WSP03082

• File Number: 8064
• Description: Section "D" General Federal Issues/Policies - Indian Water Rights
• Date: 4/19/1985
• Title: Final Report of Tribal Negotiating Team to Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board of Fort Peck-Montana Water Compact
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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successors-~n-~nterest to Ind~an a ottees on the
Reservation, (4) uSilj by persons within the Fort Peck
Irrigation Project, (5) uses by persons authorized to use
waters by the Tribes by a water marketing or deferral
agreement; and (6) uses by any other person on t~8 Reservation
for whom the United States holds water in trust.

These uses of course cannot exceed the amount of
water the Tribes arel~uthorized to use under the Compact. And,
as we discuss below, except for uses of water within the Fort
Peck Irrigation Project or by non-Indians on the various
tributaries of the Missouri River with whom the Tribes execute
"deferral" agreements, the Tribes are authorized by the Compact
to administer the uses of water by these persons and have final
and exclusive jurisdiction to resolve any water disputes
between these persons.

(2) Background

Quantification of the Tribal Water Right: The
quantity of water constituting the Tribal Water Right was
established in the following fashion. At the first meeting in
December 1980, the State agreed that the Winters Doctrine "is a
fact of life," and proposed to study and analyze the factors in
the Ten Year Plan formulated by the President's Water Policy
Committee (attached to the Report as Appendix D). (Tr. Dec. 12,

16S I d" , , I d"
orne non- n ~an successors-~n-~nterest to n ~an
allottees claim a federal reserved right to use water. The
Compact provides that the state water courts shall not
determine any such claim, Article X A(2), and that the Tribes
will decide and administer all such claims. Article VI B(l).

l7The Fort Peck Irrigation Project is defined in Article
II(9) as "those irrigation systems and works constructed
pursuant to the Act of May 30, 1908, 35 Stat. 558, and all
lands receiving water from such systems and works."

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l8Some of these persons have rights established pursuant
to state law. These uses count as part of the Tribal Water
Right, and Article V C provides that the State shall not
hereafter administer them or issue any new rights to such
persons on the Reservation until and unless the Tribal Water
Right is fully exercised.

19pp. 35-44, infra.