Idaho Code 42-501 – Legislative Intent
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In the landmark case of Joyce Livestock Company v. United States of America, 144 Idaho 1, 156 P.3d 502 (2007), the Idaho Supreme Court held that an agency of the federal government cannot obtain a stockwater right under Idaho law unless it actually owns livestock and puts the water to beneficial use.
In Joyce, the court held that the United States:
"bases its claim upon the constitutional method of appropriation. That method requires that the appropriator actually apply the water to a beneficial use. Since the United States has not done so, the district court did not err in denying its claimed water rights."
The court also held that federal ownership or management of the land alone does not qualify it for stockwater rights. It opined:
"The United States claimed instream water rights for stock watering based upon its ownership and control of the public lands coupled with the Bureau of Land Management’s comprehensive management of public lands under the Taylor Grazing Act…The argument of the United States reflects a misunderstanding of water law…As the United States has held, Congress has severed the ownership of federal lands from the ownership of water rights in nonnavigable waters located on such lands."
The court went on to state:
"Under Idaho Law, a landowner does not own a water right obtained by an appropriator using the land with the landowner’s permission unless the appropriator was acting as agent of the owner in obtaining that water right…If the water right was initiated by the lessee, the right is the lessee’s property, unless the lessee was acting as the agent of the owner…The Taylor Grazing Act expressly recognizes that ranchers could obtain their own water rights on federal land."
A rancher is not unwittingly acting as an agent of a federal agency simply by grazing livestock on federally managed lands when he files for and receives a stockwater right.
Terms Used In Idaho Code 42-501
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Property: includes both real and personal property. See Idaho Code 73-114
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories; and the words "United States" may include the District of Columbia and territories. See Idaho Code 73-114
It is the intent of the Legislature to codify and enhance these important points of law from the Joyce case to protect Idaho stockwater right holders from encroachment by the federal government in navigable and nonnavigable waters.