribal citizens or members reporting harvests will report to the tribe to which they are citizens or members.

The agreement honors statewide hunting and fishing limits, which are considered aggregate statewide. According to the announcement, limits will not reset in or outside each reservation.

Each tribe will report basic harvest data each year by Feb. 28 to help regulate and manage wildlife.

The Tribes indicated that they look forward to working with State and Federal partners as they implement this agreement and continue identifying partnerships for advancing wildlife conservation. State game wardens cross-deputized with the respective tribes can ticket and enforce laws on these reservations.

— The Oklahoma Ecology Project is a nonprofit dedicated to in-depth reporting on Oklahoma’s conservation and environmental issues. Learn more at okecology. org.