Nez Perce Tribe lawsuit to halt Central Idaho gold mine clouds federal approval
A Native American tribe with historical treaty rights to federal lands in Central Idaho sued the U.S. Forest Service to stop an expansive gold and antimony mine that would restrict access and pose environmental contamination risks to the region’s sensitive headwaters.
The Nez Perce Tribe filed its case in Idaho’s U.S. District Court, citing treaties with the U.S. government that go back generations and predate Idaho statehood by decades. The tribe’s most recent binding pact from 1863, which preexists the federal law that regulates mining of public lands, guarantees its members exclusive use of the area to fish, hunt, gather and graze animals.
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