Opinion ID: 413181
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Toiyabe National Forest

Text: 34 The district court rejected the United States' argument that it was entitled to a water duty of instream flow, reserved by implication when the affected portion of the Toiyabe National Forest was created by statute. See Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564, 577, 28 S.Ct. 207, 211, 52 L.Ed. 340 (1908); Arizona v. California, 373 U.S. 546, 597-98, 83 S.Ct. 1468, 1496-1497, 10 L.Ed.2d 542 (1963); Cappaert v. United States, 426 U.S. 128, 143-46, 96 S.Ct. 2062, 2071-2073, 48 L.Ed.2d 523 (1976); United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 98 S.Ct. 3012, 57 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1978). 35 As we understand it, the district court ruled, 503 F.Supp. at 893, that the United States would have been entitled to a reserved right if it had shown that the right was necessary to preserve the timber or to secure favorable water flows for private and public uses under state law. United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. at 718, 98 S.Ct. at 3023; see also id. at 724-25, 98 S.Ct. at 3026 (Powell, J., dissenting in part). 36 The district court held, however, that the United States did not meet this standard. The evidence to support the assertion that maintenance of such minimum flows is necessary for watershed protection or timber production ... was insignificant. 503 F.Supp. at 893. 37 We first find it necessary to discuss the nature of a reserved instream flow right. It appeared from the evidence presented below that since the sought-after right is one of instream flow only and not of diversion, awarding it would not harm downstream interests. The only result of recognizing a reserved right of instream flow will be to restrict upstream diversion by appropriators with a later priority date than the date of dedication of the national forest. It is possible that such upstream diversion might one day threaten, but the United States did not demonstrate that the water rights of existing downstream interests in the Carson's water would not suffice to protect the banks of the Carson's tributaries within the forest from erosion. In fact, in a colloquy with Judge Thompson below, counsel for the United States agreed that the possibility that someone else will come in and take water for the detriment of those existing [instream] flows was avoided by making a finding that all the waters of the Carson River and its tributaries have been fully appropriated. Moreover, the United States' evidence of what average instream flows were fell far short of a demonstration that the instream flow was necessary to fulfillment of the purposes of the forest. Cf. Avondale Irr. Dist. v. North Idaho Properties, Inc., 99 Idaho 30, 39, 577 P.2d 9, 18 (1978); Boles & Elliott, United States v. New Mexico and the Course of Federal Reserved Water Rights, 51 Colo.L.Rev. 209, 229 (1978). The district judge did not err in rejecting the United States' claim for a reserved water right with respect to the parties in this litigation. 38