Colorado River Indian Tribes Resolution: Personhood for the Colorado River

Summary

On November 6 2025, the Tribal Council of the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) voted unanimously to adopt a resolution recognizing the Colorado River, which flows through the reservation, as a living being and granting it personhood status under Tribal law. This applies for the 100 miles that the colorado river flows through CRIT’s tribal lands. The resolution directs the Tribe’s Attorney General and legal staff to develop proposed amendments to the tribal water code to reflect the personhood status of the Colorado River.

The Colorado River Indian Tribes is one of 30 federally recognized tribes in the Colorado River Basin, and is one of the few whose land includes a stretch of the river itself. The tribe holds the largest quantity of senior water rights in the state.

Jurisprudential Framing
The Resolution states “there is no greater expression of sovereignty than protecting, stewarding, and securing for future generations what our Ancestors handed down to us, and that personhood status is a reflection of our values and responsibilities as a people and our spiritual, cultural, and religious connection to the Colorado River from the beginning of time through the end of time.”

Tribal Council Chairwoman, Amelia Flores, explains that the tribe “regards the river as a living being, so the resolution codifies that belief and the tribe’s commitment to protecting its needs and ability to provide water for future generations.” The tribe’s leadership conducted a consultation process of public hearings with its 4,200 membership, including ones for members who live away from the reservation, to determine their interests and formulate the resolution.

While this tribal law gives the river personhood only within CRIT’s tribal lands, the action can have some affect on how the state and the federal governments do business. For example, personhood status means the Colorado River has the right to be protected under Tribal Law, which means the tribe is now authorized to include the river’s needs in transactions involving its water, and it now has legal means to address the damage climate change is causing to the Colorado River. The region’s indigenous people have largely been shut out from management decisions regarding the Colorado River, despite their long history of sustainably using and living alongside the river before it was divided and allocated according to the laws of the U.S. state and federal governments.

Ecological Context
This resolution comes as the 7 states in the Southwest U.S. failed to reach a mandated water conservation agreement on state water allocations from the Colorado River. The river is used by nearly 40 million people, including major cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles, and a massive agriculture industry. The river has suffered a drought for more than 20 years, and it’s estimated the Colorado loses more than 324 billion gallons of water to evaporation each year. Already, the Colorado River is drained dry before it is able to reach the Gulf of California.

Photo: Mark Valentine on Unsplash

Impact Statement

The Colorado River Indian Tribes is the third Indigenous government in North America to grant a river personhood rights, following the Klamath River in 2019 and Magpie River in 2021.

Involved Organizations