702
Blackmun, J., dissenting
Ante, at 692, quoting Montana, 450 U. S., at 560, n. 9 (emphasis added by Court). This statement, however, simply responded to an argument that "[t]he policy of allotment and sale of surplus reservation land was . . . repudiated in 1934." Ibid. Read in context, the language on which the majority relies in no way rejects Congress' purpose as irrelevant but rather specifies which congressional purpose is relevant— i. e., its purpose at the time Indian land is alienated. In this case, as the majority acknowledges, see ante, at
683-684, Congress' purpose was simply to build a dam. Congress also provided that the taken area should be open to non-Indians for "recreational purposes." See ante, at 689. But these uses of the land are perfectly consistent with continued tribal authority to regulate hunting and fishing by non-Indians. To say that non-Indians may hunt and fish in the taken area is not to say that they may do so free of tribal regulation any more than it is to say that they may do so free of state or federal regulation. Even if the Tribe lacks the power to exclude, it may sanction with fines and other civil penalties those who violate its regulations.
Apparently the majority also believes that tribal authority to regulate hunting and fishing is inconsistent with the fact that Congress has given the Army Corps of Engineers authority to promulgate regulations for use of the area by the general public. See ante, at 691, 692, and n. 13. I see no inconsistency. The Corps in fact has decided not to promulgate its own hunting and fishing regulations and instead has provided that "[a]ll Federal, state and local laws governing [hunting, fishing, and trapping] apply on project lands and waters." 36 CFR § 327.8 (1992); see Tr. of Oral Arg. 50. This regulation clearly envisions a system of concurrent jurisdiction over hunting and fishing in the taken area. The majority offers no explanation why concurrent jurisdiction suddenly becomes untenable when the local authority is an Indian tribe. To the extent that such a system proves un-workable, the regulations themselves provide that tribal
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