The Colorado River Indian Tribes of Arizona and California voted this month to give their namesake waterway the same legal rights as a person, saying the ‘living being’ deserves more protection while it’s being threatened by overuse and drought.
“There is no greater expression of sovereignty than protecting, stewarding, and securing for future generations what our Ancestors handed down to us,” the tribes wrote in their resolution. “And that personhood status is a reflection of our values as a people and our spiritual, cultural, and religious connection to the Colorado River from the beginning of time through the end of time.”
The tribes’ leaders say their designation is more than just symbolic. In a column explaining what the vote means to her, Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, said the tribes hold the senior-most water rights in Arizona for Colorado River water.
“And we are constantly receiving requests regarding the potential leasing of our water,” she wrote. “This action authorizes (tribal) Council to include in any transaction involving our water supplies, additional actions to support the long-term health of the river and its ecosystem; things like restoration of habitat, dedicating flows for the delta, or building new wetlands.”
Flores added that the Colorado River is in jeopardy, and if the nation is to protect it for the future, “we must think beyond terms of what it can provide to us; we must think of what we can provide to it.”
The personhood designation for the river is part of a broader “rights of nature” movement that aims to bestow new legal protections on threatened natural resources around the globe.
The Yurok Tribe in northern California is believed to have been the first group to give legal personhood rights to a North American river when it declared in 2019 the Klamath River "possesses inherent rights to exist, flourish and naturally evolve.”
The tribe’s action was a response to low river flows that threatened salmon populations.
While some personhood designations have yet to be tested in courts, a federal judge in 2020 struck down a law passed by voters in Toledo, Ohio, granting legal rights to Lake Erie.
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights aimed to protect the lake from pollution and toxic algae blooms.
This story is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
