And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Pact settles tribe rights to water
Also frees $50 million for Apaches
By Steve Yozwiak
The Arizona Republic
March 31, 1999
Water for Scottsdale, water for endangered species, water for
pastures and crops
and vindication for the people of Geronimo -- all these will
flow from a key
Arizona Indian water-rights settlement signed Tuesday.
The San Carlos Apache settlement will provide the
impoverished east-central Arizona tribe with rights to
nearly 68,000 acre-feet of water -- enough to serve
300,000 people a year. And, it will free more than $50
million in economic development funds approved by the
Legislature and Congress nearly seven years ago.
The tribes' water rights have been in limbo since its
reservation was established in 1871.
In addition, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said the
pact sets the stage for the settlement of other Indian
water-rights claims, including the giant Gila River
General Stream Adjudication, which would settle nearly
65,000 water rights claims across central and southern
Arizona.
Babbitt, a former Arizona governor, said he is hoping
legislation will be introduced in Congress by the end of
this year to resolve the Gila River claims, which were
first filed in 1974.
"We can now move forward and quickly to settle the
remaining water-rights disputes," Babbitt told nearly 50
state, federal, tribal, city and farming representatives at
a signing ceremony in downtown Phoenix only hours
before congressional authorization for the San Carlos
Apache was set to expire.
For Velasquez W. Sneezy Sr., the tribe's vice chairman,
signing the settlement was a symbolic end to more than
a century of conflicts with Anglo culture.
"I believe this settlement proves that the San Carlos
Apache people still have the spirt of the warrior. This
victory is going to motivate our younger people ... to
plan for the future," Sneezy said of his 12,000-member
tribe, whose per-capita income is less than $10,000 a
year.
David Hays, recently nominated by President Clinton as
deputy secretary of the Interior, called the signing "an
end to the war" between the San Carlos Apaches and
other water users.
However, the pact does not settle a continuing dispute
over water between the San Carlos Apaches and Phelps
Dodge Corp., which leases tribal water for its giant
copper mine at Morenci.
And it comes during the worst recorded drought in tribal
history. San Carlos Lake is predicted to go dry by May,
unless the state and federal government intervenes.
The San Carlos Apache tribal council three weeks ago
petitioned Gov. Jane Hull to declare the dwindling lake a
disaster area, but so far the governor has not acted.
Tribal attorney Joe Sparks said nearly 4 million pounds
of fish are at risk, as well as feeding grounds for three
nesting pairs of bald eagles and two pairs of Peregrine
falcons. The lake is a world-class sports fishing
destination.
Tuesday's agreement must be approved by Dec. 31 by
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susan K.
Bolton. It would then become part of an overall
settlement of disputes over Gila River water dating to
1974.
Once it is approved by the courts, the tribe plans to
move forward with its plans to lease water to Scottsdale
and Carefree.
Scottsdale Mayor Sam Campana said water from the
tribe will ensure Scottsdale's ability to add an additional
100,000 residents in the coming decades. The city's
population currently is nearing 200,000.
Money from the lease to the high-end northeast Valley
cities will provide the tribe with the money it needs to
buy it allocation of Colorado River water from the
Central Arizona Project.
Because there is no way to deliver that CAP water to
the reservation, Sparks said, one possible use would be
to substitute it for water the San Carlos Irrigation
District currently receives from San Carlos Lake.
If the water in the lake does not have to be sent
downstream for agriculture, the tribe would be able to
store it for recreation, fishing and wildlife uses, Sparks
said.
Also, once the court approved Tuesday's settlement, it
will enable the tribe to begin using a $50 million
economic development fund.
Among the tribe's plans for the money are long-term
economic and environmental restoration efforts,
including: new pasture and crop lands; nurseries of trees
to replant forests devastated by runaway logging;
cold-water fisheries and hatcheries for commercial fish;
and the re-introduction of endangered native Apache
and Gila trout.
Steve Yozwiak can be reached at 444-8810 or at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] via e-mail.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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