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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I. HISTORY OF THE NEGOTIATIONS

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The first negotiating session was held on Decembpr
12, 1980, in Billings. The tribal negotiating team -- Chairman
Norman Hollow and Board members Walter Clark and Caleb Shields
-- attended. Reid Chambers, one of our tribal attorneys,
attended this and every other meeting in the negotiations.

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At this time (until his resignation at the end of the
1982 calendar year) the Chairman of the State Commission was
Henry Loble. In addition to Chairman Loble, various staff and
members of the State Compact Commission attended the December
12, 1980 meeting. Representatives of the United States also
attended that meeting. These federal representatives changed
from meeting to meeting over the four and one-half year period.
There was, however, always at least one representative from the
Department of the Interior at every meeting.

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A transcript was kept of the December 12, 1980
meeting and of a second negotiating session, held in Poplar on
the Fort Peck Reservation on September 24, 1981. By the time
of this Poplar meeting, at the request of the Tribal Executive
Board the United States had hired an expert engineering firm
for the Tribes, Stetson Engineers of San Francisco, California.

At the Poplar meeting, the parties agreed that a
schedule should be established for technical studies. These
studies concerned land classification, the available water
supply in each watershed and existing water uses. Since the
exchange of this information was largely technical, we agreed
that neqotiations should proceed in a series of technical
subcommittee meetings, with legal and technical representatives
of each side present. Mr. Chambers and representatives of
Stetson Engineers always attended these technical subcommittee
meetings, as did at least one member of the tribal negotiating
team and one representative of the Secretary of the Interior.
The persons in attendance varied, and no written transcripts
were kept of any of these technical subcommittee meetings.

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A technical subcommittee meeting was held on January
22, 1982 in Los Angeles, California, which we refer to as the
third meeting overall in the negotiations. A fourth meeting
was held on March 18, 1982, a fifth meeting on July 20, 1982,
and a sixth meeting on November 9 and 10, 1982, all in
Billings. Between these meetings, our legal and technical
advisors communicated frequently by telephone with their
counterparts in. the State. On October 15, 1982, Chairman Loble
and Mr. Chambers briefed high Interior Department officials in
Washington, D.C. on the progress that had been made, and asked
that a policy-making official of the Department attend future
meetings. Mr. David Lindgren of the Under Secretary's staff
was designated by the Department as its representativp.

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