The Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts has reopened a path to a popular beach.

The tribe placed a pile of twigs, some brush and a sign on the path to Lobsterville Beach on Martha's Vineyard. The path is on trust land.

Leaders in the town of Aquinnah were outraged by the decision and said the tribe's settlement act requires the tribe to provide access to the beach. But a legal dispute has been avoided for now with the temporary reopening of the path.

In 1987, Congress passed an act to settle the tribe's land claims. The state courts have ruled that the settlement subjected the tribe to local and state laws and that it waived the tribe's sovereign immunity for alleged violations of local and state laws.

Get the Story:
Tribe Opens Lobsterville Path But Stresses Access Is Temporary (The Martha's Vineyard Gazette 8/17)

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Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe defends closure of beach access path (8/5)
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