30th Annual Orme Dam Victory Days—Celebrating
“The dam that never was”

The 30th Annual Orme Dam Victory Days will celebrate the social and economic gains made by Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation in the 30 years since Interior Secretary James Lee Watt announced the decision to not build Orme Dam. The dam would have destroyed the culture and reservation of Yavapai People and its land. In the early 1970s, Arizona officials and the federal government sought to construct Orme Dam, which would give Phoenix more water but flood two-thirds of the 24,000 acre Fort McDowell Yavapai Indian Reservation.

When Congress approved the Central Arizona Project (CAP) in 1968, the plan called for the construction of Orme Dam at the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers. "I propose," said Interior Secretary Stewart Udall, "to make the small but fine little reservoir we are creating here into an Indian recreation development." What Udall didn’t say was that the dam would have flooded more than half the reservation, including most of the tribal farm. The Yavapai’s fought the project for 10 years.

Most of the confusion centered on the Orme Dam and Reservoir, a flood control and flow regulation facility to be built 25 miles northeast of Phoenix. Opponents contended that the lake would have destroyed vital bald eagle. It also would have flooded significant archeological sites. Geological testing revealed minor fault formations which might have presented potential safety problems. And the 452 Yavapai Indians residing on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, much of which would have been in undated by the dam. Tribal members opposed the dam (even though they would have received $33.5 million plus 2,500 acres of land and other compensation in exchange for the 17,000 lost acres). The trouble with Orme Dam was it would flood about 17,000 acres of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, included most of the community’s homes, significant archeological sites, its new gymnasium, and even the tribe’s sacred burial grounds.

The Fort McDowell Yavapai People rejected the government’s offer. Tribal members sold fry bread and the occasional steer to travel to Washington. There, they met with federal officials to inform them that the Yavapai people did not want to move. There are many Orme Dam Fighters from Fort McDowell and nearby communities and we know that they were instrumental in fighting this worthy cause.

In 1981, after years of struggle, including a three-day march from Fort McDowell to the Arizona State Capitol, the government gave up its effort to build the dam. This was before Fort McDowell had a casino and the tribe relied almost entirely on its land for its survival, raising crops and livestock, and excavating sand and gravel for local construction projects.

After months of pleading with the state and government officials, and joined by other area tribes, non-governmental organizations and local communities, the Fort McDowell Nation finally convinced federal and state politicians to once again cancel the project that would have forever washed away the homes and the hopes of the Yavapai people.

About a decade later, the Yavapais gained another reason to celebrate. In 1990, the tribe forged a water settlement with the U.S. government that provided the Yavapai Nation with 36,000 acre-feet annually, about half of it from the Central Arizona Project, and half from the Verde River, which bisects the reservation.

That’s a lot of water for a small tribe of fewer than 1,000, and the Yavapais have used it judiciously. As part of the settlement, the Yavapais got a $13 million low-interest loan from the Bureau of Reclamation (the same agency that had tried to flood the reservation 10 years previously) to expand its farm from 700 to 2,000 acres. Several years ago, the tribe planted 50,000 pecan
trees and more than 30,000 citrus trees. Pecans are The tribe’s farm is highly efficient. Two computerized pumping stations pull water from the Verde River, inject it with fertilizer, and pipe it underground through the citrus and pecan orchards. Two micro-sprinklers spray a 16-foot diameter circle around the base of each tree. Half of the irrigation occurs at night to reduce evaporation.

The farm uses about a quarter of the Yavapais water rights. The Yavapais have also insisted that the Salt River Project, which manages the Verde River, keep enough water in the river to sustain wildlife habitat, especially for the bald eagles that nest in majestic cottonwoods along the river during the winter.

This year the Orme Dam Victory Days will be celebrated on November 18 thru 20, 2011. If you would like to volunteer for one of the many events the tribe hosts please call the events office at 480-789-7162.