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<br />~ <br /> <br />0084 <br /> <br />also reserved sufficient unappropriated water to maintain the <br />scientific value of the reservation -- in that ca~e, to maintain <br />the water level in Devil's Hole at the minimal level necessary <br />to preserve the Devil's Hole pupfish, a unique species that had <br />been endangered by a drop in the water level. 451 The Court <br />stated that: -- <br /> <br />[t]his Court has long held that when the <br />Federal Government withdraws its land from <br />the public domain and reserves it for a <br />federal purpose, the Government, by impli- <br />cation, reserves appurtenant water then <br />unappropriated to the extent needed to <br />accomplish the purpose of the reservation. <br />In so doing the United States acquires a <br />reserved right in unappropriated water which <br />vests on the date of the reservation and is <br />superior to the rights of future appropriators. <br />Reservation of water rights is empowered by <br />the Commerce Clause, Art. I, S B, which permits <br />federal regulation of navigable streams, and <br />the Property Clause, Art. IV, S 3, which <br />permits federal regulation of federal lands. <br />The doctrine applies to Indian reservations <br />and other federal enclaves, encompassing <br />water rights in navigable and nonnavigable <br />streams. <br /> <br />426 U.S. at l3B (citations omitted). <br /> <br />The Court made it clear that the determinative issue was <br />whether the federal government intended to reserve unappropri- <br />ated water, and that such intent would be inferred if "pre- <br />viously unappropriated waters are necessary to accomplish the <br />purposes for which the reservation was created." 461 426 U.S. <br />at 139. The amount of water reserved, however, waS-"only that <br />amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the <br />reservation, no more." Id. at 141 (citations omitted). <br /> <br />451 The case arose as an action by the United States to en]Oln <br />pumping of wells by owners of a ranch near the Devil's Hole <br />Monument. The pumping had been authorized by a state permit <br />after the date of reservation of the monument. See 426 U.S. <br />at 134-35. <br /> <br />461 The Court actually found the requisite congressional intent <br />to be explicit, rather than implied, because the 1952 Presidential <br />Proclamation reserving the land recited that the "pool . . . <br />should be given special protection." 426 U.S. at 140. <br /> <br />- 2B - <br />