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Southern Ute Indian Tribe

Seal of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, featuring a Native American chief, animals, oil rig, and symbols representing nature and culture.

Southern Ute Indian Tribe
P.O. Box 737
356 Ouray Drive,
Ignacio, CO 81137

Who We Are 

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe is a Federally Recognized Tribe located in Southwest Colorado.  

The Utes were created by Sinawav (the Creator) and were placed in the mountains. The Sinawav told the people they would be few in number but, they would be strong warriors, and protectors of their lands.

There is no migration story, we were placed here in the mountains, we have always been here, we will always be here.

Chronology – Southern Ute Indian Tribe (southernute-nsn.gov)

Mission

We are a sovereign tribe, managing resources and protecting our culture as we serve our people now and into the future.

Tribal Water Rights 

The Tribe’s water rights were quantified in 1986 through the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights settlement agreement with the State of Colorado and the 1988 Settlement Act and 2000 Amendment with the United States. The Settlement Act recognized the Tribe’s legal entitlement to water rights on streams within the Reservation.  The majority of the Tribe’s water rights have a priority date of 1868, but some water rights were subordinated to priorities up to 1976 through the negotiation of the Tribe’s water settlement.  

The Supreme Court recognized the Winters Doctrine in 1908 which states: “When the United States set aside lands as Indian reservations, it impliedly reserved water in sufficient quantity to meet the purposes for which the reservation was established:  to provide a permanent home to the Indian tribes residing on them.”  The Winters Doctrine deals with three distinct legal concepts:

  1. that the federal government holds water rights to satisfy various federal interests that are separate from and not subject to state law;
  2. that the United States is bound to uphold the terms and purposes of treaties with Indian tribes; and
  3. that whatever aboriginal rights Indian tribes do not expressly relinquish by treaty, they retained, including the right to use water.

 

Most of the Tribe’s water rights are Federally Reserved rights and overall, the Tribe has rights to divert a total of 128,939 acre-feet per year which does not include supplemental storage volumes.  

 

Related Links:

Southern Ute Indian Tribe – Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado (southernute-nsn.gov)

Tribal Water Study Report (usbr.gov)