Labrador Letter – Stockwater Victory. By Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador (09/09/24)

ag.idaho.gov/newsroom/stockwater-victory

The AG's office prevailed over the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) in a critical and complex lawsuit the DOJ brought against Idaho related to ranchers who use water rights for their livestock. Idaho law says that if stockwater rights aren’t used within five years, they can be forfeited. This applies to the federal government property as well.

Labrador discusses the history of the Snake River Basin Adjudication — a legal and administrative process begun in 1987 to determine water rights between the State of Idaho, the Department of the Interior, and the Nez Perce Tribe. The final decree, signed in 2014, provided legal certainty for recognized water rights, improved water management, environmental protections, and economic stability for users in the region.

The Biden-Harris DOJ sued in 2022 to block application of Idaho’s forfeiture laws to any stockwater rights the United States had acquired, under Idaho law, for watering livestock on millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service lands.

Fortunately the U.S. District Court agreed with Idaho, protecting access to stockwater for ranchers who graze their stock on public lands.