Water Rights Protection Act good for Montana fisheries

Montana Trout Unlimited writes to offer our full support for the recently introduced Montana Water Rights Protection Act, S. 3019, a bill that would provide for Congressional ratification of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes’ (CSKT) Water Compact. We appreciate the effort and commitment to a robust public process that has been demonstrated by the delegation and Tribes in getting to this point, and we hope for the legislation’s speedy consideration and passage. Montana Trout Unlimited believes strongly that this is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation for Montana’s coldwater fisheries pending in Congress. Thank you to both Senator Daines and Tester for introducing this legislation.

Founded in 1964, Montana Trout Unlimited is the only statewide grassroots organization dedicated solely to conserving, protecting, and restoring Montana’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds. Montana Trout Unlimited is comprised of 13 chapters across the state and represents more than 4,500 Trout Unlimited members statewide.

The bottom line is that S. 3019 is good for Montana’s fisheries and their habitat. This measure inks into law a robust partnership for the future cooperative management of water in Western Montana, including our own partnership with the Tribes on wild and native fish conservation. The negotiations that resulted in the CSKT Compact, in addition to being lengthy, were transparent and provided broad public involvement opportunities at every juncture. The result is a balanced agreement that protects the legitimate rights of all existing water users. We are proud to have been involved in and part of the support that led to the bipartisan passage of the CSKT Compact in the Montana Legislature, and we look forward to lending our support in whatever way possible in the process of Congressional approval.

The reasons for Montana Trout Unlimited’s support for S. 3019 are many. Here are some of the most pertinent:

• The Compact resolves for all time the very legitimate, legal and considerable water right claims of the Tribes on and off the reservation. As such, it will benefit owners of water rights in all of Montana west of the Divide, as well as in the upper Missouri and Yellowstone basins, because it obviates the needs for the Tribes from filing water right claims – as they are otherwise legally entitled to do – on the reservation and within their aboriginal territory. This will save water right owners and the State of Montana millions of dollars in litigation and court-related costs that come with defending claims in water court and other jurisdictions. By not adding thousands of new claims in water courts, Montana’s general adjudication of water rights can advance in a judicious and much less expensive fashion. If the Compact doesn’t get ratified, the Water Court estimates adjudication of water rights in Montana could take another two decades, at least.

• The Compact protects current irrigators on the reservation, including within the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP), by ensuring they continue to get water they have been legally entitled to in the past. It provides legally guaranteed water deliveries to FIIP irrigators in perpetuity – a guarantee that few, if any other water users in the State have. The Compact also protects all non-irrigation water rights from a tribal call on water, and it protects existing rights on and off the reservation by limiting tribal rights.

• The Compact will make available up to 90,000 acre-feet of stored water from Hungry Horse Reservoir for future development in the Flathead Basin. Up to 11,000 can be used in Montana, off the reservation. This water can be used to supplement irrigation, residential or fishery needs, or to mitigate the effects of new development on existing water rights. This water cannot be used out of state.

• Passage of the Compact will benefit water users on the reservation by triggering state expenditures of $55 million for improving irrigation infrastructure, paying for pumping costs and water measurement, and investing in stream habitat restoration. Additional federal funds will also be made available for infrastructure that will benefit both tribal and non-tribal water users. These activities will have beneficial values to coldwater fisheries on and off the reservation.

Montana Trout Unlimited Letter of Support, S. 3019 - 2

• The Compact tangibly benefits fish and wildlife. Specifically, it includes enhanced protections for instream flows for important trout populations on the Flathead Indian Reservation and for the upper Clark Fork River. It also helps protect current streamflow guarantees off-reservation in the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Flathead, Swan and Kootenai River basins.

• All off-reservation water rights granted to the Tribes in the Compact are either subordinate to, or parallel to existing water rights or dam license conditions held by the State of Montana and the federal and private utilities.

• If the Compact is ratified, the CSKT will be giving up forever any future claims to water everywhere in Montana, saving decades of costly litigation and uncertainty for water users and coldwater fisheries.

• Implementation of the agreement will produce new and productive partnerships that will focus on the common objective of making water go farther for more uses – an important objective in the face of a shifting climate.

Again, thank you for your leadership in bringing this important legislation forward that will have tangible benefits to Montana’s coldwater fisheries. We appreciate the delegation’s continued commitment to working towards resolution on these issues, and the commitment to extending robust public involvement for all parties through the process. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, or if you need additional information regarding our support for S. 3019.

—David Brooks is Executive Director of Montana Trout Unlimited