Yakama Nation emphasizes treaty‑reserved water rights and co‑management in Yakima Basin

Phil Rigdon, deputy director of natural resources for the Yakama Nation, told the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee that treaty reserved rights predate state law and have the most senior priority date in places where they apply. Rigdon said those rights cannot be lost through nonuse and argued they are federal rights with tribal legal protection.

Focusing on the Yakima Basin, Rigdon described a long history of adjudication and chronic over‑appropriation. He explained prorating for junior irrigation districts in shortage years (example given: 48% water availability meant prorated users received 48% of full irrigation supply). Rigdon said the tribe holds instream flow rights necessary to support fish and that the tribe participates in system‑level committees (System Operations Advisory Committee, SOAC) with Reclamation, irrigators and state and federal agencies to set seasonal operating rules and flows.

Rigdon discussed storage, conservation, habitat restoration and groundwater–surface water connectivity as co‑management priorities. He described collaboration with irrigation districts, local governments and federal partners on projects to improve juvenile fish rearing and passage and said the tribe prioritizes solutions that protect treaty resources. He warned that proposals to alter the legal mitigation standard (references to "fixing Foster") could be perceived as a threat to tribal resource protections and urged meaningful tribal consultation and inclusion in policy reform.

Rigdon closed by urging the legislature and committee to engage tribes as co‑managers and to support investments in storage, habitat and systems that sustain both fisheries and agricultural communities.