Thanks, but no thanks
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Editor,
Finally, Mr. John Carter of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has let the “feral cat” out of the bag, for all to see. This “negotiated” Water Compact for the Flathead Indian Reservation has never been about Federal Reserved Water Rights based on the purpose of the reservation, per the 1908 Winters Decision and the Treaty of Hellgate; it’s been about controlling the water of Western Montana.
From the article by Berl Tiskus on page 26 of the Oct. 23 issue of the Valley Journal: “If the board is removed from the compact, the mechanism for the compact to move forward would cease,” Carter continued. “Barring a sea change, that’s the way it will go.”
The “board” Mr. Carter is referring to is the Unitary Management Board that will control all future water use within the original, external reservation boundaries – ignoring property rights, sovereignty’s and the Constitutional rights of those people affected.
This board exists nowhere else within the external boundaries of the United States of America, in any water right settlement or adjudication; nowhere else. Nice try, Mr. Carter, but no sale. Water right adjudication does not and will not depend upon a fictitious, unconstitutional “board,” ever.
Thank you, sir, for clearly stating what we have been alleging all along: “this is an unconstitutional and therefore illegal document; not an actual negotiated settlement of water rights.” Your terms are an egregious attempt to usurp our State and Federal constitutions. Thank you, but no thank you.
When the Federal government, on behalf of the reserved, Flathead Indian Reservation, is prepared to discuss or negotiate the proposed reserved water rights of this open reservation, let us know; otherwise, it will be business as usual – as it has been for about the past 100 years.
Michael Gale
Ronan
