To: "homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] Arizona water settlement gives Native Americans ample water
Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2005 07:45:35 -0700
Like most people, before I lived here I figured Arizona was one big desert
with a big ditch at the upper-left corner. Truth be told, the Hohokam and
other tribes farmed successfully long before white man showed up and
elbowed them aside. Chris and I recently visited Casa Grande, the remains
of a once-thriving civilization south of Phoenix.
A clever system of dams, canals and levees allowed what we might call
community homesteading. Phoenix was founded by settlers who found and
rebuilt some the of original canals. Now, in an historic water rights
settlement, Arizona's Native Americans can replant the desert.
Contrary to the cliche expressed in this article, white man did not
dispossess Native Americans here. They had largely left--at least the large
populations had disappeared--before Europeans arrived. The Anasazi of Mesa
Verde and the Hohokam of Casa Grande left, I speculate, because continued
irrigation raises the level of certain minerals in the soil, resulting in
gradually diminishing returns. I know Missouri homesteaders who have the
same challenge. Using well water over decades has been like over-liming the
soil.
Water deal allows Gila tribe to renew tradition of farming
Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 19, 2005 12:00 AM
Thousands of years ago, Native Americans were growing corn, beans and
squash along the banks of the Gila and Salt rivers, thick with cottonwoods
and creosote, bears and beavers.
Then White settlers came and took the water, building dams upstream,
leaving sandy, dry expanses in place of the rivers.
This year, with approval of the Arizona Water Settlement Act, the most
far-reaching Indian water settlement in U.S. history, the 20,000-member
Gila River Indian Community will have enough water to make its riverbanks
lush again with crops.
It will mean more tribal members once again carving a livelihood from the
land.
"It's not full circle," said Enrique Salmon, a Tarahumara Indian who is a
national expert on biodiversity with the Christensen Fund in California.
"There's no way to go back to what was going on before. But it's
three-quarter circle.
"At least there's farming going on. They are connecting to the landscape in
a way they haven't in 100 years."
Gila River Farms, the community's agricultural entity, plans to nearly
double the 16,000 acres it tills, putting as many acres into production
each year as it can. The tribes of Arizona, including the Pima and Maricopa
on the Gila River Reservation, are unusual in the United States,
controlling large reservations with tillable land. Gila River has more than
372,000 acres about 30 miles south of Phoenix.
"There's 146,000 acres of agricultural land out here that could be put to
use," said Robert Stone, the farm's general manager.