Committee unites to resolve water dispute

POLSON — Representatives for the state of Montana and for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes came together at the KwaTaqNuk Resort Wednesday to discuss their progress creating a document that will define water rights on the Flathead Reservation.

The representatives for Montana are part of the Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission (RWRCC), a group charged with resolving water disputes as part of Montana’s statewide adjudication process. Preliminary negotiations between the RWRCC and the CSKT began in the mid-1980s, and in the last 10 years the two parties have dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to creating a compact that regulates water usage on the reservation.

The committee’s task is not an easy one. A century and a half of disagreement over water has resulted in anger, bitterness and deep mistrust.

The issue dates back to 1855 when the Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille tribes ceded millions of acres of land to the federal government in exchange for 1.3 million acres, and that lands’ natural resources, to be utilized as a permanent homeland for the tribes. However in the late 19th century, the government began selling patchwork pieces of the reservation to homesteaders who claimed various water sources as their own.

Resentment over water simmered, and at points, boiled over throughout the ensuing decades, but now both sides say they have put aside their anger to finally resolve the issue. In fact, Secretary for the Tribal Council, Steve Lozar, assured the audience at Wednesday’s informational session that through negotiation, the tribe and the state have developed deep mutual respect.

The committee is dedicated to the process of negotiation for its multitude of benefits; negotiation, they say, is a way for everyone to win. Rhonda Swaney, Legal Counsel for the CSKT, said, “With negotiation people have a vested interest in the outcome, they have been part of the process, and when we have a treaty, they will be more likely to uphold it.”

Although committee members expressed confidence that negotiation will succeed, Lozar touched upon the alternative: litigation. Lozar said that should negotiation fail, the tribe would go to court to fight for their water rights, and that the thousands of individual water users who have claims with the state could get dragged into litigation.

CSKT Communications Director, Robert McDonald, added that becoming mired in litigation would mean decades in court and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

While the state has been successful in negotiating 14 other treaties, Chris Tweeten, Chairman of the RWRCC, said that creating a compact for the Flathead Reservation has been a process rife with new challenges.

“Ideas that worked at Blackfeet or Crow aren’t going to work here,” Tweeten said. “This is a different reservation with its own culture, background and treaties.”

Complicating factors on the Flathead include a checkerboard pattern of land ownership created by homesteading and a larger volume of water than the commission has dealt with before. In response to these new problems, the committee has come up with a novel solution: a single administration to manage all water on the reservation.

While previous treaties have divvied management responsibility among a variety of groups, the committee says that a unitary administration may be a more successful way to approach the Flatheads’ unique challenges.

Multiple committee members emphasized the importance of educating the public on water rights, and as part of this effort, the committee holds monthly information meetings.

An audience member at Wednesdays’ session brought up the question of fees for current domestic well owners: an issue that McDonald says causes widespread anxiety.

Swaney answered the question by saying that protecting existing, verified water use is of foremost importance to the committee. Tweeten added, “Your property value won’t go down, you will still lead the life you’ve always led.”

Bill Schultz, an administrator for the RWRCC acknowledged that the committee’s work is far from finished. “Right now there are 15 trains on different tracks headed to the same location,” Schultz said. “At some point they have to come together.”

That point is July 1, 2013, the date the federal government has set as the “sunset date” or last possible day of negotiations.

Despite a looming deadline, the committee remains dedicated to creating the best possible compact.

“We’re only going to do this once,” Director of Tribal Services for the CSKT, Clayton Matt, said. “So we have to do it right.