Irrigators brainstorm ways to run project
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ST. IGNATIUS – A group of Mission Valley irrigators have spent the past month formulating a plan to take back local control of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project that integrates many practices created for a recently-defunct management board, but also incorporates a markedly different system of representation.
The irrigators say they envision a board to oversee the project that is comprised of working farmers and ranchers, solely dedicated to managing operations and maintenance and as immune as possible to outside political influence.
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel as far as operating the project,” Irrigation Commissioner Tim Orr said as he held up the operations manual that was in place under the Cooperative Management Entity that managed the project from 2010 until April 2014. “We’ve got the guidebook. This was put out for the CME. As far as operating the project everything is here.”
The document contains environmental and economic assessments of the irrigation project that will also be useful, Orr said. The biggest challenge in creating a local control board is what form it will take, Orr said.
The Cooperative Management Entity gave equal representation to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Flathead Joint Board of Control. The entity became defunct and the Bureau of Indian Affairs reassumed control of the irrigation project in April, after the Flathead Joint Board of Control dissolved in a bout of political infighting. A sore point of concern for some of the irrigators was that under the Cooperative Management Entity the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes had equal representation as non-tribal farmers and ranchers, who they claim own 90 percent of the project’s irrigable land.
The proposed structure of the entity Orr’s team of irrigators have come up with gives the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes less representation. A single tribal member would join single members from the Mission and Jocko Irrigation Districts. The Flathead Irrigation District would pull three representatives – one from north of Crow Creek, one from south of Crow Creek, and one from the Camas region.
The hypothetical board would primarily be held accountable to the Flathead Joint Board of Control with some accountability provided to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make sure the operation of project is protecting tribal interests, Orr said. There have been some mixed feelings about whether or not the board members should be elected or appointed, Orr said. Another element the brainstorming group felt strongly about was that the members of the board derive at least half of their household income from farming or ranching.
Former Cooperative Management Entity board member and current Flathead Joint Board of Control member Ted Hein suggested also reworking of the structure of power for the project’s employees than what it was under the Cooperative Management Entity. He believes the previous project manager was given too much control.
“You need to have co-managers that can tap into each other,” Hein said. “We had a kingdom where the project manager ruled. You can’t do that again.”
The Flathead Joint Board of Control has sued for the irrigation project to be turned over to them, and that case is ongoing. It is unknown how that might impact the irrigator’s plans. The irrigators also have not had feedback on the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes about their ideas for resumption of local control, though the irrigators have said approval and participation from those entities is imperative for the plan to work.
Though much is uncertain, Orr said some people feel as though the Flathead Joint Board of Control should already be seeking out a candidate for project manager.
“We feel it is time to move forward,” Orr said.
Flathead Joint Board of Control Chairman Boone Cole said the plan is far from finished.
“This is just informational, showing us the direction they are headed,” Cole said. “It’s a work in progress.”
