2020 Idaho Code
Title 42 - IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE -- WATER RIGHTS AND RECLAMATION
Chapter 2 - APPROPRIATION OF WATER — PERMITS, CERTIFICATES, AND LICENSES — SURVEY
Section 42-224 - FORFEITURE OF STOCKWATER RIGHTS.
42-224. FORFEITURE OF STOCKWATER RIGHTS. (1) Whenever the director of the department of water resources receives a petition making a prima facie showing, or finds, on his own initiative based on available information, that a stockwater right has not been put to beneficial use for a term of five (5) years, the director shall expeditiously issue an order to the stockwater right owner to show cause before the director why the stockwater right has not been lost through forfeiture pursuant to section 42-222(2), Idaho Code.
(2) Any order to show cause shall contain the director’s findings.
(3) The director shall serve a copy of any order to show cause on the stockwater right owner by personal service or by certified mail. Personal service may be completed by department personnel or a person authorized to serve process under the Idaho rules of civil procedure. Service by certified mail shall be complete upon receipt of the certified mail. If reasonable efforts to personally serve the order fail, or if the certified mail is returned unclaimed, the director may serve the order by publication by publishing a summary of the order once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the point of diversion is located. Service by publication shall be complete upon the date of the last publication.
(4) If the order affects a stockwater right where the place of use is a federal grazing allotment, the director shall provide a copy of the order to the holder or holders of any livestock grazing permit or lease for said allotment.
(5) The stockwater right owner shall have twenty-one (21) days from completion of service to request in writing a hearing pursuant to section 42-1701A, Idaho Code. If the stockwater right owner fails to timely respond to the order to show cause, the stockwater right shall be considered forfeited, and the director shall issue an order declaring the stockwater right to be forfeited pursuant to section 42-222(2), Idaho Code.
(6) The director may consider multiple stockwater rights held by a single owner in a single order to show cause.
(7) If the stockwater right owner timely requests a hearing, the hearing shall be in accordance with section 42-1701A, Idaho Code, and the rules of procedure promulgated by the director. If, after the hearing, the director confirms that the water right has been lost and forfeited pursuant to section 42-222(2), Idaho Code, the director shall issue an order declaring the water right forfeited. Judicial review of any decision of the director shall be in accordance with section 42-1701A, Idaho Code.
(8) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) "Stockwater right" means water rights for the watering of livestock meeting the requirements of section 42-1401A(11), Idaho Code.
(b) "Stockwater right owner" as used in this section means the owner of the stockwater right shown in the records of the department of water resources at the time of service of the order to show cause.
(9) This section applies to all stockwater rights except those stockwater rights decreed to the United States based on federal law.
(10) The director shall not issue an order to show cause, and shall not proceed under the provisions of this section, where the holder or holders of any livestock grazing permit or lease on a federal grazing allotment asserts a principal/agent relationship with the federal agency managing the grazing allotment.
History:
[42-224, added 2020, ch. 253, sec. 1, p. 738.]
