Articles with the Tag: Water rights
HELENA – After a half-year and hundreds of hours spent analyzing legal and technical aspects of the proposed Confederated Salish and Kootenai Water Compact, proponents and opponents of the agreement devoted much of Oct. 29 and Oct. 30 airing the same talking points that have dominated the conversation ...
Helena attorney Jon Metropoulos gave a verbal resignation to Flathead Joint Board of Control on Sept. 30 after a tense exchange with irrigation commissioners about finalizing a document that spelled out the board’s stance on key elements of the proposed Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Water Com...
MISSOULA – The Flathead Joint Board of Control dropped a pending motion for a temporary restraining order on Oct. 2, four days before a hearing that was scheduled to come before Judge Dana Christensen on Monday. Flathead Joint Board of Control Chairman Wayne Blevins said the board wi...
ST. IGNATIUS — Time and money are short as the Flathead Joint Board of Joint Control tries to prioritize its involvement in four court cases and negotiation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Water Compact. At its Sept. 18 board meeting, the board’s commissioners were divided on whether o...
RONAN — Last week more than 80 irrigators and elected officials gathered in Ronan to hear presenters from multiple state agencies explain the intricacies of the proposed Confederated Salish and Kootenai Water Compact. The compact is a reserved water rights settlement agreement between the Trib...
RONAN – Members of the Flathead Joint Board of Control nearly doubled the administrative assessments of irrigators last week, saying the increase was necessary to build a war chest to fund specialized legal services required in several lawsuits the board is pursuing, and potential action in regards to ...
The melted droplets flowing from snow-packed peaks have carved a course through western Montana that people have used to build civilization and economies for millennia. First, native people utilized the fish, mammals, and plants that drank from and lived in the flowing waters to sustain their popula...
WESTERN MONTANA – The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes hosted a day-long informational session for state legislators in Helena last week about a proposed water compact that would impact much of western Montana. At the same time, irrigators of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project expresse...
HELENA — Representatives for the State of Montana filed multiple legal documents last week asserting that the Montana Water Court, not state or federal district courts, should have authority to decide water rights disputes on the Flathead Indian Reservation. If the state prevails in its filing...
HELENA – At an interim state legislative interim Water Policy Committee meeting last week, irrigators spoke both in favor of and against conceding off-reservation water rights to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in a proposed water compact that was re-opened for narrow negotiation last week....
