Reserved Water Rights for Flathead Res under negotiation

In Montana, negotiations are stalling over Flathead Reservation water rights. The Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission has been negotiating compacts with federal agencies and other tribes since 1979, but this particular reserved water rights situation is a bit more complicated, reports the Missoulian.

First, on the Flathead Indian Reservation, the Kootnai and Salish Native Americans tribes are a minority because of the 1904 Allotment Act that allowed settlement by homesteaders. Second, treaties with these tribes allowed them to continue to access and hunt their traditional lands, which includes riverways off of the reservation. It is not clear how these will be applied to the compact.

Any compact that is negotiated must be ratified by the Montana Legislature and the U.S. Congress, and time is running out. The negotiations are set to expire July 2013.