Tribe's Role in Watershed Planning Near Resolution in Washington State Story-Date: 08:31 p.m. PST Sunday , January 10, 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------ Tribe's Role in Watershed Planning Near Resolution in Washington State By Cate Montana, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Jan. 11--TOPPENISH, Wash.--The Yakama Nation role in the watershed planning process for the Yakima River basin is up in the air. But, according to most parties involved, it's close to being resolved. At stake is the release of $550,000 in state funds to carry out the watershed assessment phase of the project headed up by the Tri-County Water Resource Agency in Yakima. The Department of Ecology -- and common sense -- make it plain that no meaningful planning study can take place without the participation of the Yakama tribe. Reservation lands make up a large portion of the watershed which stretches from the top of the Cascade Range to the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers. Communication between Yakama tribal council members, the Washington State Department of Ecology and the Tri-County Water Resource Agency started last May after the agency, comprised of representatives from three counties, water suppliers and the largest cities in the Yakima River system, was formed. Known as the initiating governments of the agency, county, city and water representatives created an agreement on how the agency should undertake the study. Then they contacted the tribe to join as another initiating government. "The hang-up here is they invited the tribe under the conditions of their inter-governmental agreement that the initiating governments had already agreed to," said Joe Williams, Ecology's assistant to the director for watershed planning. "In other words, the cities, the counties and the water providers had agreed on how they were going to operate. They formed that agreement and got it signed. Then they said to the tribe, `We would like you to participate.' "They did that in good faith in my opinion. ... They recognized the needs for them to be there and the resources and information they have. I think what went wrong here was they invited them, but they invited them to play by the rules that these others had agreed to already." In June, according to the Yakama tribe's water resources program member Tom Ring, the tribal council officially notified the agency that it would not participate in the study "under the terms and conditions laid out in the memorandum of agreement prepared by Tri-County." An outline of terms and conditions under which the Yakama Nation would consider engaging in watershed planning was included in its initial response. According to Chuck Klarich, director of the Tri-County Agency, one of the main problems in getting the tribe to join the board as an initiating government has been the original agreements majority rule clause. "In my opinion," said Klarich, "It's the fact that the board is organized in the inter-governmental agreement to vote by majority rule. And if the tribe participated and didn't like something ..." Another perceived problem was that the board had too much authority over the planning units studying the watershed. After months of see-sawing back and forth with proposals and ideas but no resolution, Williams, at the request of the board and Ecology's director Tom Fitzsimmons, reworked some of the language concerning the board's majority vote and dispute resolution clauses, as well as sections vesting more authority with the planning units and resubmitted it to Tri-Counties. The Tri-County board also made changes the Yakama tribal council wanted, specifying -- in writing -- that the agency will not make any extraneous applications of the planning units findings to other matters such as in-stream flow or treaty-guaranteed surface water rights. "It's strictly a planning thing," said Klarich. Williams said that all of the board, except for Kitittas County, voted to adopt the agreement at the last meeting, Dec. 21. "So we're still hung-up on this," said Williams. "I don't think we're as much hung up on the substance anymore, at least I would hope we're not. We're kind of hung-up on some local government's feeling that the Department of Ecology is meddling in their affairs." When the board meets again this month, it is expected the agreement will be passed unanimously. "The Department of Ecology has not said that the Yakama Indian Nation has to accept this work," added Williams. "I don't think, for example, that every element that the Yakama Nation would like to see in an agreement is in the agreement that we worked out. "What we're trying to do is bring the board's agreement and authority in line with the law and again vested in the planning unit. "Once they adopt it and agree to abide by it by their adoption and then take that and formally offer it to the tribe, then we're going to release the money. "If the tribe takes a week to decide it's going to play, that's fine. If they take six months that's their prerogative as well. But we believe that is will be a fair legal invitation at that point." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1999, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------