The Native American voice in United States water rights

Marsh, Karen; Smith, Michael D.

doi:10.2166/washdev.2015.089

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Tourism, gaming, resort development, fishing, ranching, farming, and mining are all methods by which tribes generate income from their land and water (Fletcher ; Rosser ; Navajo Nation Sales Tax ). In some cases, water rights quantification and leasing can support tribal economic development, livelihood opportunities on tribal lands, and tribal adaptation to effects of climate change on tribal natural resources and communities (Marsh and Smith ; Stern ; Chief et al ; Cosens and Chaffin ).…”

Section: Reservation Economies Tribal Water Settlements and Off‐resmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tribal Economies: Water Settlements, Agriculture, and Gaming in the Western U.S.

Deol

Colby

2018

Contemporary Water Research

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N ative American nations have legal entitlements to water resources in the United States (U.S.) and engage in active on-reservation water use and off-reservation water leasing. More than 50 tribes have secured over 10 million acre-feet per year (afy) of water through negotiated water settlements and/or through litigation (Landry and Quinn 2007). Tribal water rights were formally recognized by U.S. courts in 1908, when an irrigation project was being developed by the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana. During dry periods, the tribal project could not access water and the U.S. government sued upstream water users on behalf of the tribe in Winters v. U.S. (Landry and Quinn 2007). The Supreme Court affirmed that tribal nations have the right to use and manage water in order to fulfill the purposes of their land reservations. While tribes have strong legal entitlements to water, the quantification of those rights and provision of water supplies to tribal nations has been slow, costly, and painstaking, and continues as an ongoing process.Over the last 50 years, many tribal nations have engaged in water settlement negotiations to quantify their water entitlements and secure funding for reservation water projects and economic development. A water settlement agreement typically involves negotiations between a tribal nation, federal agencies, states, water districts, and other water users in the area where the tribe is quantifying their water rights. Negotiated water settlements aim to resolve Abstract: This paper examines patterns in water rights quantification, agriculture, gaming, and economic characteristics across selected Native American nations in the United States (U.S.) to provide a perspective across tribal nations and regions. A unique set of data was analyzed, drawing from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, court decrees, water rights data, and other sources. Fifty-one tribal nations are included in this study, based on availability of data on agricultural and economic indicators. Data analysis indicates the following: 1) tribes with quantified water rights also have higher agricultural revenue, 2) tribes which have quantified their water rights are more likely to also operate a casino, 3) tribes which have quantified their water rights tend to be more commonly located close to major cities, and 4) tribes which operate at least one casino have notably higher annual household income compared to tribes which do not. A number of interesting regional differences are observed: 1) Northwest tribes have significantly higher rates of water quantification than other regions, 2) Midwest tribes have the highest prevalence of casino operations compared to the other areas, and 3) the Southwest has the smallest proportion of tribes with casino operations. This paper identifies patterns across multiple tribal nations and across regions, and does not focus on establishing cause-and-effect. Causal relationships among tribal water quantification, farming, gaming, income levels, and unemployment will ...

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Section: Reservation Economies Tribal Water Settlements and Off‐resmentioning

confidence: 99%