Bill would codify landmark water rights victory in Idaho law

Idaho lawmakers in 2017 will again attempt to introduce a bill that codifies in state law a 2007 Idaho Supreme Court decision over who owns in-stream stock watering rights on federal land.  Rep. Judy Boyle, a Republican rancher from Midvale who tried unsuccessfully to introduce the bill last year, said she will introduce a similar bill this year that addresses concerns about the proposed legislation that arose in 2016. Southern Idaho ranchers and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management filed thousands of overlapping claims to in-stream stock watering rights on BLM land during Idaho’s Snake River Basin Adjudication. All but two of the ranchers — Paul Nettleton and Tim Lowry of Owyhee County — backed off when they realized fighting the BLM in court would cost a lot of money. After more than a decade of court battles, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled in the Owyhee County ranchers’ favor in 2007. The court said the BLM could not own the watering rights because it doesn’t own livestock and therefore can’t put the water to beneficial use.