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136the shelf life of treatiesself-protection, the decision was made that certain agents could bearfirearms. Certain agents were authorized to carry night sticks in thecase of mob gatherings and riots. . . .They have helmets and specialtactical uniforms. The special tactical gear and defensive equipmenthave been issued to 15 wildlife agents. These picked men have receivedspecial training in how to handle mob and riot situations.”On September 10, 1973, Billy became one of roughly a half-dozenIndians to take the witness stand in U.S. v. Washington. He told stateattorneys Earl McGimpsey and Larry Coniff that any fish that returnedto the Nisqually River was fair game for the tribe. “This is how I makemy living, is off Mr. McGimpsey’s salmon and Mr. Coniff’s steelhead. . . so, I don’t want to break them down. Now, when I said I wouldlike to take 100 percent of the salmon, I meant that them are thesalmon that originated in the Nisqually River . . . and come back. . . .Now, I am not talking about the 8 million salmon that are caught outof the Nisqually River and the Puget Sound and other rivers.”Billy told the court the state had confiscated his gear for years. Often,he found his nets shredded or dry rotting in gunnysacks. His boatswere taken. His motors vanished. Further, he argued, enrollmentrecords for treaty tribes were unreliable and the Bureau of IndianAffairs had ignored repeated requests to expand the Nisqually Indianrolls and affiliate new members. At the time, the rolls did not includeBilly’s own children. “It looks like they want to terminate us,” Billycharged. “It has got to go through the tribe and then the Bureau ofIndian Affairs. I think they say they are going to open up the rolls butjust like this fishing right . . . I’m going to be six feet under by the timeall that stuff comes up.”Billy described changes in his lifetime and his father’s—tracing theimpact of humans on fish runs: “There is so many different things onthe river now, like the dams, the lowering of the water, the timber. . . . You would be thinking of 50 or 100 years from now. You don’tknow the whole change of everything, what it would be in this fisheryresource.”“I watched his expression as Indians paraded before him up to the