Newspaper Coverage

Winters Doctrine' on water rights still haunts the American West

By Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today

Story Published: Apr 28, 2008

Story Updated: Sep 15, 2008

WASHINGTON - When a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1908 gave rise to the ;'Winters Doctrine'' of reserved tribal water rights, only the U.S. government stood between tribes and a settler-state thirst for water that threatened many reservations with drought.