Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation v. Stults

specially concurs:

¶60 I concur in our Opinion. The rules of the trilogy of State ex rel. Greely v. Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (1985), 219 Mont. 76, 712 P.2d 754, Matter of Beneficial Water Use Permits (1996), 278 Mont. 50, 923 P.2d 1073 (Ciotti); and Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes v. Clinch, 1999 MT 342, 297 Mont. 448, 992 P.2d 244, could not be more explicit: (a) The Montana Water Act, Title 85, Chapter 2, Montana Codes Annotated, is adequate to adjudicate Indian reserved water rights only to the extent that it recognizes, preserves and protects the fundamental legal…