Weather Outlook for February

For February, expect seasonally warm temperatures and below normal precipitation.

SRBA legislation passed by U.S. House and Senate, signed by President Bush. Idaho Legislation up next. Tribe will have the final say on proposed settlement of water claims.

With the help of the senior Senator from Idaho, Larry Craig, and Congressman Mike Simpson, the 108th Congress passed and President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, which contains the Snake River Water Rights Act of 2004. The legislation approves the settlement of the Tribe’s water claims and contains a schedule of payments for all monetary compensation the Tribe will receive in exchange for settling its water claims in the SRBA. If the Tribe approves the settlement, funds will be appropriated beginning in 2007 and continue through fiscal year 2013.

The Tribe will receive a $60.1 million Water and Fisheries Fund, a $23 million Water and Sewer Development Fund and a $13.5 million Habitat Fund.

The Idaho Legislature is expected to draft and consider legislation authorizing the proposed settlement in late January and February The Nez Perce Tribe will decide whether to accept the proposed settlement or not in March.

BLM Lands Appraised; Tribe will get back over 11,200 acres of land on the Reservation.

After extensive appraisals of land and timber, an independent appraiser valued 11,297 acres of BLM lands on the Reservation at approximately $5.5 million. The Term Sheet states that BLM lands from among those 11,297 acres and up to $7 million in value are available for transfer to the Tribe. This means that all lands available for transfer would be transferred into Trust status and held by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for present and future generations of Nez Perce people. This quantity of land is approximately equal to 11% of all tribal trust and fee land currently on the Reservation.

Questions and Answers about the Proposed Settlement of the Tribe’s Water Right Claims

Q. If the settlement is approved, what benefits will the State receive?
A. Control, some federal dollars and the potential for long-term ESA protection. Although the settlement forces the State to agree to instream flows on tribal priority streams, the State holds primary control of those rights because they will be held by the Idaho Water Resources Board and can be changed by the Board after justification and consultation with the Tribe. More generally, the State gets resolution of key SRBA claims, allowing it to move toward concluding what is a very expensive administration of water claims throughout the state. Some Idaho counties will receive payments to cover the loss of PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) payments that they received from the BLM for land that will now be transferred to the Tribe. Probably most important to the State are the ESA issues in the proposed settlement: A 30 year Biological Opinion will be issued to the Bureau of Reclamation to provide incidental take coverage for operations of its upper Snake River storage reservoirs. ESA Section 6 agreements (joint federal-state conservation agreements authorized under Section 6 of the ESA) will provide incidental take coverage to land and water users for activities associated with logging and irrigating. The State will also receive a $25 million habitat trust fund for fish habitat protection projects under the Section 6 agreements.

Q. Will the quantity of water that tribal members currently use from private wells or from a municipal system be deducted from the 50,000 acre-feet consumptive use water right the Tribe will receive under the terms of the proposed settlement?
A. No. Tribal members who get their domestic water from a private well or municipal system have no affect on the quantity of the 50,000 acre-feet of consumptive use right. Allowable uses of this water will be set out in the tribal Water Code, which will be developed over the next two years.

Q. Which fish species will benefit from the 200,000 acre-feet of water the Tribe will have available for use from Dworshak Reservoir?
A. The 200,000 acre-feet of water from Dworshak will provide temperature and flow augmentation benefits to juvenile fall chinook rearing in the Clearwater and returning adult steelhead and adult fall chinook. Flow augmentation helps juveniles pass through the lower Snake dams and the cold Dworshak water helps juvenile and adult fish by preventing lethal temperatures or a thermal block from developing.

Snake River Currents is published by Greg Haller, SRBA Coordinator for the Nez Perce Tribe Department of Natural Resources. For information regarding this newsletter, please contact Greg at (208) 843-7368 ext. 2612. For additional information about the SRBA and the proposed settlement of the Tribe’s water right claims, please contact Heidi Gudgell, SRBA attorney for the Nez Perce Tribe Office of Legal Council at (208) 843-7355 ext. 2381.

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