TABLE 3-3. TEHPORARY PRELIMINARY DECREE ISSUANCE DATES, 

 CLARK FORK SUBBASINS 



Subbasin Name 



Issue Date 



C I a i ms 

 Submi tted 



Total Claims 

 Decreed 



31,337 



10,862 



Source: DNRC 1988b. 



A petition for writ of supervisory control of the Water 

 Court was filed before the Montana Supreme Court in July 

 1985. The petition questioned the accuracy and validity of 

 the decrees, charged due process violations, and alleged 

 substantive errors in the adjudication. Before the Supreme 

 Court ruled on the petition, a stipulation was negotiated out 

 of court and signed by the Water Court and several parties 

 agreeing to resolve the petitioned allegations. Among other 

 things, the stipulation called for new procedures for 

 examining pre-1973 water right claims. 



The stipulation also confirmed what assistance the DNRC 

 would provide to the Water Court in the adjudication process. 

 The DNRC would factually analyze water right claims for 

 accuracy and completeness and identify issues. The issues 

 would include apparent factual discrepancies that appear to 

 have uncertain support from historical evidence. The legal 

 and due process considerations would not be issues reported 

 by DNRC as part of their assistance to the Water Court. The 

 stipulation also described how the DNRC's analysis would be 

 incorporated into the Water Court's decrees. 



In response to the stipulation, the DNRC drafted a set 

 of procedural rules for examining water right claims. The 

 Montana Water Court ordered the DNRC to refrain from adopting 

 the rules under the Montana Administrative Procedures Act 

 (MAPA) . The Water Court, as the judicial authority for the 



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