Water rights board faces urgent task list

A new water management board for the Flathead Reservation faces a hefty punch list of to-dos ahead of registering scores of pre-existing water rights now under its purview.

Meanwhile, time is ticking away to register those rights with the board, and some have only until March 16 to file.

Mary Price, tribal compact implementation team member, told the Inter Lake the group also has paused processing of new water applications on the reservation.

The Flathead Reservation Water Management Board held its inaugural meeting Thursday. Soon to be a five-person board with an additional ex-officio member, it was created following passage of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes water compact last year.

A bipartisan deal, the compact settled a decades-long dispute over water rights in western Montana and on the reservation.

Under the compact, the tribes relinquished claim to most off-reservation waters.

The tribes then received 211 water rights on the reservation, 10 water rights outside of the reservation and co-ownership of 58 other claims, according to past Inter Lake reporting.

Ahead of regular business Thursday, CSKT Vice-Chair Leonard Two Teeth stressed unity.

“This has been a long time coming,” Two Teeth said. “It’s been a long road for all of us, and now we realize that … we all have to work together, because it’s going to benefit all of us.”

First on tap for the board will be several musts to get tribal water rights administration underway.

Those items include interviewing and appointing two additional board members, establishing a permanent office, deciding when the board officially meets and where, and interviewing and hiring several key staff members — namely, the engineer to whom rights registrations are submitted for review.

Until those and other tasks are completed, the water board — which grants final approval — lacks the ability to register new and pre-existing water rights within the reservation, board and staff members explained during the inaugural meeting.

On Thursday, the board unanimously passed several measures to get those processes started. Specific dates were not set.

As far as registering pre-existing water uses, eligible rights must have existed by Sept. 17, 2021, the effective date of the compact, according to materials provided during the meeting.

Pre-existing rights must also qualify under tribal and state-law based registration provisions within the Unitary Administration and Management Ordinance, also effective Sept. 17, 2021, according to the materials.

UAMO for short, the lengthy ordinance comprises the body of law now governing “all aspects of water uses” on the reservation, whether granted by tribal, state or federal authorities, according to the document.

Enacted by the tribal council and state, the ordinance replaces state water rights regulation on the reservation, Price said Thursday.

“You heard also, earlier, about unity, that this is an opportunity for everybody here to come together under the umbrella of one water law, ” she told the board.

Tribes, tribal members or allottees with pre-existing water rights were given five years of the compact’s effective date to register with the board, according to the meeting materials.

Pre-existing state-based water rights on the reservation for others — known as “previously unrecorded existing uses” — were given a limited 180 days to register with the board, according to the materials.

That filing deadline is set for March 16. Applications for new water rights will be available to tribal and nontribal residents of the reservation, according to the CSKT.

The Department of Natural Resources and Conservation additionally was required to register certain filed but not processed water rights within 30 days of the compact’s effective date.

Business remains otherwise unchanged for water rights applications with the DNRC outside of the reservation.

Arne Wick, DNRC compact program manager, told the board Thursday that the department is at least receiving the state-based registrations for pre-existing rights until the board is up and running.

Those registrations, however, will not be reviewed or approved by the DNRC, Wick said. Only the water board will approve them, he said.

Water board and staff members, a mix of appointed tribal and state employees, stressed Thursday that the water board deadlines remain firm for registrations within reservation bounds, even if the board is not yet fully operational.

“So that 180 days, that’s a hard timeline,” Wick told the board. “If something comes in a little after that, the DNRC — in care for the board — Missoula regional office and the Kalispell office won’t receive those.”

The compact was enacted by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary.

So far, two board members were appointed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, and two members were appointed by the CSKT Tribal Council.

A fifth appointment by the board and the ex-officio member appointed by Haaland have not yet been announced, though the board will soon be interviewing recommendations made for the fifth appointment.

For his turn, Gianforte appointed Kalispell geologist Roger Noble and Polson attorney Kenneth Pitt.

The CSKT Tribal Council appointed Teresa Wall-McDonald, director of human resources for Salish Kootenai College, and Clayton Matt, director of Tribal Services.

Additionally, the compact created a $1.9 billion trust to settle claims and refurbish the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project.

The compact also returned to tribal ownership the 19,000-acre Bison Range in Sanders and Lake counties. Neither items were mentioned Thursday.

Montana lawmakers passed legislation approving the compact in 2015.

The agreement was initially introduced in Congress by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in 2016, and then reintroduced in December 2019 by Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.

Nearly 70 people attended the board’s first meeting Thursday, with another roughly 100 attending via web conference.

Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras attended the meeting, in place of Gianforte.

“This is an important day,” Juras said ahead of regular business Thursday.

“The governor’s office recognizes the importance of moving forward to start the process of making water right applications [and] permits available,” she said.

Editor's note (Jan. 27): This story has been changed to reflect a clarification based on incorrect information provided to the Inter Lake. Tribal and nontribal members residing on the Flathead Reservation can apply for new water rights on the reservation. However, the water rights board is not processing new applications or pre-existing rights until the board and its staff are operational.