ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997 TAG: 9703310092
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KING WILLIAM
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Mattaponis say taking water from the river named for them might impair their right to fish and hunt.
Virginia's Mattaponi Indians, the descendants of natives who greeted the first English settlers in North America, have raised a pair of 17th century treaties in a fight against a proposed reservoir.
In a letter to state Attorney General Jim Gilmore, the tribe said the reservoir in King William County is an intrusion into a three-mile buffer zone around its 150-acre reservation. The reservation borders the Mattaponi River, which would fill the reservoir.
According to the letter, the Articles of Peace between England's King Charles II and ``several Indian Kings and Queens'' established the buffer in 1677. The tribe also cited a 1646 Treaty of Peace that it said obligates the state to serve the tribe's interests as its trustee.
The letter was sent last month. It asked the attorney general ``to investigate the development of the proposed [reservoir] and its probable impacts on the Tribe and take all appropriate actions as required by law.''
``We feel like our treaty rights have been violated for hundreds of years,'' Mattaponi Assistant Chief Carl Custalow said Wednesday. ``I really think it's time we know what rights we are entitled to.''
The tribe honors the treaties each year by delivering an annual tribute of beaver pelts, venison or other game to the governor in a ceremony that has become an autumn tradition in Richmond.
Newport News is seeking to build the 1,500-acre reservoir. The water would serve Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg and the counties of James City, York and New Kent. The reservoir would get up to 75 million gallons a day from the Mattaponi River.
The tribe contends that taking water from the river is an infringement of its territorial rights and could limit treaty rights to forage for fish and game on the river if the withdrawal harms wildlife populations.
John Dossett, a Washington lawyer representing the tribe, said the state has an obligation to protect the Indians' subsistence and water rights under its role as trustee.
``There have been a number of decisions at the federal level where tribes brought suit against the Department of Interior, forcing the department to protect the tribes' natural resources,'' Dossett said.
``The interesting thing is the application of those principles to a state's relationship to a tribe,'' he said. ``We're very hopeful the state will respond favorably.''
Mark Miner, a spokesman for Gilmore, said the issues raised in the letter are being reviewed, including a determination of the state's responsibilities to the tribe.
David Morris, project director for the reservoir at Newport News Waterworks, said his office also was reviewing the letter. ``Our goal is to be a good neighbor,'' he said. ``We'd like to work with them, no matter the outcome.''
The tribe used its treaty rights as recently as three years ago to support a claim to shad-fishing rights during a state-imposed moratorium.
``People think it's history, but it's real,'' Custalow said.
He said the 62 people who live on the reservation fear that the reservoir could upset spiritual ties between the river and generations of Indians who depended on its shad, bass, mallards and muskrats for survival.
``There's a good possibility the Mattaponi never would have survived without that river,'' Custalow said.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB