Tribal Sovereignty,the White Problem,and Reservation Planning

Abstract

This article explores the role of planning in the shaping of Indian reservations in the United States. Planning has played a key role in tribes’ ability to exercise their legal sovereignty rights and the associated claims for control of land and resources, for the preservation of culture, and for the right as well as the means to exercise effective self-government. It begins with a history of federal-tribal relations to the 1930s, to provide some necessary context. Next, it examines the period from the New Deal to the present, the era of “Indian self-rule.” Then, to illuminate and probe the role of planning in the struggle for sovereignty, it relates (some of) the story of one reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon.