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<br />033295 <br /> <br />boundary determinations made by the district courts <br />and by the Secretary of the Interior to be final. I ini- <br />tially defened decision on the omitted lands question <br />but have since concluded that those dAimA are not <br />barred by res judicata or related doctrines. The <br />rationales underlying the determinations are explained <br />in some detail below. See Part One.at I1.B. infra. <br />Following determinations made in the 1979 prelim- <br />inary report, the parties, including the five Indian <br />Tribes," thoroughly litigated the issues in this case. <br />Based on the evidence'received in these hearings, I <br />now make my findings. <br /> <br />II. TYPES or CLAIMS TO BE CONSWERBD <br /> <br />59. Since the early 8tages or the present proceedings, the alipment of <br />the positions or the Tribes has altered eubatantially. AJJ the hearinp <br />commenced. the Colorado Rivar Indian Tribes, Fort Mojava Indian <br />Tribe, Chemehuavi Indian Tribe. and Cocopah Indian Tribe have <br />presented a united front by fiJing briar. jointly and the first three sroupa <br />retained the 88ma upert witnesaea. For convenience these Tribes wi1l be <br />rererred to BB the Four Tribes. The rem.;n;ng Tribe ia tha QuecIwI <br />Tribe or the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, a Tribe which has often 81- <br />serted what appear to be separate views but which in ract were later <br />adopted to 80me extent by the othar Tribes. <br /> <br />Two basic types of water rights claims have been <br />alleged by the United States and the Tribes. The dif- <br />ference is found in the character of land to which the <br />rights are claimed to be appurtenailt.--First, there is <br />land which was acknowledged at the time of the earlier <br />proceedings to be within the Reservations. Second, <br />there is land that since that time has either been <br />added to the Reservations or recognized now to be <br />within the boundaries of the Reservations. ThV parties <br />'have generally labelled these claims respectively as <br />"omitted lands" claims and "boundary lands" claims <br />in reference to the type of land with which the claims <br />are associated. The State Parties have with respect to <br />each sort of claim raised defenses which would cut <br />short the water rights inquiry at various points. I find <br />little merit in the State Parties' arguments and believe <br />that for both types of lands the arguments should pro- <br />ceed to a determination of the quantity of water forthese acres. <br />In connection with a discussion of the reasons for <br />such decisions. I should note that several related argu- <br />ments have been raised by either the State Parties or <br />the Tribes and might profitably be disclissed in this <br />context because these points also concern the number <br />of acres properly held to be within tha Reservations <br />and, thus, eligible for water rights. <br /> <br />A Omitted Lands-Preclusion <br /> <br />28 <br /> <br />Since the filing of the motions for modification of <br />the decree, the State Parties have opposed any litiga- <br />tion over water rights to the so-called "omitted lands" <br />for which water rights might have been claimed in the <br /> <br />29 <br />