WSP04792

• File Number: 8064
• Description: Section "D" General Federal Issues/Policies - Indian Water Rights
• Date: 1/1/3000
• Title: Summary of Provisions Contained within the Fort Peck-Montana Compact
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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enforce all state appropriative rights on the Reservation, and
will report all existing and future appropriative rights to the
Tribes on a regular basis.
Neither the Tribes nor the State will authorize uses of
ground water on the Reservation if those uses will significantly
degrade the quality of water established for instream flows or
degrade the quality of or permanently deplete the quantity of an
underground source beneath the Reservation.

Article VI. The Compact establishes a judicial board to
resolve disputes between users of the Tribal Water Right and
users of state appropriative rights. The Board will consist of a
representative from both parties and a third, neutral member.
The Board will have many of the usual powers of a judicial board;
the decisions of the Board are appealable and may be enforced by
a federal or state court or a tribal court, if all parties to the
dispute agree to the jurisdiction of the tribal court.

Article VII. The Compact will be effective and binding on
both parties upon ratification by the Tribal Executive Board and
the Legislature. The Compact will be incorporated into the
preliminary and final decrees of the state water court and cannot
be modified without the consent of both Parties.

The Compact will not be filed in federal court unless there
is a determination that the state courts lack jurisdiction of the
federal reserved rights or that the state adjudication system is
inadequate to adjudicate these rights. otherwise, the Parties
will move to dismiss the pending federal court suits.

Article VIII. The Tribes, the Commission and the United
states have agreed on a number of disclaimers which are
enumerated in this Article. The Parties also explicitly reserve
all rights not relinquished by the Compact.

Article IX. The Tribes agr ee that the quanti fica tion of the
Tribal Water Right establishes all the water rights within the
State to which the Tribes are entitled under any federal doctrine
of law.

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Article X. Upon ratification, the terms of the Compact will
be binding on the parties, and upon all persons using state
appropriative rights or the Tribal Water Right, including
non-Indians who claim a part of the reserved water right as
successors-in-interest to Indian allottees. It is also binding
on the United states upon entry of the Compact into a final
decree.

Article XI. certain of the provisions of the Compact are
considered vital to the negotiated settlement of the Tribes'
reserved water rights. If it is determined that the provisions
regarding the uses of the Tribal Water Right, the protection of
existing uses, the finality of the Compact, or the relinquishment
of all other claims of water rights are invalid, the Parties may