Opinion ID: 2638777
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The SRBA District Court Properly Held A Federal Reserved Water Right Exists For All Unappropriated Flows Of Tributaries To The Snake River Originating Within The HCNRA.

Text: The SRBA district court concluded the United States holds a federal reserved water right to all unappropriated flows originating in tributaries located within the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area with a priority date of December 31, 1975. The majority opinion concludes the SRBA district court correctly determined Congress expressly reserved a water right in the HCNRA, thus agreeing with the original opinion, but remands the case to the SRBA district court to quantify the amount of water necessary to fulfill the purpose of the reservation. However, both the appellants and the majority opinion incorrectly attempt to merge express water rights with the doctrine of implied water rights. Where, as here, Congress expressly reserves water and identifies the amount reserved that expressed reservation controls. § 1(b) of the HCNRA Act provides: The Hells Canyon National Recreation Area (hereinafter referred to as the recreation area), which includes the Hells Canyon Wilderness (hereinafter referred to as the wilderness), the components of the Wild and Scenic Rivers System designated in section 3 of this Act, and the wilderness study areas designated in subsection 8(d) of this Act, shall comprise the lands and waters generally depicted on the map entitled Hells Canyon National Recreation Area dated September 1975, which shall be on file and available for public inspection in the office of the Chief, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. The Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the Secretary), shall, as soon as practicable, but no later than eighteen months after the date of enactment of this Act, publish a detailed boundary description of the recreation area, the wilderness study areas designated in subsection 8(d) of this Act, and the wilderness established in section 2 of this Act in the Federal Register. HCNRA Act § 1(b) (codified at 16 U.S.C. § 460gg(b)) (emphasis added). Only when a water right must be inferred from an Act of Congress must the Cappaert and New Mexico standards be employed to quantify the amount of water allocated to the right. Therefore, I adhere to the Court's original opinion affirming the SRBA district court and hold that the HCNRA Act both expressly reserves a water right and expressly reserved all unappropriated flows of the tributaries of the Snake River within the HCNRA; therefore, it is unnecessary to remand the quantification issue to the district court. It is important to note, however, that the main flow of the Snake River is excluded from this expressed reservation and, therefore, not subject to a federal right. See HCNRA Act § 6(a) and (b).