(KNZA)--Securing long term viability.

That's what Kickapoo Tribal officials say is the key to the completion of a water rights agreement that was commemorated Friday during a ceremony at the Kickapoo Tribal Administration building near Horton.

The agreement recognizes the tribe's senior water rights in the Delaware River Watershed, which allows a tributary, Plum Creek, to continue to flow through the reservation.

The agreement was negotiated by legal counsel for the tribe, the state and federal government during the past 2 1/2 years.

Kickapoo Tribal Chairman Lester Randall, during the ceremony, called it a “historic day” for the tribe. “We spent a lot of time on this issue and today marks the day that we can say we’ve had some victory over our water rights.”

Attorney General Derek Schmidt, also speaking at the ceremony, said the settlement agreement resolves 10 years of litigation. “We have an agreement here that I believe is good for the state, for the residences of the state and the area and the tribe, I hope. I certainly wouldn’t presume to speak for the tribe, but I believe it’s good for the tribe. I hope when people look back on it they’ll say, ‘that was a day in history worth celebrating.”

Steve Moore, senior staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, has worked with the tribe about 11 years on the effort. “This water right agreement is critical because like many tribes in the United States the Kickapoo people have not had a water right that was quantified and decreed and recognized and enforceable.”

The agreement will be forwarded to Congress for ratification, with a request for the appropriation of funds for the construction of a reservoir in the area.