Nos. 16-1424 16-1435 16-1474 16-1482

PENOBSCOT NATION; UNITED STATES, on its own behalf, and for the benefit of the Penobscot Nation,

Plaintiffs, Appellants/Cross-Appellees,

v. AARON M. FREY, Attorney General for the State of Maine; JUDY A. CAMUSO, Commissioner for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife; DAN SCOTT, Colonel for the Maine Warden Service; STATE OF MAINE; TOWN OF HOWLAND; TRUE TEXTILES, INC.; GUILFORD-SANGERVILLE SANITARY DISTRICT; CITY OF BREWER; TOWN OF MILLINOCKET; KRUGER ENERGY (USA) INC.; VEAZIE SEWER DISTRICT; TOWN OF MATTAWAMKEAG; COVANTA MAINE LLC; LINCOLN SANITARY DISTRICT; TOWN OF EAST MILLINOCKET; TOWN OF LINCOLN; VERSO PAPER CORPORATION,

Defendants, Appellees/Cross-Appellants,

EXPERA OLD TOWN; TOWN OF BUCKSPORT; LINCOLN PAPER AND TISSUE LLC; GREAT NORTHERN PAPER COMPANY LLC,

Defendants, Appellees,

TOWN OF ORONO,

Defendant.

APPEALS FROM THE UNITED STATE DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE

[Hon. George Z. Singal, U.S. District Judge] Before

Howard, Chief Judge, Selya, Lynch, Thompson, and Barron, Circuit Judges.

Pratik A. Shah, with whom Lide E. Paterno, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Kaighn Smith, Jr., David M. Kallin, and Drummond Woodsum were on brief, for appellant/cross-appellee Penobscot Nation. Mary Gabrielle Sprague, Attorney, Environment and Natural Resources Division, United States Department of Justice, with whom Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General, and Eric Grant, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, were on brief, for appellant/cross-appellee United States. Kimberly Leehaug Patwardhan, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maine, with whom Aaron M. Frey, Attorney General for the State of Maine, and Christopher C. Taub, Deputy Attorney General for the State of Maine, were on brief, for state defendant appellees/cross-appellants. Joshua D. Dunlap, with whom Matthew D. Manahan and Pierce Atwood LLP were on brief, for state intervenor appellees/cross- appellants.

Opinion En Banc

July 8, 2021

 Judge Torruella heard oral argument in this matter and participated in the semble, but he did not participate in the issuance of the opinion in this case. LYNCH, Circuit Judge. On August 20, 2012, the Penobscot Nation (the "Nation") brought suit against the State of Maine and various state officials (the "State Defendants"). The Nation stated in its original complaint, later amended, that when it entered into an agreement with Maine to settle its land claims in the state, "the Nation never intended to relinquish its ownership rights" to a 60-mile stretch of the Penobscot River (the "River") known as the Main Stem and that Congress intended "that the Nation's reservation encompass ownership rights within and attending" the Main Stem. The complaint sought (1) a declaratory judgment that the Nation had exclusive regulatory authority over the Main Stem; and (2) a declaratory judgment that the Nation had sustenance fishing rights in the Main Stem. The United States intervened in support of the Nation. Private interests, towns, and other political entities (the "State Intervenors") intervened in support of the State Defendants.

"Penobscot Indian Reservation" (the "Reservation") is defined in a pair of statutes -- the Maine Implementing Act ("MIA") and the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act ("MICSA") -- collectively known as the Settlement Acts. See Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 30; 25 U.S.C. § 1721 et seq. The distr