658
Opinion of the Court
We find unpersuasive respondents' attempt to augment this claim by reference to Brendale v. Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima Nation, 492 U. S. 408, 440 (1989) (opinion of Stevens, J.). In this portion of Brendale, per the reasoning of two Justices, we held that the Yakima Nation had the authority to zone a small, non-Indian parcel located "in the heart" of over 800,000 acres of closed and largely uninhabited tribal land. Ibid. Respondents extrapolate from this holding that Indian tribes enjoy broad authority over nonmembers wherever the acreage of non-Indian fee land is minuscule in relation to the surrounding tribal land. But we think it plain that the judgment in Brendale turned on both the closed nature of the non-Indian fee land 13 and
the fact that its development would place the entire area "in jeopardy." Id., at 443 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).14 Irrespective of the percentage of non-Indian fee land within a reservation, Montana's second exception grants Indian tribes nothing " 'beyond what is necessary to
permit the exercise of civil authority wherever it might be considered "necessary" to self-government. Thus, unless the drain of the nonmember's conduct upon tribal services and resources is so severe that it actually "imperil[s]" the political integrity of the Indian tribe, there can be no assertion of civil authority beyond tribal lands. Montana, 450 U. S., at 566. Petitioner's hotel has no such adverse effect upon the Navajo Nation.
13 Justice Stevens' opinion in Brendale sets out in some detail the restrictive nature of "closed area" surrounding the non-Indian fee land. See 492 U. S., at 438-441. Pursuant to the powers reserved it in an 1855 treaty with the United States, the Yakima Nation closed this forested area to the public and severely limited the activities of those who entered the land through a "courtesy permit system." Id., at 439 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The record here establishes that, save a few natural areas and parks not at issue, the Navajo Reservation is open to the general public. App. 61.
14 See Strate v. A-1 Contractors, supra, at 447, n. 6 (noting that the Yakima Nation "retained zoning authority . . . only in the closed area"); Duro v. Reina, 495 U. S., at 688 (noting that zoning "is vital to the maintenance of tribal integrity and self-determination").
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