Scotus established Reserved Water Rights in 1908.
A tribe with a treaty right to farm has a reserved right to the water needed to farm. Reserved water rights supercede Prior Appropriation Water Rights which the water rights doctrine that Montana uses.
A lot of people will say that the injuns are trying to steal the White man's water. Quick! Somebody call Trump!
Trump will tell the injuns they can't have the water and if they can't grow a crop, they'll just have to eat sh*t.
I think the concern stems from Section 3 of the bill. It amends 25 U.S.C. § 3104 Management of Indian forest land, expanding the land covered from:
“’Indian forest land’ means Indian lands, including commercial and non-commercial timberland and woodland, that are considered chiefly valuable for the production of forest products or to maintain watershed or other land values enhanced by a forest cover”
“’Indian land’ means land title to which is held by— (A) the United States in trust for an Indian, an individual of Indian or Alaska Native ancestry who is not a member of a federally-recognized Indian tribe, or an Indian tribe, or (B) an Indian, an individual of Indian or Alaska Native ancestry who is not a member of a federally recognized tribe, or an Indian tribe subject to a restriction by the United States against alienation;
to also include:
“public lands (as defined in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 2 U.S.C. 1702))”
43 2 U.S.C. 1702 reads: “The term ‘public lands’ means any land and interest in land owned by the United States within the several States and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management, without regard to how the United States acquired ownership, except— (1) lands located on the Outer Continental Shelf; and (2) lands held for the benefit of Indians, Aleuts, and Eskimos.”