County nominates five for reservation water board

Lake County commissioners have submitted a list of five nominations for a new board that will administer and manage all aspects of water use within the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The five-member Flathead Reservation Water Management Board was established as part of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ water compact with the state of Montana that was signed into law by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Sept. 17.

The CSKT Compact allows Gov. Gianforte to appoint two members to the board. Lake County was allowed to nominate five candidates, while Missoula, Flathead and Sanders counties were allowed to submit two names each.

The compact allows the Tribes to appoint two members, who along with Gianforte’s two selections, will appoint a fifth member.

Candidates put forth by Lake County commissioners on Monday are:

• Longtime banking professional and former Polson City Judge Dennis DeVries of Polson, who served on the Lake County Conservation District for 20 years.
• Geologist Roger Noble of Polson, whose letter of interest lists work experience “in excess of 40 years of hydrology, hydrogeology and water right applications and processing.”
• Attorney Kenneth Pitt of Polson, a specialist in environment and tribal law who teaches natural resource policy and administration as an adjunct professor at the University of Montana.
• Larry Robertson of Polson, a 36-year veteran of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, which provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers.
• Ray Swenson of St. Ignatius, a longtime Lake County resident and irrigator who has served two terms as chairman of the Mission Irrigation District.

The CSKT Tribal Council has named its two board members. They are Teresa Wall McDonald, CSKT policy analyst and head of the Tribal Lands Department; and CSKT Tribal Services Director Clayton Matt, who was instrumental in negotiating the CSKT Compact.

The compact allocates $1.9 billion to a trust fund dedicated to rehabilitation of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project in exchange for the Tribes relinquishing legal claims to thousands of water rights off the reservation. The Tribes also regained management of the Bison Range at Moiese through the compact. A transfer of management from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently in process.