Guest blog: Parallels

Let me tell you a story

Turtle was swimming in the river. All his relatives, the fish, the deer, the elk, the buffalo, they all swam in the river. The trees were green, the beaver were happy, the bees were flourishing. Life was good.  

One day, Turtle noticed the water was a bit warm. The very next time he went to the river to swim, the water wasn’t moving. He noticed the bees weren’t around. He hadn’t seen a deer, an elk, or a buffalo in weeks. The trees were losing their leaves.  

Turtle walked upstream for 5 days and came upon a sight he had never seen before. There was a giant diversion of the entire river.  

He immediately went to the builders of the huge dam. He explained to them the harm that was occurring downstream. They paid no mind to him. They “needed this water.”  

Turtle returned to tell the animals. Beaver, Mink, Muskrat, and the others had an idea. If they created a system of small tunnels and openings around and under the large diversion, it would be enough to bring the water level in the river back up. They explained that they didn’t need all the water. However, they wanted everyone to know their plan would only work at night, under the stars. They feared that during the daylight, they would be discovered and harmed.          

It worked. The water was moving again, the others returned, and the trees were happy. And more importantly, the builders of the diversion didn’t notice the water levels at night. They experienced no difficulties in their use of the water. It was a good year.  

One evening, two of the dam builders stayed up into the night. They noticed the water level had dropped at the diversion and in the canal system that had been built. The system of tunnels and openings were discovered and were immediately closed off. No one bothered to study the fact that for a year no one noticed and there had been no loss or harm suffered.  

Turtle went for a swim. He noticed the water was getting warm. Turtle tried to talk to them. They refused. 

No one wants to see a river run dry

When water is diverted and much of that water is merely bypassing miles and miles of a river system out of fear of “use it or lose it” as pertains to water rights, it is time for a change. This kind of approach is unsustainable, and it is unnecessary to hold steadfast to an approach that is only based on perceived need, not actual need or demonstrated fact. 

The very thought of fish, wildlife, and other parts of the entire ecosystem that rivers support suffering unnecessarily is unpleasant at best. Witnessing a river diverted to the point it stops running is akin to watching suffocation in slow motion and it is horrifying.   

When more water is diverted than is needed to sustain the livelihoods of those who are “depending” on that water, it not only feels wrong, it is wrong. When there is evidence that this is not necessary, it is even worse.  

This happens to the Big Wind River. Annually. Tragic.  

Making sure a river still runs through it

The Big Wind River on the Wind River Indian Reservation is facing a crisis. Ensuring that this free-flowing river continues to run is not an impossible task. Nature has shown us time and again that it knows how to heal itself. We can help nature by using existing research data that shows the minimum instream flows that will allow this river to heal from the damage it has suffered, sustain a healthy fishery, and not destroy the surrounding ecosystem. And just as importantly, not harm the economic productivity of those using some of this water for agriculture. This is an option right now. In 1991, following a court order, the irrigators in the Midvale Irrigation District were required to honor the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes’ designation of an instream flow of 252 cubic feet per second. Agricultural crop yields that year were as good or better than they had been in the past 30 years. No harm done. It was a good year.  

Diversion Dam on the Big Wind River in Wyoming. (Photo Tribal Waters Film)

How can we do this?

A great start would be recognition by both the U.S. Government (the Department of the Interior) and the state of Wyoming, of the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes’ authority to regulate their water and enforce the Wind River Tribal Water Code. After the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991 affirmed the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes’ right to more than 500,000-acre feet of water, the Tribes’ ability to regulate that water should be recognized, not litigated.  

There is a need to identify improvements in water use efficiency that exist currently and can immediately be put into place. There are products and systems available now that could be utilized, including:  1) requiring the replacement of any flood irrigation system with drip irrigation systems or gravity flow sprinkler systems, 2) installation of headgates with computerized monitoring and measuring devices, 3) updated analysis identifying the required minimum levels of water to satisfy irrigation demands, 4) development of a water sharing plan for years in which water is in short supply (see drought), and 5) recognizing that in some years there will be a need for shared sacrifice. These initial measures are moving targets and would need to be updated on a regular basis.   

Yes, this will cost money, and lots of it. A convincing argument can be made that it would be worth it. This is evidenced by the tremendous sums of money spent on litigation in the Big Horn water case by all parties and has not actually resolved any of the core issues. More importantly, the river and the ecosystem that depends on it continues to suffer. In the nearly five decades since this dispute began, unfathomable sums of money spent has paid lots of attorneys, however it has done little to resolve this dispute. 

New opportunities   

American Indians have existed on the North American continent for tens of thousands of years. Numerous Tribes have oral histories that life originated here. Today, Indian Tribes in the United States have social, educational, economic, and political opportunities available to them like never before. It is time for the policy makers and the powers that be to allow Tribes to lead and demonstrate their ability to regulate and manage complex systems like water rights adjudication. Should these opportunities be afforded to them, I believe we will see improvements in resource management that will benefit Tribal communities and the population at large. It will require trust and dedication along with ongoing effort and hard work. I believe we will all benefit from such collaboration.   

How to help 

Things that can be done now:  supporting organizations like the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes, and shopping with companies that pay attention to conservation and environmental issues that affect us all. Small things matter and help make a difference for people and turtles alike. 

—Darren Calhoun, Ph.D.  

Northern Arapaho/Eastern Shoshone  

Owner, Wind River Canyon Whitewater & Fly Fishing 

Darren is a guest blogger and owner of Wind River Canyon Whitewater & Fly Fishing. He is also the lead storyteller and producer of Tribal Waters, a 50-minute documentary by Teton Gravity Research Films, in association with Patagonia, which tells the story of the social, economical, cultural, and environmental injustice of Diversion Dam on the Big Wind River. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition has partnered with the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone of the Wind River Indian Reservation, a key landscape within Greater Yellowstone, to help improve flow regimes, water quality and quantity, riparian and aquatic habitat health, and native fish and beaver populations along portions of the Big Wind River