The future of America’s Indian tribes was on display this week in Southwest Colorado and the picture that emerged was a hopeful one.

Tribal representatives and government officials from around the country came together over the weekend for the 51st Annual Governors’ Interstate Indian Council Conference. Held at the Sheraton Tamarron Resort north of Durango, the conference began Saturday and ran through Wednesday morning. It was hosted by the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, the Southern Ute Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.

According to event coordinator Karen Wilde Rogers, the purpose of the get-together was to "discuss federal, state and tribal issues." Those include housing, health care, education, economic development, the environment, religious freedom and water rights. Other concerns involve specific federal legislation such as the Native American Graves Protection Act.

Perhaps the most important discussions, however, were those that centered on the relationship of the tribes to state governments. After more than a century of federal dominance, that area holds the greatest promise both for the tribes and for their non-Indian neighbors.

The tribes’ primary relationships have historically been with the federal government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is a federal agency. And, many crimes that would normally be investigated by state or local police are handled by the FBI if they are committed on reservations.

All of that stems from the simple fact that much of the law regarding Indians derives from treaties signed by the United States and the respective tribes. The individual states were not involved as such.

That restricts state governments in their dealings with the tribes. They cannot dictate to them in the same way that state legislatures, for example, can tell county governments what to do.

Nonetheless, the unique relationship between states and tribes presents both with opportunities. Unlike the sometimes fractious dealings between the states and Washington, or counties and state governments, relations between the states and tribes must of necessity be based on cooperation and mutual respect.

An example cited at the conference is the air-quality agreement reached in 1996 between the Southern Utes and the state of Colorado. The Southern Ute reservation resembles a checkerboard with non-Indian property and tribal land interspersed. Any deal that failed to recognize both tribal and state authority would not work. Cooperation did — with no sacrifice to the tribe’s sovereignty or to the state’s.