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Show with present reservoir and other facilities. Other new facilities could add another 10,000 acres to the project. Claims have been made that this proposal is uneconomic because of transportation distances, and that further upstream development should therefore not be made. In this respect, the area compares unfavorably with the Owyhee Project farther downstream, which has better market facilities, longer growing season, and more profitable crops per acre-foot of water. However, the addi- tional water to be stored for making further devel- opment possible is claimed under an Indian right, and the additional development would improve the conditions of the Indians, lessening the likelihood of their requiring direct relief. When the Owyhee Project was developed to serve lands in the lower part of the basin, it was con- templated, in recognition of plans for upstream development, that about 30,000 acres of new land could be irrigated in the basin above Owyhee Dam without impairing the water supply of lands in the Owyhee Project. Yields of water for the proj- ect during subsequent abnormal years, however, have suggested that the supply for the developed project lands will be inadequate if as much as 30,000 acres of new land are developed above the reservoir. The lands contemplated for develop- ment are in part the 10,000 acres of Indian lands proposed for development in the reservation, and in part private lands elsewhere in the upper basin. The conflict which now arises therefore has two aspects. One is the over-all competition for water to be used on the one hand for new lands in the upper basin and, on the other, for lands already developed in the lower basin. A secondary aspect of the conflict involves which lands in the upper basin should receive the limited amount of addi- tional water which can be applied to new land there without impairing the supply for the Owyhee Project. Conclusions Irrigation water rights.-Indian rights to irriga- tion supplies should be fully recognized and pro- vided for in connection with the planning and de- velopment of non-Indian irrigation projects. Meeting the same test of economic feasibility ap- plied to non-Indian projects should not be a re- quirement of developments for the use of such in- disputable Indian water supplies, provided such de- velopments would contribute to Indian welfare. In instances where rights may be in question, the allocation of waters should be the subject of negotia- tion between the Indians and other parties con- cerned. In the case of the proposed Shoshone Reservation, Project, present evidence suggests that a 10,000-acre development in itself may not con- flict with downstream interest on the Owyhee Proj- ect. Conflict of the upper basin as a whole, in- cluding nonreservation demands for water, with the Owyhee Project is much more probable. An effort, therefore, should be made to determine in the near future what the Indians' full treaty rights to water amount to, and those rights should be fully re- spected in all future development. Fishing rights and reservoir inundations.-In cases like that of Celilo Falls and Paradise Reser- voir, where reservation Indian rights are clearly a minor use in the total potential, adjustment of the treaty should be sought, and compensation in kind provided for damages incurred by the Indians. This can be sought in due process through the courts. However, special effort should be made in planning to make available alternative means of livelihood of a type which will enable these Indians to continue their traditional culture and pursuits, should they wish to do so. Although the small compensation necessary for satisfactory adjustment cannot be considered a serious handicap to any project, Indian treaty rights should be considered as any other treaty rights. 4. Inundation of Facilities of Established Enter- prises, Resulting from Reservoir Construction The Problem Reconciliation of losses to local activities by res- ervoir inundation incident to efficient development of basin water resources. The Situation Problems of inundation by reservoirs and of local and State objections on account thereof are met in the Columbia River Basin as elsewhere in the United States. Also, as is common with most river basins, storage reservoirs are generally located in the tributaries and in the headwaters with the re- sult that the conflict arises between the local inter- ests, who are not the primary beneficiaries, and the lower basin and regional and national interests. The proposed Boundary Project (Wash.) on the Pend Oreille River was alleged to cause the inunda- 50 |
