Reservation wilds 'fix' is short-term

Anyone who violates wildlife regulations within some 2 million acres of the Ute Indian Reservation will be prosecuted, under a plan agreed upon by state, federal, tribal and local authorities.

In what is being called a "short-term fix," all wildlife violations previously handled through state courts will now be reviewed for prosecution as federal criminal offenses through the U.S. Attorney's Office and prosecuted in federal court.

"We want to make sure it is absolutely clear that anyone who breaks hunting and fishing laws within the Ute Indian Reservation will face criminal consequences," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said in a news release.

The agencies involved believe the plan is the best way to continue to punish those who break the law. The plan comes in the wake of a recent court decision that has changed jurisdictional authority on some of the reservation lands within parts of Uintah, Duchesne, Wasatch and Summit counties.

Last November, a state appellate court ruled that the state does not have criminal jurisdiction over wildlife crimes committed by non-Indians on non-tribal lands within the Ute Indian reservation. Non-tribal lands include state, private, Bureau of Land Management and National Forest lands within the reservation.

The collaborative law-enforcement plan announced June 9 will remain in effect while that court decision is being appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, Shurtleff said. The agencies hope the plan will only be temporary, because it is unwieldy and strains resources for the agencies involved.

Previously, Division of Wildlife Resource officers held the authority to investigate, and county attorneys would review and prosecute an average of 750 citations annually that were issued to violators on the lands now in question.

The new plan "is cumbersome at best," said Lt. Torrey Christophersen, law-enforcement manager for the DWR's northeast region. "It places significant resource strains on the involved state, county and federal agencies."

"We are having to work through authorization given through the federal government rather than normal status quo working as state officers," Christophersen added.

The Ute Tribe has given its support to the collaborative law-enforcement plan while the decision is appealed, according to the Attorney General's Office.

All eight governmental and law enforcement agencies involved with the plan recognize the gravity of the situation and are working together to make sure that wildlife laws are enforced on the reservation, said Assistant Attorney General Martin Bushman.