Legacy: Tule River water rights settlement.

Nearly 200 people gathered at River Island Country Club Wednesday evening to help Alec Garfield celebrate his retirement.

A leader of the Tule River Tribe who is known in the highest circles of government and throughout Indian Country for his accomplishments, Garfield was recognized as Porterville’s Man of the Year in 2006 by the Porterville Chamber of Commerce.

And although he says he has “no plans” for his retirement, many are hoping he will continue to lend his expertise as the Tribe pushes for a successful conclusion to its decades-long struggle to secure its water rights.

Born and raised on the reservation, Garfield served in the Navy then returned home. In those days, he said, most tribal members worked in the fields. His own work history includes time on a citrus ranch in Terra Bella and at a sawmill in Johnsondale.

But Garfield hope for more for himself and his tribe. He was first elected to the Tribal Council at the earliest possible age, 25, and worked to have the first store built on the reservation.

Although the store is no longer operational, Garfield’s untiring efforts for the tribe are evident in many other ways.

He fought, successfully, for restoration of tribal timber lands and his mementos include the ink pen that President Jimmy Carter used to sign the law returning 1240 acres of timber, including Giant Sequoia groves, to the tribe in 1980.

Garfield was chairman of the tribe from 1970-82. Through the years he has acquired expertise in natural resources and water rights as well as Indian gaming.

Garfield’s career in Tribal service has acquainted him with many elected officials.

He was present at Ronald Reagan’s presidential inauguration in 1981. His scrapbooks are filled with photos of him through the years at meetings with other officials including President Bill Clinton’s area visit to establish Giant Sequoia National Monument.

He has lost track of the number of trips he’s made to Washington, D.C., through the years but does recall one month in 1976 when he made the round-trip journey four times.

Garfield continued a tradition started by his grandfather Sam Garfield, who during the 1800s lead a delegation to Visalia, inquiring about tribal lands.

Among guests at Wednesday evening’s event was Tom Rodgers, a lobbyist who has worked with the Tribe and Garfield for many years.

“This man is truly loved and he will be missed,” Rodgers said, adding that Garfield’s efforts on behalf of the Tribe have made history.

A settlement agreement between the Tribe, the South Tule Independent Ditch Company and the Tule River Association, was announced two years ago this month, ending decades of effort, which Garfield spearheaded, to ensure a long-term water supply for the Tule River Reservation.

Rodgers said the settlement was the only Indian water rights settlement in the nation accomplished without ligation.

Garfield began working on the water rights issue in 1971, he said.

“From the beginning, the tribe wanted to negotiate,” Garfield said. “We did not to be involved in a lawsuit.

Since the settlement was announced, Garfield and other parties have worked to lobby Congress to approve funding for a feasibility study for a reservoir to be constructed high on the North Fork Tule River which the parties to the settlement agreed was necessary. Rodgers said these efforts will continue.

Former Tribal Administrator Dave Nenna was also among guests at the retirement party.
He also had high praise for Garfield.

“I was a teenager when Alec, as a young man, was Tribal Chairman,” Nenna recalls. “I really looked up to him then and I never imagined I would someday work alongside him. He has been a great mentor.”