Todd,

Thanks for you reply!

I just got some time to reply to your answer and you may be surprised at what it is!

I was under the impression (but do not know if it is true) that you and I were required to hire a "tribal" fishing guide if we wanted to fish on the Lower Quinault River. I could be wrong on that one, but that is what I have always been told. Since I have never fished it personally, I don't know if that is true or not. But if it is true, and you are required to hire a "special Indian guide" if you want to fish the lower Quinault, then that would diffidently show that there is a "cultural discrimination" occurring. If only tribal Indians are being allowed to guide on those navigable waters, it would be in my opinion, a civil right violation. It is my understanding that the tribes own the land that their reservations lays within. But the U.S. Supreme has a long standing ruling under the "Equal Footing Doctrine" that rivers are navigable, for title purposes, and are owned by the state and "held in trust" for the public.

If that is true, then the Lower Quinault River should be owned and held in trust by the "state" for it's people. Am I wrong, or is there some other federal law or ruling that you know of that overrides the U.S Supreme Court ruling? Can you please point it out for me so that I can review it if there is such a law? Was their any ruling in any of the Treaties of Point Elliot, Point No Point, Medicine Creek, etc. that specifically address this issue? Can a tribe own or control sections of "navigable water" that are being held in trust for it's people of the state?

One more thought; if the tribes are allowed to have their usual and custom fishing rights on their reservations or historic fishing areas, is the white or any other colored race then restricted from fishing side by side on these "navigable" waters (like the lower Quinault)?

These are questions that I would like to hear your opinion on. I have never heard anyone discuss these question before, so that is why I brought up the issue about RCW 77.110.040.
Since the Quinault headwaters are outside the reservation lands, they should be consider as state waters...right?

Thanks again for your quick responses

Cowlitzfisherman