Opinion ID: 2612687
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicability of 16 U.S.C. ง 481

Text: The federal government claims that the water court improperly subordinated federal reserved water rights to appropriations made pursuant to Colorado law. The water court awarded reserved rights for the national forests subject to the condition that the rights shall be and are subject to water appropriations under Colorado law for domestic, mining, milling, and irrigation beneficial uses, as provided by the Organic Act of 1897, codified in pertinent part at 16 U.S.C. ง 481. Additionally, whether the priority date was before or after the federal reservation was held to be immaterial. The United States argues that federal reserved waters are not subject to private appropriations. We agree. Section 481 of the Organic Act of 1897, 16 U.S.C. งง 475 et seq. (1976) provides: All waters within the boundaries of national forests may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such national forests are situated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established thereunder. The water court concluded that the statute authorizes appropriation of federal reserved water. We believe that interpretation of section 481 misconstrues the Organic Act of 1897 and the case law which has interpreted federal reserved water rights. In Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128, 96 S.Ct. 2062, 48 L.Ed.2d 523 (1976), the United States Supreme Court held that the federal government's reserved water rights had a priority date which vests at the date of reservation and are superior to the rights of future appropriators. 426 U.S. at 138, 96 S.Ct. at 2069. Accordingly, any appropriative rights established after the reservation date of a national forest are subordinate to the reserved right. Only water in excess of the minimal amount needed to fulfill the purposes of the national forests is available to subsequent appropriators. See also Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 28 S.Ct. 207, 52 L.Ed. 340 (1908) (reserved water exempt from appropriation under state law). In United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 98 S.Ct. 3012, 57 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1978), the Supreme Court found that the Organic Act of 1897 reserved water for the purposes of conserving water flows and maintaining a continuous timber supply (confirming the findings of the New Mexico Supreme Court in Mimbres Valley Irrigation Co. v. Salopek, 90 N.M. 410, 564 P.2d 615 (1977)). Section 481 of the Organic Act of 1897 would frustrate the purposes of the national forests if it were read to allow private appropriation of reserved water essential to accomplish those purposes. [34] We do not believe Congress granted private appropriators the ability to take water necessary to fulfill the purposes of the national forests. The water court's order would give private appropriators the power to divert national forest water even if it meant that the timber supply would diminish or that water flows would be disrupted. Section 481 is more sensibly read to express Congress' concern that national forest reservations should not preclude future private appropriations. The section confirms the coexistence of federal water rights and private appropriation under state law. Congress was well aware of the role water plays in the economic development of the West when it enacted the Organic Act of 1897. It sought to strike a balance between federal stewardship and state economic development. Thus, any water in excess of that needed to fulfill the purposes of the national forests was made available by Congress to subsequent private appropriators. 438 U.S. at 712-13, 98 S.Ct. at 3020. We reverse the water court's decree insofar as it subordinates national forest reserved rights to subsequent appropriations. Federal reserved water rights have a vested priority dating from the initial reservation. The reserved rights decreed by the water court to the federal government are necessary to fulfill the purposes of watershed and timber protection. They do not conflict with the limitations of section 481, which guarantees that excess waters remain available to private appropriators. The federal purposes, however, cannot be subverted by state and private water diversions which jeopardize the existence of the national forests. The water court's decree shall therefore be modified so that the federal government is granted sufficient water to fulfill the purposes for which the national forests were established. All excess water is available to other appropriators under the dictates of section 481.