Wildlife citation issued over cattails thrown out by judges

A federal judge in Reno has thrown out a U.S. wildlife citation issued to a tribal craftsman in Nevada who drove off a road on a national wildlife refuge to gather cattails like his ancestors have done there for centuries.

Wesley Dick of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone tribe argued he had a treaty right to gather the plants at the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge near Fallon as part of his people's cultural tradition.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert McQuaid Jr. ruled in Dick's favor on Wednesday and dismissed the $175 citation but said it had nothing to do with culture. He told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Thursday it was because the Fish and Wildlife Service didn't post any signs prohibiting off-road travel until after Dick gathered the plants in May about 70 miles east of Reno.

"It's not fair to cite people if they don't have notice about what's prohibited," McQuaid told the newspaper.

Dick said he has been collecting cattails at the refuge for more than 20 years and was there in May to get plants to make duck decoys as a demonstration for his son's school class.