Application for Beneficial Water Use Permit

On April 30, 1985, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation (Tribes) filed an objection with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to an application by Frank Pope, a non-Indian landowner on the reservation, for an authorization to change his point of diversion and place of use of a portion of his on-reservation water right. Between February 10, 1987, and September 16, 1987, the Tribes filed objections with the DNRC to three applications from non-Indian landowners on the reservation who were seeking permits for new water rights from sources on the reservation. DNRC consolidated the Tribes objections to all of the water permit applications, and on April 14, 1992, issued a final order in which it denied the objections. On January 12, 1995, the District Court affirmed DNRCs final order. The Tribes appeal the District Courts order. We reverse the District Court.