ESTABLISHING AND PRESERVING TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS IN A WATER STRESSED WEST

摘要

Water management in the Western United States (U.S.) has undergone some fundamental shifts over the last 50 years that has resulted from an increased understanding of both our water supply limits and our natural and man-made water demands. As these water demands have fallen out of balance with available supplies, the value of water has risen in step, both in our minds and in markets. Just as Western water management has evolved in response to this new understanding of the value of water, the establishment and preservation of water for Native American Tribes will likely see parallel shifts in perspective and practice. The legal and technical underpinnings of tribal water rights are rooted deep in history, but they do not exist in isolation. Tribes, as sovereign nations, are affected by the same water stresses that afflict their neighbors. Creative and adaptive solutions that have helped us deal with water conflicts across the Western U.S. will likely need to be employed to craft tribal water rights solutions in the 21st Century that allow for increased economic opportunity on Indian Reservations and maintain tribes as sovereign nations.