WSPC02585

• File Number: 8064
• Description: Indian Water Rights
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 3/17/1997
• Author: Todd M Olinger
• Title: Summary of Indian Water 1997
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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0959

Session I: Western Water Trends and Directions

rent any more on a lease agreement within our boundaries. So we go to the
United States and the United States says, "I guess they don't have to." You
know, who do we go to?

What options are left for us? Do we pick the gun up and start shooting our
neighbors? No, I don't think so. You know, what option do we have to try to
live in a society that don't give a damn about us or our children or our health
or our environment? How do we walk in this country with you-with this
society that doesn't have our names in its history books?

This story that was told today about water is very, very true, and we have
water agreements. We have a Secretary that's coming tomorrow that has
done very little about Indian tribes throughout our nation. I think we have
to deliver a message to him that we want to sit down with him in a forum
and talk about our problems.

As David said earlier, we in the Northwest, we have to deal in fisheries
management every seasonal time of the year. It's happening today. There's
a little bit of fishery remaining, and we have to attend to it. We have to
manage it, along with the State of Washington, National Fisheries and Fish
and Wildlife.

We have to address the endangered species right now, today. So we did. We
had to go to the Secretary and try to get a secretarial order or go to Congress
and change the Act. The tribes feel that the Endangered Species Act does
not apply to them, to us. The United States says it does. That's fine. Let's
not fight about it. We don't want to get in court and test out the United
States Supreme Court on our treaty rights again, and then have them dictate
to us what we are going to do.

So we stayed out of that arena. We had 150 tribes up in Seattle thirteen
months ago to address the Endangered Species Act, and out of that came,
"yes, you will sit down, the tribes will sit down with the Secretary and try to
draft an order." Thirteen months later, the order is just about ready to be
signed, and hopefully they are having a meeting today with Justice to try to
pull all this together because we are done now.

The tribes have presented their case in front of the Secretary and so it should
move to become a secretarial order. Hopefully, that will give our landscape a
lot of management and a lot of tools for our tribe. Hopefully, they will leave
us alone because we are managing for the endangered species and all the
species.

We want to work with the United States Government, with the states and
with our neighbors, but we want the respect from all of them. Right now, we
feel we don't get it.

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