Legal Foundations and Priorities in Tribal Water and Resource Rights

Natural resources rights are more than legal claims. They are a promise to preserve life’s essence for future generations.

Assume for a moment the U.S. government grants a reservation to a tribe, which included land rich in timber and minerals. Later on, the tribe agreed to give up a portion of this land back to the government under some sort of new agreement. The later agreement didn’t specify who keeps the rights to those natural resources. When the government compensated the tribe, they paid only for the land, not the resources found on it.

The key question here is whether the government was also supposed to compensate the tribe for these natural resources? According to a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court (see below), when the government dedicates land for a tribe, the deal includes also any resources it contains that are necessary for its use. Therefore the government was supposed to pay for the resources (timber and minerals) as well as the land itself.

Why did the tribal leader use a magnifying glass to read the contract? Because the bold print was as missing as the resource rights! 📃 Copyright by author © (created with Canva assistance)

Winters v. United States

Winters v. United States (1908) directly addressed the rights of Native American tribes to water resources on their reservations.

Background