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<br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />we \10uld request a sum of ~25,000 in our budget to finance the trial <br />of these cases. After Hr. Dunbar's tragic death, I discussed it \"ith <br />the ne\"l Attorney General, Hr. Hoore, and we sort of agreed upon a <br />procedure. The attorney general has "t:he responsibility under the <br />statutes for defending and appearing in any litigation on the part of <br />the state. Over the years we have wo~,ed out a fairly good operating <br />procedure \"lith the attorney general. l'lr. I.loses. [.lr. Geissinger and <br />llr. Dunbar, the late ~Ir. Dunbar, are the attorneys of record appearing <br />in the present case in western Colorado. <br /> <br />I met with the Senate and House ,tater Committees yesterday where this <br />matter was discussed at some great length. Those committees were <br />extremely concerned ~)out the federal filings. There is no question <br />of support as far as those committees are concerned. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: All right, is there any discussion? <br /> <br />I.Ir. Haynes: 1.1r. Chairman, I would like to inquire of the director if <br />he could touch a bit on the problem which is presented by the federal <br />court case \"lhich was filed in the federal court as opposed to the <br />cases which have been filed in Water Divisions 4, 5 and 6 where the <br />federal government is in .the s.tate court and in Hater Division No. 7 <br />they are in the Federal District Court, and the distinction there <br />being that they are a~,ing for water rights for the Indian reservations. <br />And particularly, hOI" .that affects the Hancos Hater Conservancy Dis- <br />.tric"i.:.. <br /> <br />fir. Sparks: I don't thiru, any particular distinction was made in the <br />cases, except that in districts 4, 5 and 6, the federal government <br />\"as served in those actions. Those districts are all in western Colo- <br />rado, generally extending from Montrose to the IQyoming state line. <br />The federal government was served I"ith a notice and was made a party <br />to those three actions. In southwestern Colorado the federal govern- <br />ment itself initiated the action there. There is really no difference <br />in the government claims. The federal government takes the position <br />that it can initiate claims and is initiating them throughout the West <br />in other states. The main difference in the southwest is that we have <br />t\"~ Indian reservations in that area, the Southern Ute Reservation <br />and the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. The government t~,es the position <br />that those are trust lands and can only be li.tigated in the federal <br />court. ~'fuile they are at it, they will litigate the other questions <br />concerning the national parks, monuments and national forests in the <br />area. There is nothing new in any of this federal procedure or theory. <br />This has been the federal law enunciated by the Supreme Court since <br />1908. It has been consistently followed by the federal government <br /> <br />-52- <br />