Swinomish Indian Tribal Community members approved the 29 proposed amendments to the tribal constitution, last week.

While tribal elections are private and generally do not stir controversy outside the reservation community, provisions pertaining to territory and jurisdiction in the amended constitution have inspired a flood of letters to the U.S. Department of Interior, which has until July to approve the document.

County officials, landowners, the agricultural community and taxpayers worried about what appears to be a move to extend the tribe’s jurisdiction beyond its reservation bounda...