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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />0243rhere is further no support for the Solicitor's assertion that (1) <br />the 1926 Executive Order applies to lams which becorre of the character <br />contenplated in the order subse::Iuent to the date of the order, 56/ and <br />(2) also applies to lands upon which is located a spring or a water hole <br />for which a private vested right to use the water was granted under <br />state law, but which was subsequently abandoned or forfeited. 57/ <br /> <br />As previously noted, Section 10 of the Stockraising Hanestead Act <br />of 1916 speaks in tenus of the witlrlrawal of lands urrler a prior act; <br />namely, the pickett Act. As noted by the authors of the exhaustive <br />study of reserved rights prepared for the Public Lard Law Review Can- <br />mission in 1969: "'L'he Picket Act does not appear to authorize the <br />issuance of such "floating" orders, but contemplates withdrawals by the <br />executive of specific lands." 58/ <br /> <br />While conceding that the language an::l. legislative history of public <br />,and water role vlithdrawals canpels the conclusion that the purposes were <br />"relatively narrO\-l arul specific," 59/ the Solicitor concludes that the <br />quantity of water reserved at each-and every public water hole and <br />spring is the total yield of each source. 60/ Furthennore, contrary to <br />a decision by the Tenth Circuit in 1976, 61/no exception is ITBde for <br />springs which are a tributary to water courses or other lxxlies of <br />surface water off the reservation. The Solicitor's opinion in this <br />regard is contrary to recent Supreme Court pronouncerrents concerning the <br />scope of reserved rights. <br /> <br />In united States v. New Mexico, 62/ the Court reviewal its earlier <br />decision in Cappaert v. United States.-63/ There, the Court upheld the <br />government's claims to reserved rights in a pool of water in Devil's <br />Hole in order to preserve a species of desert pupfish. Hcwever, the <br />Court Emphasized that Congress reserved "only that amount of water <br />necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation, no m:Jre." In <br />discussing this case, the Court in the New Mexico case stated as follows: <br />"Without a certain quantity of water, these fish would not be able to <br />spawn arrl would die. This quantity was therefore impliedly reserved <br />when the rronurrent was proclaimed..." The Court, hO\-lever, went on to <br />note that the pool, "need only be preserved, consistent with the in- <br />tention expressed \-lith the proclamation, to the extent necessary to <br />preserve it's scientific interest... The district court thus tailored <br />it's injunction, very appropriately, to minimal need, =tailing puq:>ing <br />only to the extent necessary to preserve an adequate water level at <br />Devil's Hole, thus implementing the stated objectives of the <br />proclamation." 64/ <br /> <br />The decisions by the Court in these cases came as a result of a <br />careful examination of I:oth of the asserted water right and the specific <br />purposes for which the land was reserved. It is difficult to conceive <br />of the same court accepting the ki:rrl of blanket claim to the entire <br />yield of springs am water holes on lands withdrawn fran the public <br />danain around the western states, as asserted by the Solicitor's opinion. <br />If a reserved right is relied upon, at the very least it is required <br />that it be limited to minimal need. <br /> <br />'!he Solicitor asserts that the purposes of the spring an::l. water <br />hole withdra\-lals are stock watering, human consumption, agriculture <br />irrigation, and flocxl, soil, am erosion control. Such a broad inter- <br />pretation nu.lSt be considered as based entirely on speculation, for no <br />-9- <br /> <br />90. <br />