WSP08481

• File Number: 8220.106.P
• Description: Animas La Plata Project
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 10/9/1996
• Author: State of Colorado
• Title: Opening Statement of the State of Colorado to Participants in the Discussions to Resolve the Issues Surrounding the ALP Project
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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reasonable solutions for meeting the commitments of the 1986
Settlement Agreement on the Animas and La Plata Rivers. The
purposes of today's meeting will be to reach agreement on the scope
of these discussions, an initial list of issues to be addressed
and a process to address those issues. '

To explain our position, we would like to put these discussions in
historical context. Our purpose in doing so is not to generate
argument about what happened in the past, or why. Colorado is
interested in looking forward for solutions,

Therefore, we will begin by briefly reviewing the history of the
Reservations, the Animas-La Plata Project and the 1986 Settlement
Agreement, Then, we will propose for discussion Colorado's ideas
as to the scope of these discussions and the issues to be
addressed,

Historical Context

The original Ute Reservation was established by treaty in 1868,
prior to the arrival of non-Indian settlers to the area. The
arrival of non-Indians resulted in conflicts, and reconfiguration
of the Reservation lands. In 1895, Indians living on the
Reservation were given the option of settling on 160 acre
allotments, or moving to the western portion of the Reservation.
Non-Indians were able to acquire some of these allotments as well.
In 1934 this homesteading process was closed. The result was the
present configuration of checkerboard Indian and non-Indian lands
on the Southern Ute Reservation and the contiguous block nature of
the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. These lands are downstream from
non-Indian development in Colorado. Almost every river in
southwestern Colorado passes through one or both of the
Reservations.

The rights of Indian Tribes to reserved water is based on the date
of the reservation.l In the late 1800's, non-Indian irrigation was
beginning upstream from the Reservation, on the pine River. Th~
Southern Ute Tribe filed claims for irrigation purposes in 1895,
and water litigation ensued until 1930, when a federal court
awarded the Indian claimants the number one water right on the Pine
River. This created a severe water shortage for the non-Indian
irrigators, and resulted in the construction of Vallecito Dam in
1941, to serve both Indian and non-Indian lands.

In contrast, the Mancos Project was developed on the Mancos River
by 1950. Although the Mancos River is the primary river through
the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, the Tribe did not receive the
benefit of water service from the Project. In fact, the town of

'Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 (19GB).

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