Tribe, agencies agree to Snake River settlement

BOISE — The Nez Perce Tribe and state and federal agencies have agreed to augment Snake River flows to aid endangered salmon, improve fish habitat in the Salmon and Clearwater rivers, and officially recognize some of the tribe’s claims to water in the Snake River Basin.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Nez Perce Tribe Chairman Anthony Johnson announced Saturday that a proposed settlement had been reached in one of the largest water rights cases in the West.

Kempthorne said the agreement preserved existing state and private water rights while it established a framework for water use and timber management compliance under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“This is one of the single most important milestones in our state’s 114-year crusade to control its water,” Kempthorne said. “What we’ve achieved here is sovereignty, certainty and opportunity for Idaho to chart its own destiny with regard to water and the future of this state.”

The state has been sorting out 180,000 claims to river water rights for nearly two decades. In 1993, the Nez Perce laid claim to most of the water in the river, including its tributaries. The proposed settlement — set to take effect next spring and last for 30 years — still must be approved by the U.S. Congress, Idaho Legislature, the tribe and the Snake River Basin Adjudication court.

Though the agreement does not resolve all the contested water issues in the Snake River, it addresses the bulk of the concerns raised by the tribe.

“Water has been fundamental to the livelihood and culture of the Nez Perce people for over 10,000 years. It is essential to our economic and cultural health today,” Johnson said. “Clean water in sufficient quantity is necessary for the Nez Perce people to exercise our treaty-preserved rights.”