COEUR D’ALENE-SPOKANE RIVER BASIN ADJUDICATION, IDAHO
HRA assisted the U.S. Department of Justice in asserting water rights claims on behalf of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane River Basin Adjudication (CSRBA) in Idaho. In addition to assessing the purposes for the establishment of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in 1873, our research and analysis also examined the various ways in which Tribal members relied on the basin’s water resources for fishing, gathering, hunting, transportation, village sites, and ceremonial uses both before and after the reservation’s creation. We also analyzed the legislative history of the 1891 law that confirmed the establishment of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. Attorneys in the case submitted HRA’s expert report and rebuttal report to the court overseeing the CSRBA proceedings.