Let’s work together
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Editor,
We irrigators of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project are currently in possession of ballots to vote for positions on the Flathead Joint Board of Control. I believe serious consequences for all project irrigators will happen if the board continues down its present route.
Some facts to ponder before you mark your ballet.
Do you support the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Compact as passed by our legislature? Years of work and legal review were invested to create a document that best balanced the needs of all parties, yet 69 percent of our administration dollars are budgeted for lawyers/counseling in the 2015/2016 budget, in opposition to the compact (www.FJBC.org).
I support the Compact.
Do you support having management return to the Cooperative Management Entity? This requires careful consideration of rights of both irrigators and the CSKT. I will work to achieve this goal.
I have read articles in local papers and heard comments by various individuals, several whom are not irrigators and to my knowledge, not attorneys, giving legal opinions about what is wrong with the compact. The compact is available at www.dnrc.mt.gov for your review.
I request you mark your ballots for Janette Rosman, David Lake and Jennifer Kaplan who intend to join Richard Erb and Paul Guenzler in protecting the interest and livelihood of all project irrigators and not wasting administrative dollars on unwinnable lawsuits.
I support improvements to a 100-year-old irrigation system that is deeply in need of repairs. This past week BIA presented a Draft Modernization Study of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project completed by experts from Cal Poly State University’s Irrigation Training and Research Center. I was encouraged by what could happen if we had the funds (some of which could come through by the passing of the compact). Is there any possibility the two communities involved, Tribe and non-tribal members, can work together?
Janette Rosman
Charlo
