Court Opinion

ID: 9791382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:10:04.442103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:35.830536
License: Public Domain

McFADDEN, Justice
(dissenting).
Article 15, section 3 of the Idaho Constitution in pertinent part provides that:
“The right to divert and appropriate the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses, shall never be denied, except that the state may regulate and limit the use thereof for power purposes.” (Emphasis added.)
In my view, the so-called “appropriation” authorized by I.C. § 67-4307 constitutes a denial of the constitutional right to appropriate the unappropriated waters of the Malad Canyon Springs.
I recognize that the state, acting in its proprietary capacity, may appropriate water without offending Article 15, section 3; but as in the case of private appropriators, the state’s appropriative right depends upon the application of water to a “beneficial use.” In this case, however, the state agency is directed to hold unappropriated waters “in trust for the people of the state” for “scenic beauty and recreational purposes.” I.C. § 67-4307. If the state were to hold unappropriated waters in trust for these purposes, it certainly would not be acting in a proprietary capacity; it would be doing nothing more than it already had a duty to do in its sovereign capacity. Poole v. Olaveson, 82 Idaho 496, 502, 356 P.2d 61 (1960); Walbridge v. Robinson, 22 Idaho 236, 241-242, 125 P. 812 (1912); Idaho Power & Trans. Co. v. Stephenson, 16 Idaho 418, 429, 101 P. 821 (1909); Hutchins, The Idaho Law of Water Rights, 5 Idaho L.Rev. 1, 3 (1968). As the court stated in Walbridge:
“[T]he title to the public waters of the state is vested in the state for the use and benefit of all the citizens of the state * * *. This is not, however, an interest or title in the proprietary sense, but rather in the sovereign capacity as representative of all the people for the purpose of gtiaranteeing that the common rights of all shall be equally protected and that no one shall be denied his proper use and benefit of this common necessity.” 22 Idaho at 241-242, 125 P. at 814 (emphasis added).
In water law, the verb “appropriate” means to acquire a right to use “public water.” See Boise Irrigation & Land Co. v. Stewart, 10 Idaho 38, 49, 77 P. 25 (1904); Lake Shore Duck Club v. Lake View Duck Club, 50 Utah 76, 166 P. 309, 310-311 (1917); Hutchens, The Idaho Law of Water Rights, 5 Idaho L.Rev. 1, 7 (1968); Hutchins, Selected Problems in the Law of Water Rights in the West, U.S. Dept, of Agriculture Misc.Pub. No. 418 (1942). An appropriation may be made for “private” beneficial use or for “public” beneficial use. Boise Irrigation & Land Co., supra, 10 Idaho at 48-49, 77 P. 25. However, if the state in its sovereign capacity already has the right to use “public water” for a certain beneficial use, it obviously cannot “acquire” that right — in other words, the state cannot “appropriate” water in such a case, because it cannot “acquire” a right that it already has. See State ex rel. State Game Comm. v. Red River Valley Co., 51 N.M. 207, 182 P.2d 421, 432 (1945). In my view, the in-stream use of a natural stream for recreational purposes and for scenic beauty is a public beneficial use which inheres in the state’s sovereign ownership of such water. Therefore, since the state already has the right to so use the water, it cannot acquire the right to “appropriate” the water for these purposes.
Moreover, this purported “appropriation” is objectionable on grounds much more weighty than mere logical inconsistency. *453Under Article 15, section 3 of the Idaho Constitution, water held by the state in its sovereign capacity — even though being beneficially used by the general public — is subject to being appropriated for specific private (or proprietary) beneficial uses. Thus, in-stream public use of unappropriated water for recreational purposes and for scenic beauty is subject to diminution by the exercise of the constitutional right to appropriate water for private (or proprietary) beneficial uses. State ex rel. State Game Comm. v. Red River Valley Co., supra. The type of “appropriation” authorized here was recognized for what it really is by the author of the following excerpt :
“In Oregon * * * many streams that form beautiful falls or that are famous fishing waters have been reserved from appropriation. In Idaho the governor is authorized to appropriate the water of certain lakes in trust for the people, and the preservation of the lakes for scenic beauty, health, and recreation purposes is declared to be a beneficial use of the water [citing I.C. §§ 67-4301, 4304], although in reality this is not an appropriation, but like the Oregon laws a reservation of the water to prevent its bring appropriated for more mundane purposes.” Trelease, The Concept of Reasonable Beneficial Use in the Law of Surface Streams, 12 Wyo.L.J. 1, 12 (1956) (emphasis added].
Such a reservation by the state of unappropriated waters is completely unauthorized by our Constitution. Unlike the constitutions of some other western states, Idaho’s Constitution does not provide that the right to appropriate “shall never be denied except when such denial is demanded by the public interest.” 1 Our Constitution provides that the right to appropriate unappropriated waters “shall never be denied, except that the state may regulate and limit the use thereof for power purposes.” Art. 15, sec. 3, Idaho Const, (emphasis added). The Idaho provision makes an exception only for power purposes — not for the demands of the public interest (and not for the purposes of recreation and scenic beauty). To allow the state to in effect reserve water from appropriation in furtherance of non-proprietary, non-power purposes — when the framers of the Constitution contemplated that private beneficial users could appropriate water being held by the state in its sovereign capacity— amounts to nothing less than a denial of the constitutional right to appropriate the “unappropriated waters” of any natural stream. “In other words, the state cannot by legislative act authorize its own agency to monopolize or withdraw the very rights that section 3 of article 15 of the Constituition says cshall never be denied’ the people of the state.” State Water Conservation Bd. v. Enking, 56 Idaho 722, 732, 58 P.2d 779, 783 (1936). The proper means to authorize such a withdrawal (or “appropriation”) is to amend the Constitution to so provide.
It is beyond dispute that scenic beauty and recreation are both of vital importance to modern day life in Idaho. But this does not ipso facto mean the state has the right to promote these beneficial ends by withdrawing waters from appropriation, given the guarantee contained in the Idaho Constitution. I note, however, that the effect of a proposed appropriation upon scenic beauty and recreation can and should be considered in determining whether the use contemplated is “beneficial” within the meaning of the Constitution. Comment, Water Appropriation for Recreation, 1 Land & Water L.Rev. 209, 221 (1966). In other words, where the benefits of a proposed use are outweighed by the attendant detriment to scenic beauty and recreation, the use is not a “beneficial use,” and the application for a permit to appropriate public waters for that use should be denied. As always, the question of beneficial use must be determined on a case by case *454basis, since the benefits of a particular proposed appropriation may outweigh the detriment to recreation and scenic beauty. Whether a use of water is “beneficial” is a question of fact to be resolved upon a consideration of the circumstances present in a particular case. City & County of Denver v. Sheriff, 105 Colo. 193, 96 P.2d 836, 842 (1939). As stated in Tulare Irrig. Dist. v. Lindsay-Strathmore Irrig. Dist., 3 Cal.2d 489, 45 P.2d 972, 1007 (1935):
“What is beneficial use, of course, depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. What may be a reasonable beneficial use, where water is present in excess of all needs, would not be a reasonable beneficial use in an area of great scarcity and great need. What is a beneficial use at one time may, because of changed conditions, become a waste of water at a later time.”
In conclusion, although I believe that recreation and scenic beauty can and should be taken into consideration on a case by case basis, they cannot be used as an excuse to deny all future appropriation of water for other purposes, at least until the Constitution is amended.

. Neb.Const. art. XV, § 6; see also Wyo. Const. art. 8, § 3 (“No appropriation shall be denied except when such denial is demanded by the public interests”).