Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida v. U.S.
| Decision Date | 01 August 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-0532-CIV.,95-0532-CIV. |
| Citation | 980 F.Supp. 448 |
| Parties | MICCOSUKEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF FLORIDA, a federally recognized Indian Tribe; and Billy Cypress, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America; U.S. Department of the Interior; Barbara West, individually as well as in her official capacity as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Richard G. Ring, individually as well as in his official capacity as Superintendent of Everglades National Park; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and South Florida Water Management District, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida |
Dexter Lehtinen and Dione C. Carroll, Lehtinen, O'Donnell, Vargas & Reiner, Miami, FL, for Plaintiff.
James M. Upton, Richard Montague, Asst. Attys. Gen., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for Federal Defendants.
Ruth Clements, South Florida Water Management Dist., West Palm Beach, FL, for Defendant (SFWMD).
OMNIBUS ORDER
BEFORE THE COURT are several motions: (1) the Federal Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (D.E.# 45); (2) the Motions of Individual Defendants West and Ring for Summary Judgment and to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (D.E.# 47); (3) Defendant South Florida Water Management District's Motion for Final Summary Judgment (D.E.# 51); (4) Defendant South Florida Water Management District's Motion to Strike Opposition Memorandum (D.E.# 102); (5) the Plaintiffs' Motion for Leave to File a Memorandum of Law in Opposition to the District's Notice of Filing (D.E.# 110); (6) the Plaintiffs' Motion to Strike Notice of Filing (D.E.# 111); (7) the Plaintiffs' Motion to Foreclose Summary Judgment on the issue of Eleventh Amendment Immunity (filed July 8, 1997); and (8) the Federal Defendants' Motion to Strike Supplemental Affidavit of Truman Duncan (filed July 14, 1997).
The motions raise a number of issues relating to flooding in 1994 and 1995 of land occupied by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida ("the Miccosukee Tribe" or "the Tribe"). The Tribe and its Chairman filed a seven-count complaint on March 16, 1995, asserting breach of trust, due process and equal protection claims against the Defendants for allegedly refusing to alleviate flooding on three separate parcels of land in the Florida Everglades occupied by the Tribe. The complaint seeks a writ of mandamus and damages.
The Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction, which the Court denied on March 31, 1995, finding that they had not established a likelihood of success on the merits. The Defendants filed their respective motions for summary judgment in May 1995. The Court denied the Plaintiffs' motion to foreclose summary judgment pending discovery in August 1995. The Court notes that it previously allowed the Plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their claims against Defendants Barbara West and Richard Ring in their individual capacities (D.E.# 109), thereby rendering the summary judgment motion of those Defendants (D.E.# 47) moot.
The remaining parties have extensively briefed the issues and submitted hundreds of pages of supporting documents. The Court has carefully considered the lengthy record in this case, as well as the oral arguments of counsel presented at the July 15, 1997 hearing.1 After a thorough review, the Court will grant summary judgment in favor of all remaining Defendants.
The Miccosukee Tribe is a federally recognized Indian Tribe living on land in and around Everglades National Park. Plaintiffs' Consolidated Response in Opposition to the Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment ("Response") at 2-5. Plaintiff Billy Cypress is the Tribe's Chairman. Response at 8.
Defendants United States of America, United States Department of the Interior, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Barbara West (Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks), and Richard G. Ring (Superintendent of Everglades National Park) (collectively the "Federal Defendants"), are responsible for the design, implementation and continued supervision of flood control and water management projects in and around Everglades National Park. Order Denying Motion for Preliminary Injunction ("P.I.Order") at 2. Defendant South Florida Water Management District ("SFWMD" or "the District") is a political subdivision of the state of Florida that oversees the operation of those projects in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers ("the Corps"). Id.
The Miccosukee Tribe has lived in the area that now is Florida for hundreds of years. Response at 2. However, any "aboriginal" rights that the Tribe had to Florida land were extinguished when, as part of a court settlement, the United States paid $16 million to the Seminole Nation of Indians to compensate its members for their territory.2 See Seminole Indians of Fla. and Seminole Nation of Okla. v. United States, 13 Indian Claims Comm'n 326 (1964); Id., 38 Indian Claims Comm'n 91; United States v. Dann, 470 U.S. 39, 105 S.Ct. 1058, 84 L.Ed.2d 28 (1985).3
Three separate areas in and around Everglades National Park are at issue in this lawsuit. Attach. 1 and 2 to Federal Defendants' Proposed Findings of Uncontroverted Fact; Belli Decl. at ¶ 2(b). First, the Miccosukee Federal Indian Reservation ("the Reservation") comprises about 75,000 acres in western Dade and Broward counties bisected by Interstate 75. Response at 4; Florida Statutes Chapter 285. Almost 50,000 acres of the Reservation are located within Water Conservation Area 3A ("WCA 3A"), which is part of the flood control area mentioned in Section A supra. The Lease at 2. No tribal members currently reside on the Reservation. Response at 4.
The second parcel is known as the Leased Area. It is a 189,000-acre tract of land to the east and south of the Reservation and to the north of Everglades National Park, to which the Tribe holds a perpetual lease ("the Lease") from the state of Florida. See the Lease. The Leased Area is located entirely within WCA 3A. Id. The Tribe and the state entered into the Lease as part of the settlement in Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla. v. Florida, No. 79-253-CIV-KEHOE (S.D. Fla. April 16, 1982) ("the Settlement Agreement"). Id.
In return for the Lease and certain hunting, fishing, frogging, residential and commercial rights in the Leased Area, the Tribe agreed to give up all aboriginal title claims to land in Florida. Settlement Agreement at 2, 3, 7, 8. In addition, the Settlement Agreement gave the SFWMD the right to operate its flood control projects in the Leased Area. Id. at 5. The Settlement Agreement was approved by Congress in The Florida Indian Land Claims Settlement Act of 1982, codified at 25 U.S.C. §§ 1741-1749. Response at 5.
The Lease incorporated all terms of the Settlement Agreement. The Lease at 3, 14. It gave the Tribe the right to farm the Leased Area, reside there, and use it for religious and cultural purposes. The Lease at ¶¶ 3(b), 3(c). But those rights were not absolute. Id. at ¶ 6. The Lease states that all of the Tribe's rights listed in Paragraphs 1-5 and 7 are subject to the rights of the SFWMD and the Corps to operate flood control and water management projects in the Leased Area. Id.
Historically, islands of trees in the Leased Area have been the site of the Tribe's religious and cultural practices. Terry Aff. at ¶ 7. The tree islands provide dry spots within the Everglades where tribal members can build traditional Indian huts known as chickees, and plant corn and other vegetables. Id. An integral part of the Tribe's religious tradition is the spring planting of corn, accompanied by the Green Corn Dance. Id. at ¶¶ 7, 8. The tree islands also are a source of plants used in traditional tribal medicines. Id. at ¶ 11.
The third area in question is known as the Permit Area, and is located directly south of the Leased Area and WCA 3A. Response at 3; Federal Defendants' Motion at 3. The Permit Area is a 333-acre strip of land, 5 1/2 miles long and 500 feet wide, located on either side of U.S. Highway 41 at the northern edge of Everglades National Park. Response at 3; Federal Defendants' Motion at 3. It is the Tribe's primary residential, commercial and administrative center. Response at 3; Federal Defendants' Motion at 3. The Tribe occupies the land pursuant to a Special Use Permit from the United States, negotiated in conjunction with the creation of the Park. Response at 3. The Permit is subject to federal statutes giving the National Park Service discretion in operating the Park. Attach. 15 to Federal Defendants' Proposed Finding of Uncontroverted Fact at ¶ 22.
A variety of federal and state laws, as well as the Lease, the Settlement Agreement, and the Special Use Permit, control management of the land at issue in this case. Federal Defendants' Motion at 6-9. For example, the National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., and the Everglades National Park Act, 16 U.S.C. § 410, control management of Everglades National Park. Belli Decl. at ¶ 1.
The National Park Act states that the purpose of creating national parks is to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." 16 U.S.C. § 1. Congress has further indicated that "the protection, management, and administration of these areas ... shall not be exercised in derogation of the values and purpose for which these various areas have been established, except as may have been or shall be directly and specifically provided by Congress." 16 U.S.C. § 1a-1.
The Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, manages Everglades National Park. 16 U.S.C. § 410b. The ...
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