Here. From the Salt Lake City Weekly.
H/T @pechohawk
Long Read on Goshute Water Issues
Here. From the Salt Lake City Weekly.
H/T @pechohawk
water rights
United States Removes Oklahoma’s Water Rights Case to Federal Court
Release: Important Victory in the Klamath Tribes Water Rights Adjudication
Important Victory in the Klamath Tribes Water Rights Adjudication
Chiloquin, OR- Today was a milestone in the lengthy Klamath Basin Water Rights Adjudication. The judge hearing the part of the Adjudication that deals with the claims of the Klamath Tribes issues six Proposed Orders quantifying the Tribes’ water rights. In each case he ruled largely in favor of the Tribes’ claims.
“The Proposed Orders give everyone in the Basin plenty to think about,” said Jeff Mitchell who leads the Klamath Tribes’ Negotiating Team. “These rulings highlight the role that the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement can play in resolving Basin water issues. The Tribes will be evaluating the rulings and discussing them with others in the Basin to determine the best path from here on.”
Some interests in the Basin advised people that the Tribes’ water rights are minimal, but those interests have been proven wrong. People who followed that advice have obviously been misled in a situation where they are risking a lot.
The rulings encompass the Williamson, Sycan, Sprague, and Wood Rivers along with many of their tributaries, as well as the Klamath Marsh and springs scattered throughout the former Klamath Reservation. Cases involving Upper Klamath Lake and the Klamath River are expected to have decisions handed down in April.
“These rulings emphasize the need for Basin water interests to work together to find ways to share the water, share the pain of drought, and share the bounty of our waterways,” said Tribal Vice-Chairman Don Gentry. “The Tribes are committed to restoring fisheries and water bodies in the Basin, and we believe that agricultural and other water dependent communities can be restored at the same time. That is what the KBRA can do,” he said.
The ruling is welcomed by the Tribes who have fought for their treaty rights for many decades, and are prepared to fight many more. The Tribes’ commitment to the Adjudication reflects their commitment to restoring the health of Basin fisheries and water bodies. “Our commitment to these bounties provided by the Creator will never end,” said Mitchell.
Water Pollution Regulations Ignore Native Community Fish Consumption
Huffington Post article is here. An excerpt:
For many communities, the consequences also go beyond just health concerns.
“Traditional families are still very active in the smokehouse. They are still fishing for their primary source of living,” says Jamie Donatuto, an environmental specialist for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, in La Conner, Wash. “Fish are not just a source of nutrients, they have cultural and spiritual meaning for these people.”
Donatuto has been working with the Swinomish tribe for more than a decade on the issue. She recently conducted a survey and found that if tribal members had access to as much safe seafood as they wanted, they would consume more than 100 times the state’s estimate.
“In the Pacific Northwest, fish consumption is a way of life. It’s an important cultural hallmark of tribal nations that live here,” adds Elaine Faustman, a professor of environmental and occupational health studies at the University of Washington.
In fact, as she points out, it’s not uncommon to find kids “teething on salmon jerky.”
Tenth Circuit Rejects Challenge to Water Rights Priority Determination in the Nambe-Pojoaque-Tesuque River System
Here is the unpublished opinion in State of New Mexico v. Gutierrez.
And the State’s brief: New Mexico Brief
Arizona State Water Law Conference Announcement
Tenth Circuit Affirms Okla. Water Resources Board Decisions re: Red River (including MOU with Apache Tribe of Okla.)
Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations Sue Oklahoma over Water Rights Guaranteed by the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek
Here is the complaint, Chickasaw Nation v. Fallin (W.D. Okla.):
Michael Blumm on the Columbia River Gorge and the History of Natural Resources Law
Michael Blumm posted his paper, “The Columbia River Gorge and the Development of American Natural Resources Law: A Century of Significance” at SSRN (H/t to Legal History Blog). Here is the abstract:
The Columbia River Gorge, site of the nation’s first national scenic area and the only near sea level passage through the Cascade Mountains, possesses the longest continuously occupied site of human habitation in North America. The Gorge has served as a major transportation corridor between the Pacific and the Great Basin for hundreds of years, is home to spectacular scenery, dozens of waterfalls, many sacred sites, and abundant recreational activities, including world-class kite boarding and wind surfing. The Gorge has also been the location of over a century of legal battles that have made major contributions to American natural resources law. From judicial interpretations of 19th Indian treaties, to the development of the largest interconnected hydroelectric system in the world, to ensuing declines in what were once the world’s largest salmon runs – ultimately resulting in endangered species listings – to innovative federal statutes concerning electric power planning and conservation and land use federalism, to compensation schemes for landowners burdened with regulation, to dam removal and conflicts between sea lions and salmon, the Gorge has spawned a legal history as rich as its geography. This article surveys these developments and suggests that no area of the country has produced more varied and significant contributions to natural resources law.
Arizona Appellate Court Rejects Yavapai-Apache Challenge to State Water Law
Here is the opinion in Yavapai-Apache Nation v. Fabritz-Whitney.
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