Tribal water deal not expected to have local impact

As the state works toward a final water rights compact with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the federal government, the city of Whitefish is preparing to deal with decisions made about off-reservation water rights.

City Manager Chuck Stearns says off-reservation rights are the only part of the proposed compact that could impact Whitefish. From what he’s studied, he says it’s unlikely there will be any changes locally.

“It’s no more likely than in the past,” Stearns told the Pilot on Monday.

The tribes, the state and federal government have been working for eight years to develop a settlement that will quantify the water rights on and off the Flathead Indian Reservation. A proposed compact was released to the public Nov. 8.

Some farmers in the Flathead and Mission valleys contend the deal will hurt their ability to irrigate crops.

The compact is currently up for public review with meetings slated across Western Montana through Dec. 4.

In 1855 the tribes and the U.S. entered into the Hellgate Treaty, which established the Flathead Indian Reservation and retained hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering rights in that territory.

Federal courts have since ruled that fishing rights means the tribes have a right to maintain streamflows that support a fishery. Instream flows for fisheries, it was determined, are senior to all other water rights and can exist both on and off the reservation.

In the proposed settlement the tribes would become a co-owner of the state’s instream flow water rights in the off-reservation areas, including the Flathead drainage. Whitefish water comes from Second Creek, Haskill Creek and Whitefish Lake, which all are part of the Flathead drainage.

“Although either the state or CSKT could exercise those water rights and put a water rights call out to take out less senior water rights, there is no expansion of existing off-reservation water rights or creation of new off-reservation water rights, only the ownership of existing off-reservation water rights is expanded,” Stearns wrote in his Nov. 14 manager’s report. “Since these water rights already exist, the likelihood of calls doesn’t seem to increase as the state could have made the same water rights calls to preserve in-stream flows for fish in times of drought. Therefore, I don’t think our current or future water rights are affected by this settlement.”

A public meeting regarding the compact was held Tuesday in Kalispell, which Sterans planned to attend.

A commission will meet Dec. 19 and decide whether to submit the proposed compact to the Montana Legislature for approval.

Both the Congress and the tribes must also approve the compact. After that, the compact would be submitted to the Montana Water Court for final approval.