U.S. Water News Online
WORLAND, Wyo. -- A state district judge issued his final judgment on senior water rights claims on the Wind River Indian Reservation, moving a broader legal dispute closer to completion.
The amended judgment and decree, signed by 5th District Judge Gary P. Hartman, ends legal arguments over which lands acquired from Indian owners and kept under irrigation are entitled to ``Walton'' water rights that date to creation of the reservation in 1868.
For water users, holders of the oldest, or most senior, water rights have priority over those with younger rights. During dry periods, junior water rights holders could receive less or no water.
The final decree awards Walton rights to 221 parties, most of which are non-Indians.
Settling the Walton claims is a major step toward final resolution of the landmark Big Horn River case, which will establish priority for use of all waters in the Wind and Big Horn rivers, including all tributaries.
The Big Horn case, which dates to 1977, is looked upon as a model in the resolution of water rights between Indian and non-Indian landowners.
Hartman changed some of the terms created by court Special Master Ramsey Kropf, but generally followed his recommendations.
While the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes administer federal reserved rights at tribal headgates, he said the state has primary administrative responsibility over state water rights and monitors tribal headgates to ensure that federal reserved rights are delivered as decreed.
The judge upheld the special master's report that 1868 rights remain tied to the land if the property is sold. Tribal attorneys had sought to establish that the rights could be separated.
Clarified was the status of lands passed to a non-Indian, then back to Indian ownership. The date of the first transfer from an Indian allottee should be the controlling date, Hartman said.
The decree, signed Aug. 30, said that in a delay caused by probate after an allottee's death, the date of transfer out of allottee ownership relates to the date of death, not the date of probate.
Also clarified was the measurement of water to which a property is entitled, using acre feet.
The final decree said the office of the tribal engineer can administer federal reserved water rights and Walton rights on land owned by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahos and tribal members, as well as water rights on land owned by the United States but held in trust for the tribes.
``This administrative duty commences at the point of the tribal headgate,'' Hartman said.
The state engineer administers Walton rights on property owned by non-Indians.
The judge noted that irrigated land on the Wind River Indian Reservation is a checkerboard pattern of ownership comprised of state water users and federal reserved right users, and that most are state water users.
While noting that ``significant distrust'' exists among irrigators, tribes, and the state over administration, Hartman said the state engineer's and tribal water engineer's offices have been able to work effectively together to resolve many conflicts.
The original award of 500,000 acre feet to the tribes stands and is not affected by the Walton right process.
The state engineer's office is working to resolve other remaining unanswered questions.
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