Tuesday January 10, 2012
Tribes Seek Federal Support to Resolve Nooksack
Basin Water Rights Conflict
Source: Washington State Department of Ecology
At issue is how much water should remain in various reaches and streams of the Nooksack River, and how much should be available for other uses.
The tribes have asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to file a lawsuit that will result in a declaration of their treaty-reserved water rights and protection of those rights.
If Interior grants the request, the federal action would provide clarity about the quantity of water reserved for the tribes. It also would be the starting point for quantifying water available for other uses and be a major step forward in resolving long-standing water allocation challenges in the Nooksack River.
Details of the negotiations are protected by a confidentiality agreement signed by the negotiating parties - the tribes, the City of Bellingham and the Washington Department of Ecology.
"Treaty-reserved water rights are outside the state system, and the only way that the tribes can have documented and clearly defined water rights is through a quantification judgment," said Merle Jefferson, Lummi Natural Resources Department Director. "We encourage others to support our request to resolve this long-standing issue so that we can all have certainty and can plan accordingly."
"There is no surprise here," said Bob Kelly, Chairman of the Nooksack tribe. "We all knew that federal court action would be needed to establish the Indian water rights. We made a lot of progress together, and, if the parties continue to cooperate, this can be noncontroversial."
Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike said clarifying these issues is important to planning for the City's water supply over the long term.
"We are disappointed that the process has stalled because we believed negotiations were the best prospect of resolution for all parties," he said. "But at this point we look forward to continuing to work with the parties to resolve these issues in the future."
The Nooksack basin supplies water for a number of competing needs, including cities, industries, farms, homes, fish and other animals. Most of the Nooksack basin is closed to new water rights for all or part of the year.
"We recognize that adequate stream flows protect salmon, an important cultural and economic resource that the tribes and the people of Washington state depend on," said Richard Grout, manager of Ecology's Bellingham office. "At the same time, the state has a responsibility to regulate water that is not part of federal or tribal reserved rights."
Negotiations began in 2005 for Bertrand Creek and the Middle Fork. In 2008, after reaching an impasse in the Bertrand Creek effort, the parties focused instead on the North, Middle and South forks in the upper watershed.
Early negotiators were Ecology, the tribes, the City of Bellingham, the Bertrand Watershed Improvement District, Whatcom County Public Utility District No. 1 and Whatcom County. Later negotiations involved Bellingham, the tribes and Ecology. Bellingham has the largest state-issued water right in the upper watershed, the tribes have treaty-reserved rights, and Ecology regulates state users' water rights.
"Our hope throughout the negotiations was that we could reach an agreement that satisfied all those needs and we believe that all parties worked in good faith to achieve that goal," Grout said. "We remain hopeful that, if a federal action is initiated, all of the complex issues involved will be resolved in a way that is acceptable to all the affected parties."
Contact:
Katie Skipper, Ecology Communications Manager, 360-715-5205 desk,
360-510-0682 cell,
katie.skipper@ecy.wa.gov
Richard Grout, Manager, Ecology Bellingham Field Office, 360-715-5200
Merle Jefferson, Executive Director, Lummi Natural Resources Department,
360-384-2225, merlej@lummi-nsn.gov
Bob Kelly, Chairman, Nooksack Indian Tribe, 360-739-4055
Clare Fogelsong, Manager, City of Bellingham Environmental Resources,
360-778-7965, cfogelsong@cob.org