STAFFORD COUNTY – An agreement struck between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kansas Department of Agriculture at least for now resolves the water rights issues plaguing the Rattlesnake Creek Basin and the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, state and national officials announced this week. The USFWS said it would cease pressing its water claims for the refuge as they work towards a compromise.
The deal calls for the formation of a working group of impacted stakeholders to reach a collaborative remedy to be implemented starting in January 2025.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran Wednesday celebrated the pact that could end a controversy that dates back to 2016. Kelly and Moran have been pushing for the two agencies to seek a sustainable and viable solution that secures the USFWS’s senior water right while minimizing the impact on the local economy.
“I am pleased that both parties have agreed to collaborate on a sustainable solution for all who rely on the Rattlesnake Creek Basin,” Kelly said. “By working together, we can show how agricultural producers and all water rights holders can rise to the challenge to meet our state’s water needs now and into the future.”
The USFWS, which manages the refuge, was seeking to evoke its senior water right to secure water for the Quivira from the basin. However, state and local officials were concerned about the future of those in the basin with rights junior to the refuge.
The basin has long provided water to the region’s agriculture industry, and to migratory and resident wildlife in the refuge, Kelly and Moran noted. They are worried about the implications for farmers and ranchers, as well as communities in the area.
Wednesday’s announcement means USFWS has agreed to conditionally pause its request to secure its senior water right as it directs KDA and local stakeholders to find a practicable and permanent solution to the current impairment.
In September, Governor Kelly sent a letter to the USFWS Director Martha Williams asking her to work with the KDA’s Division of Water Resources to find a solution to the issue. In the letter, she wrote that a “failure to reach a collaborative and gradual solution will create unnecessary economic hardships for local businesses and communities that will ripple across the state and region.”
Moran has also called on USFWS to work with KDA to find an answer.
“I appreciate the effort from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to listen to Kansans and hear their concerns with the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed,” Moran said. “It is important we establish long-term solutions that support the refuge and the regional economy, and I am pleased that all parties are working together towards a sustainable future for the watershed and our Kansas producers.”
The USFWS and Groundwater Management District 5, which manages water resources in the Rattle Snake Basin, have been operating under a memorandum of agreement, signed in 2020, to find a solution. However, earlier this year, the service renewed its efforts to enforce its rights.
This decision led to the renewed calls from Kelly, Moran and others for the USFWS to return to the negotiating table.
The USFWS response
“The (USFWS) understands (KDA’s Division of Water Resources) interest in convening a working group of affected stakeholders to develop a long-term remedy to the Refuge’s impairment,” wrote Williams in an Oct. 11 letter to state water officials. “We remain open to and supportive of a collaborative approach that makes meaningful progress in addressing the impairment of the water right at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge while minimizing then impact to other water users and the local communities in which they live.
“To give space for the state to lead on this effort, and to allow for full and robust participation of affected stakeholders, the service requests the state pursue this collaborative remedy in lieu of KDA-DWR issuing administration orders at this time for 2024,” Williams said.
But, there are conditions.
“This letter also serves as a request to secure water for 2025 and beyond if alternative actions that achieve the same results cannot be achieved or implemented in a timely manner,” she continued.
More remarks
This sparked an effort from Kelly, Moran, Sen. Roger Marshall, Congressmen Tracey Mann and Ron Estes, and local officials to put the demand on hold.
The announcement also sparked comments from agricultural officials and other lawmakers.
“We commend the bipartisan approach Gov. Laura Kelly and Sen. Jerry Moran have taken to find a durable resolution to the water situation within the Rattlesnake Creek watershed,” said Kansas Farm Bureau President Joe Newland. “Kansas Farm Bureau, working directly alongside impacted farmers and ranchers within the watershed, looks forward to working together to ensure the economic driver that is Kansas agriculture continues to prosper for decades to come under our priority-based water allocation system supplemented by augmentation.”
“As a property owner along Rattlesnake Creek for three decades, protecting our local agricultural communities and the environment is something I take very seriously. Our farmers are already dealing with drought conditions and would be substantially impacted by a curtailment in water allocations,” Marshall said. “We applaud our federal partners for agreeing to continue to work together to implement conservation practices and avoid a call for water. This is a win for our producers and the communities in Stafford and surrounding counties.”
“When it comes to decisions regarding water rights and regulation, landowners and local stakeholders know best,” said Rep. Mann. “I am glad to see that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has acknowledged that. This decision recognizes the importance of locally led, long-term solutions that won’t hamstring our agricultural producers and local economies. We need stakeholder consent and voluntary action, not big government.”
