Missouri River Basin Association
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Mni Sose Intertribal Water Rights Coalition
Strengthening Tribal Homelands in the Missouri River Basin
The Missouri River Basin is home to 28 Indian Nations. These reservations were set aside for the development of permanent tribal homelands. The protection and management of tribal water resources in the Missouri River watershed are among the most critical priorities facing the basin Tribes. Indian Tribes control more than 15 million acres of land within the watershed, geographically distributed from the headwaters in Montana to the mouth of the Missouri River in Kansas and Missouri.
Despite historical and legal rights to the water, the Tribes have not received a fair share of the benefits of the Missouri River water resources. Although 23 percent of the acres taken for the construction of the dams and reservoirs under the government's Pick-Sloan plan were tribal lands, the Tribes have not been able to participate fully in the government's promise of irrigation development and participation in the generation of electricity. The Mni Sose (Lakota for Missouri River) Intertribal Water Rights Coalition, created in 1993, as a non-profit organization, is the first tribal membership organization devoted to working with Tribes in the protection of Indian water rights to the Missouri River and the development of viable economies that rely upon the use of the Tribes' water rights to the Missouri River.