Despite the time that has passed, the issue of tribal political independence, or sovereignty, can still be seen in U.S. headlines in the year 2000 as it was during early seventeenth-century treaty negotiations with Dutch colonists.
The concept of tribal political sovereignty in 2000 is central to numerous natural resource management and economic development issues. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, tribal lands held much of the last remaining deposits of natural resources in North America. Ongoing legal issues involve water rights allocation, forest management, restoration of fish runs, reestablishment of an economic landbase, mineral development (including gold, copper, zinc, oil and gas, uranium, and coal), heavy-metal poisoning of waters clean-up, and flow management of major waterways including the Columbia, Snake, Colorado, and Missouri Rivers. Legal conflicts frequently pit the general public and state governments against tribal governments, with the federal government weighing in on various sides depending on the circumstances behind the particular dispute.
Economic issues involving casino development usually grabbed the public's attention, buttribes were also investing in other long-term business ventures during the 1990s, potentially involving billions of dollars.
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