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<br />, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />STATE AND TRIBAL PARTNERSHIPS IN NEGOTIATED <br />WATER SETTLEMENTS: WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED -- <br />THE COLORADO UTE INDIAN WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT <br /> <br />THE 12TH ANNUAL PUBLIC LAND LAW CONFERENCE ON <br />STATE REGULATION OF FEDERAL PUBLIC LANDS: <br />COOPERATION OR COMPETITION <br /> <br />LOIS G. WITTE <br />DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br /> <br /> <br />MARCH 31, 1990 <br /> <br />'A.N 231991 <br />.......,..FrrMf.Hl Of <br />NA~~ <br /> <br />I am pleased to have the opportunity to address this group <br />and discuss the particulars of the Colorado Ute Indian Water <br />Rights Final Settlement Agreement and its implementing legis- <br />lation. This settlement is the culmination of years of hard work <br />by countless individuals and officials from all levels of govern- <br />ment: tribal, local, state, and federal. It results from an <br />extraordinary partnership between the local Indian and non-Indian <br />communities in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico; <br />these communities stood shoulder to shoulder throughout difficult <br />negotiation sessions and fought for and obtained solutions to a <br />shared problem, the integration of senior Indian reserved water <br />rights into an over-appropriated, water-short state appropriative <br />system. The parties accomplished this by respecting each other's <br />needs and working to accommodate those needs whenever possible. <br />Difficult decisions and hard concessions were the rule for both <br />sides and these parties are to be commended for their <br />persistence, hard work and dedication. <br /> <br />The reservations benefited by the settlement are the Ute <br />Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian Reservations. Both of the <br />reservations are located in southwestern Colorado; a portion of <br />the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation extends into the States <br />of New Mexico and Utah. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation <br />occupies the extreme southwestern corner of the State of Colo- <br />rado, with the Southern Ute Indian Reservation immediately to the <br />east. Together the two reservations occupy a long, narrow strip <br />of land approximately fifteen miles wide and a hundred and twenty <br />miles long. <br /> <br />As a result of the configuration of the reservations, <br />almost every river in southwestern Colorado passes through one or <br />