Water compact necessary
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Editor,
“The past is prologue,” and so goes the proposed water rights compact for the Flathead Indian Reservation.
In 1855, the Hellgate Treaty reserved the Flathead Indian Reservation for the “exclusive use and benefit” of the Flathead Nation.
In 1889, Montana achieves statehood.
In 1904, the Flathead Allotment Act passed, and after allotment of reservation lands to Indian adults, the surplus was opened to settlement by non-Indians. There is no record of any consent or approval of this by Indians, and much record of their opposition and protest of the same. Open range of the Indians’ livestock ended, driving many families into poverty. The original 1.2 million-acre reservation dwindled to only 30 percent tribal ownership by 1935.
In 1908, the irrigation act passed, which authorized the construction of the Flathead Irrigation Project, supposedly for the benefit of Indians. By then, non-Indians had settled on the reservation, and irrigated land was essential to their economic survival. Indians remain poor.
In the 1930s, construction finished on Kerr Dam, and Rocky Mountain Power, Montana Power and Pennsylvania Power and Light have collectively profited billions since 1935. Indians remain poor.
In 1980, CSKT began 30-plus year process of preparing to quantify its water rights under Montana’s water law. It would have been a whole lot simpler, and cheaper, if the U.S. and Montana had simply honored the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. Indians remain poor.
In 2012, the water rights compact is finalized and would bring millions to the reservation to improve and rehabilitate the irrigation system, restore and protect wetlands, and support unitary management of water as a resource for all. A few non-Indians think they are being cheated and that Indians are getting more than their fair share. Indians remain poor.
Imperfect as it may be, the water rights compact’s time has come. Please urge the Montana Legislature to approve it in the 2013 session.
Ruth Swaney
Post Creek
