The controversy over water rights has been a long battle that the Navajo Nation has endured for decades. This controversy which is complicated by numerous issues has only been increasing in recent years. For example the Navajo Hopi Little Colorado Water Settlement that has been in litigation for 33 years. Of particular note Navajo people and their elected officials are struggling to balance expectations with reality including legally mandated coordination with state and federal governments. As a result there has been notable conflict in resources associated with water management. These fundamental issues have been exasperated by a host of concerns: (1) deceased water availability due to drought or water development; (2) long litigation proceedings, (3) growing demands to use “Navajo Water” to meet non-Navajo energy needs in the southwest including coal consumption, uranium exploration-mining and natural gas fracking, and (4) the confusion of Indian Water Rights held separate from the United States water rights systems.
Navajo people have had to catch up quickly to understand western civilization’s concept of water rights. Navajo people’s perception of water rights greatly differed from settlers, and state, and federal governments. From past experience Navajos have become very weary of negotiations, but still have to face many obstacles to solidify its claims over water rights. This paper will discuss cases, compacts, and acts that effect the integrity of Navajo Nation water rights for past, present, and future claims.
Background
The Navajo Nation is located in the southwest spanning across the Northwest corner of New Mexico, Northern Arizona, and the Southeast corner of Utah. It is over 27,000 sq. miles, roughly the s...
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Going forward, the Court of Appeal’s decision in Garetson Brothers v. American Warrior will stand for the proposition that Kansas water laws mean what they say. Rather than consider any economic considerations, the only relevant factors will be who has the senior water right and whether an impairment has occurred. As groundwater becomes scarcer in Kansas, senior water users will likely find that Kansas laws will serve to protect their use over any junior water
United States. Department of the Interior. National Parks Service. Memorandum on Government-to-Government Relations with Native American Tribal Governments. By William J. Clinton. National Parks Service, 4 May 1994. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
Charles Wilson Hackett, Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin’s Attempted Reconquest, 1680–1682 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1942), Volume 2: 245–49.
The case Worcester v. Georgia (1832) was a basis for the discussion of the issue of states' rights versus the federal government as played out in the administration of President Andrew Jackson and its battle with the Supreme Court. In addition to the constitutional issues involved, the momentum of the westward movement and popular support for Indian resettlement pitted white man against Indian. All of these factors came together in the Worcester case, which alarmed the independence of the Cherokee Nation, but which was not enforced. This examines the legal issues and tragic consequences of Indian resettlement.
Hackett, Charles W. Declarations of Josephe and Pedro Naranjo. Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin's Attempted Reconquest 1680-82. University of New Mexico Press, 1942.
John Farella. The Main Stalk: A synthesis of Navajo Philosophy. Navajo Religion. (Tuschon: University of Arizona Press, 1984)
Wheelwright, M. (1942). Navajo Creation Myth. Navajo Religion Series, Vol. 1. Santa Fe: Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art.
Today, most of the Navajo code talkers have been forgotten. Those who’s memories still linger are honored highly. The Navajo are the largest Indian tribe in the United States and live on the largest reservation, which covers over three states on 17 million acres. The states include Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and a small part of Colorado. The Navajo are continuing to grow and keep their culture, nation and tradition alive.
The Jicarilla Apache tribe is located in the central northern part of New Mexico in the United States. This has been the primary region of the tribe for many centuries, but it has dwindled due to the expansion of Spanish, and then American settlements throughout northern New Mexico. In many ways, some of the ancient lands of the Jicarilla Apache are still inhabited. The tribe stills lives on these lands in the 21st century.
The Navajo Indians used to live in northwestern Canada and Alaska. 1,000 years ago the Navajo Indians traveled south, because there was more qualities they had seeked there. When the Navajo Indians traveled south there was a lot of oil in the 1940’s. Today the Navajo Indians are located in the Four Corners.
Water is needed to sustain life and ecosystems and property/jurisdictional rights regarding bodies of water are hard to distinguish. Uniquely the Delaware and Maryland cases had a longstanding royal charter or formal ownership of the water granted to them but they were still plagued with disputes and constant litigation due to the
Water laws in the United States comply with one of three bylaws: Riparian Doctrine, Appropriation Doctrine, and Tribal Water Rights; these charters have varying consequences depending on region, historical residence and socioeconomic status. The Riparian Doctrine permits anyone whose land has frontage on a body of surface water to use that water (Ken Lecture Hydro 2/20). When water is scarce, all users are “curtailed proportionally” (Ken Lecture Hydro 2/20)--proportionally refers to the prior average consumption by a user. This doctrine was carried over from England and is primarily used on the east coast of the United States. It favors people who live along bodies of water but is biased against people who live further distances.
MacDonald, Glen. "Water, Climate Change, and Sustainability in the Southwest." Water, Climate Change, and Sustainability in the Southwest. "Divvying Up the Mighty Colorado." NPR. NPR.
With one sentence, Luci Tapahonso explains beautifully the historical generational trauma Native Americans have had to endure and are still enduring today. Luci Tapahonso, in her two poems, "The American Flag" and "In 1864," links Dine history to contemporary Native realities, and in doing so, provides intergenerational hope and instruction. In 1864 she tells a story within a story, at moments the poem is hard to read because of the horrific actions they were taken against the Navajo people during their forced removal of their homelands to In 1864, 8,354 Navajos were forced to walk three hundred miles, from Dinetah to Bosque Redondo which is located
The government is a player in the water inequality since it does not provide the necessary funds and manpower to help clean the Navajo tribe’s contaminated water. In addition, the political agency or businesses that developed the contamination are fueling the contaminated waters by not maintaining infrastructures to an acceptable status. Therefore, Ray and Balazs’ framework was efficient in analyzing the Navajo’s circumstance because the framework highlights how other factors establish water inequality. Thus, the government and infrastructures are key player in Navajo water crisis since they both limit the Navajo tribe’s access to