Water Wrongs

On May 1, 2001 the Idaho Supreme Court decided that Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge had no federal reserved water right because: 1) Congress hadn't hatched a standard for quantifying the amount of water; and 2) The mere act of setting aside a reserve for certain birds doesn't imply the need to set aside water. This despite the fact that the birds in question were waterfowl. It was bizarre logic, typical of Western states when it comes to water issues. But US Interior Secretary Gale Norton promptly decided not to appeal to the US Supreme Court.

"The future of the parks, especially in the arid West, is written in acre-feet," writes Frank Buono, former assistant superintendent of Joshua Tree National Park and now a board member of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "Imagine finding that a pub with no beer is still a pub! You would be laughed out of court. . . . Bush and his Interior Secretary Gale Norton will try to convince us that they care about America's national parks. Bush's concern for the national parks is a fraud. . . . The heart of great national parks . . . are wildlife, wilderness and water. Without them the parks would be green spaces on the map. Without them, the parks are hollow shells. . . . The word . . . 'water' frightens [the Bush administration]. Not all water; only water reserved to fulfill the purpose of federal reservations."

As you may know, shortly after this story broke, several prominent members of Congress demanded a full investigation of this incident claiming that it "threatened the very economy of rural America". It is now under investigation by the GAO, the USDA Inspector General, and other Congressional entities.

There's a general feeling out there that there has to be a controversy and a court-determined activity that finally gets to that normative condition. It really shouldn't be that polarized. In all the rivers I've worked on it has been pretty easy to get to a normative condition, but it requires tradeoffs on both sides. Frankly, I believe that the Park Service people who have been negotiating this have been very professional about it and have provided in every instance very sound and thoroughly documented science. It's just very unfortunate to see the Bush Administration back away from that level of commitment from its own agency."

If the Administration is unwilling to use a federal reserved water right for its own National Park System dedicated to preserving natural processes and for a trophy wild trout fishery equal to any in the nation, it's clear that it's unwilling to use federal reserved water rights anywhere. This should surprise no one. As Colorado's attorney general, Gale Norton aggressively challenged federal water claims. And Norton, to whom the Park Service answers, is a protégé and former colleague of former Interior Secretary James Watt, who dedicated himself to discarding federal reserved water rights and who, in 1981, repealed part of the water rights opinion of his own agency's solicitor.

All Americans who love fish and wildlife, especially sportsmen, need to stop judging presidents by what they say and start judging them by the people they appoint. Missing trout of the Gunnison, missing salmon of the Klamath, missing ducks of Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge and all manner of other missing fish and wildlife across our nation have been brought to you by people Dubya has hired, people who were either following his orders or working with his blessings. Think about that next time you see a bumper sticker that says "Sportsmen for Bush," especially if it's on the back of your vehicle.