American Indian Report - August 2008 - (Page 16)

Time for an Indian Water Working Group Ask Wes Martel to name the issues surrounding Indian water rights, and he can quickly come up with at least 18 major ones. But serving as council member for the Wind River Tribes back when they were fighting for their own rights, he learned a number of them first hand. A lot of tribes, though, have not yet secured their rights, and they may not understand the complexities, leaving them vulnerable to entering bad deals. Take transfer of use. If a tribe with a negotiated agreement wants to change its water usage from agricultural to recreational, Martel said it will have to go to the state engineer and apply for a transfer of use permit. “Well, 999 times out of 1,000, the state engineer will deny your transfer of use permit. That is a major issue,” Martel said. Another big issue is consumptive use, which some “Treaty language. What does your treaty say? Quantifcation. Quality. Beneficial use. Transfer of use.” Martel believes now is the time to form a national, Indian water working group, and he is hoping that one will be launched this month at an Indian Land Working Group meeting in Billings, Mont., organized just for that purpose. The meeting will be attended by tribal representatives from key basin areas. Besides the establishment of a national Indian water working group, on the agenda are discussions of those 18 major issues that Martel, who serves as a consultant to the ILWG, knows so well and that a working group could address to educate tribes before they sign their agreements. “Treaty language. What does your treaty say? Quantifcation. Quality. Beneficial use. Transfer of use,” are the first ones Martel named. tribes do not always properly consider when they hammer out their agreements. Martel used the Fort Peck tribe as an example. The tribe got one million acre feet of water but agreed to only a 50 percent consumptive use rate. The target range, according to Martel, is 80 percent to 85 percent. “It’s really important, I believe, to make sure that these major issues are understood,” Martel said. Also on the agenda are discussions on tribal water code development, technical components of water rights administration, allottee water rights and the formation of working groups in each of the basins. In addition to the August meeting, there are tentative plans for a follow-up gathering in Phoenix this fall. Visit the ILWG’s Web site for updates. 1988 Wyoming Supreme Court decides Wind River tribes’ reserved water rights precede the rights of all other water users in the state. The state began the adjudication against the tribe and around 20,000 other water rights holders in 1977. Two years later, a special master was appointed, and his findings were delivered to the court about a decade later. 1988 Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settlement Act 1992 Big Horn 2 2004 Snake River Water Rights Act Big Horn 1 The Wyoming Supreme Court decides The legislation, which was amended in 2000, that, because the state provided 33,050 acre feet of water annually to the of Wyoming owns Southern Ute Indian Tribe and 33,050 acre-feet to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe through the Animas-La instream flow rights, the Wind River tribes Plata water project. Though conceptualized and must follow state authorized about three decades ago, construction procedures before did not begin on the project until after 2000. Five other entities will receive water through the project, converting its water use from irrigation to including the Navajo Nation, which will get 4,680 instream flow. acre feet. Signed into l settlement p feet of water decreed on a held by the s on about 6 m 1863 ceded a Bureau of Land Management land transferred to separate funds, for tribal drinking water and sew as well as cultural preservation and fishery habi and settlement spanned 16 years. 1 August 2008 American Indian Report http://www.ilwg.org http://www.ilwg.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of American Indian Report - August 2008

American Indian Report - August 2008 Contents Notes from Indian Country Congress: Activity from the Hill Navajo Elder Recognized for Fighting for Voting Rights Water Rights — A Long, Hard Battle Well Worth Fighting Native Youth Share Creator’s Game with International Community Rancheria Restores Traditional Ecosystem on Purchased Land Grants: EDA — Investing in Tribal Economic Development Native Eyes Film Showcase Entices Youth into Media BlogRoll

American Indian Report - August 2008

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