in one year, the umatilla valley produces almo $100 milln worth of agricultural crops.ut the salmon are also a valuable resource here. why isn't there enough water for both? ( wind roaring ) narrator: below the reservation, the umatilla river flows through a near desert. the natural vegetation is sagebrush and scrub. the lack of wateagues anev dinese western uni. inevalces ots ederalpending, the lack of wateagues farmers have made the desert bloom.rn uni. their success has come at the expense of the indians and the salmon. water has become a very, very valuable commodity, but the place that it's most valuae is rht where ishoulde,ery, and at's in the river itself. narrator: below the rms, uned irrigation water eventualws backo e umatil narrator: which explains why there is enough water downstream. but here in the river's midsection, two different ways of life compete over a scarce resource. the farmers' water rights go back to the 1920s, when the government funded irrigation canals like this. but the tribes' water and fishing rights are based on 150-year-old treaties tha