Indigenous, Indian, and Aboriginal Law Commons^™

The School-To-Prison Pipeline Tragedy On Montana's American Indian Reservations, Melina Healey

Scholarly Works

American Indian adolescents in Montana are caught in a school-to-prison pipeline. They are plagued with low academic achievement, high dropout, suspension and expulsion rates, and disproportionate contact with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This phenomenon has been well documented in poor, minority communities throughout the country. But it has received little attention with respect to the American Indian population in Montana, for whom the problem is particularly acute. Indeed, the pipeline is uniquely disturbing for American Indian youth in Montana because this same population has been affected by another heartbreaking and related trend: alarming levels of adolescent suicides and …

“[This] I Know From My Grandfather”: The Battle For Admissibility Of Indigenous Oral History As Proof Of Tribal Land Claims, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A major obstacle indigenous land claimants must face is the application of federal evidentiary rules, like the hearsay doctrine, which block the use of oral history to establish legal claims. It is often oral history and stories that tribes rely upon as evidence to support their claims, reducing substantially the likelihood of a tribe prevailing. Indigenous oral history presents unique challenges to judges when faced with its admissibility. Canadian courts have largely overcome these challenges by interpreting evidentiary rules liberally, in favor of the aborigines. As such, Canadian aborigines have enjoyed greater land claim success than indigenous claimants in the …

Confederated Tribes Of The Warm Springs Reservation Water Rights - No Federal Legislation, Confederated Tribes Of The Warm Springs Reservation Et Al

Native American Water Rights Settlement Project

No Federal Legisation was created in connection with Warm Springs Tribes Water Rights Settlement Agreement

Archival: A Water Rights Manual For Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law, Zackeriah Carpenter, Gregory Chakalian, Darcy S. Bushnell

Publications

The Utton Center prepared this Water Rights Manual to assist Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Associations (MDWCAs) with the development, protection and management of their water rights.

This manual provides an introduction to and defines Water Rights in New Mexico, as well as to acquire and have recognized Water Rights. This document also covers water management and planning, and provides additional resources.

Acequias, Brigette Buynak, Jerold Widdison, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

Acequias are community irrigation systems in the villages and pueblos of New Mexico. They have deep roots in two ancient traditions—Pueblo Indian and Spanish. The Pueblos collected and shared water for centuries before the arrival of Spanish colonists in 1598. The Spanish settlers brought technical knowledge and institutional frameworks for governing irrigation systems, which originated in the Moors’ seven-century occupation of Spain. Both traditions remain important to an understanding of New Mexico’s acequia heritage and the continuing relevance of these “water democracies.”Today, these traditions must meld with state law as the legislature has provided that acequias are “political subdivisions” or …

American Indian Water Rights, Michael Osborn, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

Pueblos and tribal reservations are located within most of the larger stream systems in New Mexico. Each has claims to rights to use the water in its stream. In New Mexico, Indian rights are significant because of their early priority dates, because of the large amounts of water rights claimed, or both. In some instances, such claims have the potential to displace a significant number of junior water rights.

Common law theories or doctrines pertaining to Indians continue to be judicially refined and to evolve so that discussing the nature and extent of “Indian water rights” is a complex topic.

Groundwater, Darcy S. Bushnell, Diego Urbina

Water Matters!

Since the late nineteenth century, New Mexicans have been developing the state’s groundwater resources. From hand-dug wells to proposed wells that could penetrate to 12,000 feet, residents have sought sources to supplement and replace surface water. The state relies upon groundwater to supply almost 50 percent of its needs.

As the population grows and drought intensifies, groundwater sources are tapped with increasing urgency. Limited steps are being taken to preserve groundwater through conservation, groundwater recharge, and regulation.

State And Regional Water Planning, Brigette Buynak, Susan Kelly, Sarah Armstrong

Water Matters!

A statewide water planning effort was initiated by the New Mexico legislature in the 2003 session. The Interstate Stream Commission (ISC),in collaboration with the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) and the Water Trust Board, was tasked with preparing and implementing a comprehensive state water plan. Regional water planning had begun much earlier, prompted by a lawsuit that El Paso filed against New Mexico in 1983, El Paso v. Reynolds.

The State Water Plan Act of 2003 (Act) was intended to promote stewardship of the state’s water resources and to establish clear policies and strategies for management of the state’s …

Community Water Systems, Joanne Hilton, Susan Kelly, Sarah Armstrong

Water Matters!

Apart from the major cities along the Rio Grande corridor, much of New Mexico remains relatively rural. Recent studies estimate a 2013population of around 2,085,500 statewide. In the state fiscal year 2011,about 1,836,000 people, or 88 percent of New Mexico’s population obtain their water from community water systems. Approximately 284,000 people, or about14 percent of the population, receive their drinking water from community water systems serving fewer than 5,000 people. As of 2012, there are 1,148 public water systems that provide drinking water in New Mexico. Of these systems, 593are community water systems; of these, 546 serve fewer than 5,000 …

Deep Water Regulation, Paul Bossert, Kari Olson

Water Matters!

With most of the surface water in New Mexico fully appropriated and with groundwater sources being drawn down and becoming less reliable, the search for new sources of water is reaching further and further afield of traditional sources and methods. Water wells deeper than 2,000 feet have been rare due to the expense of deep drilling and the uncertainty of finding potable water. Yet the combined circumstances of advances in hydrology and the escalating demand for new water have driven the search for water deeper than was previously considered practical.

Water Marketing, Jeremy Oat, Laura Paskus

Water Matters!

Water doesn’t just flow around New Mexico in streams and rivers: it also moves around on paper. Since all of the state’s surface-water and most of its groundwater have already been allocated, the only way for cities, developers, or conservation organizations to find new water supplies is to buy and transfer water rights from old uses and places to new uses and places. The N.M. Office of the State Engineer (OSE) approves each of these transfers, most of which are relatively small, but the numbers can add up over time. Between 1982 and 2011, for instance, 21,000 acre-feet of Middle …

Water Quality Regulation, Joanne Hilton, Susan Kelly, James Hogan, Kimberly Kirby, Jerry Schoeppner

Water Matters!

While many of the water issues in New Mexico center around having an adequate supply of water, the quality of the water is just as important as the quantity in supplying water for drinking and other uses that rely on clean water. Protecting water quality is financially more feasible than conducting expensive cleanup programs. New Mexico has a strong interest in water quality regulation to protect public health and the environment and to minimize expenditures for mitigation of contaminated supplies. Water quality is a difficult subject to navigate; there is a complex web of statutes and agency involvement. This paper …

Water Litigation In The Lower Rio Grande, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The water allocation issues are hotly contested in south-central New Mexico and the surrounding area. Today, the river and those who depend on it face more administrative challenges in the face of shrinking water supplies and increased population. These challenges have given rise to two ongoing lawsuits: the Lower Rio Grande Adjudication,New Mexico v. EBID, et al., 96-CV-888 (1996) (N.M. v. EBID) in the New Mexico Third Judicial District Court (adjudication court) and the New Mexico v. United States,et al., D.N.M. 11-CV-691 (2011) (N.M. v.U.S.) in United States District Court of New Mexico (U.S. District Court).

Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (Ute Pipeline Project), Jerold Widdison, Paul Van Gulick, Darcy S. Bushnell

Water Matters!

The Ute Pipeline Project (Project), officially known as the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System (ENMRWS),is a 151-mile-long pipeline project to provide a sustainable municipal and industrial water supply for several eastern New Mexico communities and a military base. The Congress authorized major federal funding for the Ute Pipeline in the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. This important milestone for the project was reached after about 45 years of effort.Attention now shifts to myriad details involved in actually constructing, financing,and administering the project.

The Rio Grande As An International River, Margaret J. Vick

Water Matters!

The Rio Grande is divided into two major river reaches and has different legal regimes for each. New Mexico is primarily concerned with the Rio Grande from the headwaters in Colorado to Ft. Quitman in Texas, a distance of approximately 670 miles. This section of the river is the subject of the1906 Rio Grande Convention (Treaty) between the United States and Mexico. The lower section of the Rio Grande from Ft. Quitman to the Gulf of Mexico is the subject of the 1944 Rivers Treaty between the United States and Mexico; the 1944 Rivers Treaty also includes the Colorado and …

Extraterritoriality And Extranationality: A Comparative Study, Zachary D. Clopton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

International lawyers are familiar with the concept of extraterritoriality the application of one country's laws to persons, conduct, or relationships outside of that country. Yet the transborder application of law is not limited to international cases. In many states, the presence of indigenous peoples, often within defined borders, creates an analogous puzzle. This Article begins a comparative study of foreign- and native-affairs law by examining the application of domestic laws to foreign facts ("extraterritoriality") and to indigenous peoples, often called "nations" ("extranationality"). Using a distinctive double-comparative perspective, this Article analyzes extraterritoriality and extranationality across three countries: the United States, Canada, …

A Most Grievous Display Of Behavior: Self-Decimation In Indian Country, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Vine Deloria, Jr., the greatest indigenous philosopher of his day, wrote Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto in 1969. It was a spirited polemic that both galvanized and inspired Native peoples at home and abroad. Simultaneously, the book's powerful and trenchant words sent shock waves through non-Indian society. Deloria articulated a resurgent indigenous-centered understanding of sovereignty that had largely been suppressed by federal policy and law for nearly a century. Why did he emphasize the word "sovereignty"? Because he knew that Native nations needed to employ such concepts since they were familiar to both federal and state …

Conference Transcript: Heeding Frickey's Call: Doing Justice In Indian Country

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unmasking Tonto: Can Title Vii "Make It" In Hollywood, Megan Basham

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Guide To The Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act For Those Familiar With The Uniform Commercial Code, Elaine A. Welle

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.