Wyoming Framework Water Plan - Living Rivers Home Page

3.0 SETTING
the award was for use in developing irrigation projects. At the present time, the Tribes have not
beneficially used this water, and downstream users, whose rights are junior to those of the Tribes, are
accustomed to having this water available. Working out a management regime that will satisfy all parties
is a formidable task.
The Reservation includes within its boundaries private lands not owned by the Tribes. The
Reservation operates within a governmental context of tribal, federal, state, and local authority and
activity. Water rights on the Reservation are managed under state law and the Wind River Water Code,
jointly adopted in 1991 by the Tribes (Collins, August, 2000). A Water Resources Control Board is the
Tribes’ “primary enforcement and management agency responsible for controlling water resources on the
Reservation” (Wind River Water Code, 1991). The Big Horn River General Stream Adjudication and the
tribal water rights have a distinct impact on future water planning in the WBHB.
In addition to the tribal rights, under Phase II of the 1979 District Court case, the water rights
were quantified for the United States on national park lands, in forests, and on lands of the Bureau of land
Management and USBR. Several thousand rights were confirmed for use as public water reserves,
instream flow, wells, reservoirs, stock reservoirs and stock driveways, firefighting uses, and discrete
water uses along with other diminimus uses on federal land.
Under Phase III of the case, state water rights adjudication through the District Court has resulted
in reaching final disposition of over 4,000 surface water rights and over 15,000 groundwater rights.
Water rights within the entire Water Division 3 have been affected by a series of court decisions through
the general stream adjudication process, both on and off the reservation. The water rights within the Wind
River Indian Reservation consist of state water rights, tribal water rights, and Walton Awards. Added to
this complexity is the checkerboard ownership pattern resulting in an integrated level of multiple water
rights on the same ditch system which cross-jurisdictional boundaries. Water planning efforts should
always take a comprehensive view of all water rights as they integrate with each other regardless of how
they were derived or awarded by the courts within this complex water system.
3.3.3 Contracts and Agreements
Wyoming has also entered into several agreements that limit or modify water use at specific
locations. A few of the most noteworthy are listed below by river basin.
Green River Basin
Fontenelle Reservoir Contract
Wyoming acquired the right to perpetually market 60,000 acre-feet of Fontenelle Reservoir
storage from the USBR on two separate occasions. A 1958 Act of Congress authorized storage to meet
anticipated future need for municipal and industrial purposes to be included in any reservoir project to be
surveyed, planned, and constructed by the USBR – conditioned upon the willingness of state or local
interests to pay for the cost of providing storage for the anticipated future demands. In 1959, the
Wyoming legislature appropriated the funds and authorized the existing Natural Resource Board to enter
into contract with the USBR for storage in an amount not to exceed 60,000 acre-feet. In 1974, Wyoming
entered into a second agreement with the USBR that authorized Wyoming to market an additional 60,000
acre-feet of Fontenelle Reservoir storage water for municipal and industrial purposes. Therefore,
Wyoming has a right to market 120,000 acre-feet of the 345,397 acre-feet total capacity of Fontenelle
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