It All Depends on Water

Held in Redmond, Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs submitted testimony on the proceedings.

On October 8, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife & Fisheries convened a field hearing, “It All Depends on Water: Examining Efforts to Improve and Protect Central Oregon’s Water Supply,” which examined the importance of collaboration in the Deschutes Basin and how this collaboration impacts agriculture and species recovery.

Held in Redmond, Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs submitted testimony on the proceedings.

Robert “Bobby” Brunoe, who serves as Secretary-Treasurer/CEO of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, issued this statement summarizing his comments at the proceedings:

“We convened on our ancestral lands, within the 10 million acres that our ancestors ceded to the U.S. government in the Treaty of June 25, 1855, with the Tribes of Middle Oregon. This area goes from the crest of the Cascade Mountains to our west, to the Columbia River and east to what is now Baker County. Warm Springs tribal members continue to exercise our inherent sovereignty and treaty rights throughout that territory, including the right to fish at our usual and accustomed locations and the right to hunt and gather on unclaimed lands.

I mention this because it echoes the title of this hearing: “It All Depends on Water.” We agree. Warm Springs has dedicated significant time and resources to working with our neighbors to improve the use of water in the Deschutes River Basin to meet current and future needs. Striking that balance is a growing challenge and requires real collaboration.

It is our sovereign duty to support a healthy watershed from the headwaters to the mouth of the Deschutes River. We will continue to work with our neighbors to improve the use of water throughout the Deschutes River Basin, including land-use matters and addressing wildfire threats.

We can all agree this work is a priority, and we urge Congress to continue and grow support for collaboration throughout the Basin by creating new authorities and funding mechanisms for Tribal co-management.

The Warm Springs people have been here since time immemorial. We’re not going anywhere. Our neighbors are going to be here forever. We’ve all decided to be working together to come up with solutions and ways to take care of the water. We get a lot more work done working together than alone.”