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Show CHAPTER XI 187 above the 450-foot contour which was the projected elevation of the maximum pool level of Lake Havasu. The compensation was fixed at $108,104.95. On November 25, 1941, the Secretary approved the description of the Reservation lands surveyed by MWD which were to be taken, a part of which comprised the Havasu shoreline lands. The Act of October 28, 1942, 56 Stat. 1011, granted the United States rights similar to those granted in the aforesaid Act of July 8, 1940, for the construction, operation and maintenance of electric transmission lines and other works for the Parker Dam power project, and required the payment of compensation therefor (see Appendix 1103 for text of Act). E.3 Special Use Permit In an effort to meet the Tribe's complaints that access to Lake Havasu was cut off, on December 28, 1973, the Department granted the Indians a Special Land Use Permit for the shoreline, subject to existing rights, pending further study of the Indians' rights. The issuance of the permit was protested by the Resources Agency of the State of California by letter dated June 7, 1974. £. 4. Departmental Actions The Department's further study resulted in a Solicitor's Opinion dated August 15, 1974, to the Secretary which concluded that the Secretary had designated more land than was necessary or desirable to be taken and that the Secretary could legally modify the prior designation and delete lands not permanently flooded. On the same date the Acting Secretary of the Interior, John C. Whitaker, made a determination to correct the designation previously made by Secretary Ickes on November 25, 1941, and confirmed that the Cheme-huevi Indians had full equitable title to all the lands within the Reservation riparian to Lake Havasu between the north and south boundaries described in the determination. Thus, the Secretary transferred title to the major part of the shoreline lands to the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, approximately 16 miles in length, subject to certain rights of the United States, MWD, and of existing permittees. Approximately 5 miles of shoreline were left in the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge (see Appendix 1104 for text of Order). The August 15, 1974, determination of the Acting Secretary was followed by a Secretarial Order dated November 1, 1974, which "corrects the designation by Secretary Ickes of November 25, 1941, that certain lands of the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation should be taken for use in the construction of Parker Dam...the Chemehuevi Tribe has full equitable title to all those lands within the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation designated to be taken by Secretary Ickes in 1941 between the operating pool level of Lake Havasu on the east (elevation 450 m.s.l.) and the following north and south boundaries:" (see Appendix 1105 for text of order). The effect of the Order was to transfer the southern 2 miles of shoreline to the Indian Tribe but the northern 4 miles of shoreline would remain under control of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Thus, the Tribe alleges that the Reservation encompassed an additional 150 acres of irrigable lands with a diversion duty of 5.97 acre-feet per acre. E.5. Litigation In an action entitled Havasu Landing, Inc., et a/., v. Morton, Secretary of the Interior, Civ. 74-3565, the plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against implementing the Order of the Secretary dated August 15, 1974. Plaintiffs memorandum in support thereof alleged that the lands purported to be transferred by the Order consist of approximately 2,340 acres which include approximately 22 miles of land bordering the Colorado River and Lake Havasu; that the Secretary's purported grant constituted a gift of Federal lands; that Congress alone can dispose of Federal property; that the action impaired plaintiffs rights under a concession contract lease with an option for 20 more years; and that it violated the National Environmental Policy Act in that the Environmental Impact Statement which had been prepared was deficient. |
