Nez Perce approve water pact

BOISE – The Nez Perce Tribe has agreed to give up its claims to most of the water in Idaho’s Snake River Basin under a multimillion-dollar agreement with the state and federal governments.

The 6-2 vote by the tribe’s executive committee came Tuesday afternoon after a meeting in which tribal members spoke out both for and against the plan. The agreement has already been approved by the state and federal governments. Under the agreement – perhaps one of the largest such water deals in the West – the Nez Perce will give up their claim to much of the water in the Snake River Basin in exchange for cash, land, environmental improvements and some water.

The agreement grants the tribe rights to 50,000 acre-feet of water in the Clearwater River, plus $80 million in cash and land and a pledge from the state and federal governments for fish habitat and other environmental improvements.

The agreement will protect irrigators in the Upper Snake River Basin and some loggers and landowners in the Clearwater and Salmon river basins from endangered species-based lawsuits.