John Echohawk, Executive Director, Native American Rights Fund
I was honored to be asked to provide the keynote address for the Conference. As the national Indian legal defense fund, the Native American Rights Fund has been providing legal assistance to tribes across the country on their most important issues and one of those issues has been tribal reserved water rights claims. Under federal law, tribes are entitled to water rights for their present and future uses with a priority date going back to when their reservations were established, which gives them senior water rights ahead of most water rights that were established later under state law. We have been involved in tribal water rights litigation, including nine of the 29 cases that have resulted in Congressionally-approved water rights settlements, since 1978. This has included legal assistance to two tribes in Arizona: Tohono Oodham and Fort McDowell Yavapai. In our view, any discussion on tribes and water must begin with an assessment of their water rights. Most tribes in Arizona have litigated or settled their tribal water rights claims or are in the process of litigating or negotiating to determine what their water rights are.