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Why Commissioner Holmquist is Wrong About the Water Compact

Holmquist must now recognize the truth and change her position

By Ed Berry

Flathead County Commissioner Pam Holmquist wrote in the Flathead Beacon (Feb. 11: “We Have Much to Lose if the Compact Passes”) that the Montana CSKT Water Compact “will be the most significant and far-reaching decision this Legislature has ever made.” That part or her statement is correct.

Her reason for opposing the Compact is, “The one thing that the attorneys seem to agree on is that off-reservation water rights have never been granted before.” Here, Commissioner Holmquist is incorrect.

Attorney Duane Mecham is very familiar with the Idaho Snake River Basin Adjudication. He was an attorney and a chair of the federal team in the Nez Perce Tribal water right negotiations the comprehensive settlement in 2004. He provides the following information for Holmquist and those who oppose the Compact.

In Idaho, unlike in Montana, federal agencies and Tribes had to file claims before they began negotiations toward a compact. The United States filed off-reservation instream water right claims for only the Nez Perce Tribe because only the Nez Perce Tribe, like Montana’s CSKT, has a Stevens Treaty like the Hellgate Treaty that gives off-reservation water rights.

Idaho first objected to the off-reservation claims but after reviewing the law, the State of Idaho recognized the Nez Perce 6,000 off-reservation claims were valid and set aside vast amounts of water flow to settle these claims. The Idaho settlement gave the Nez Perce Tribe considerably more off-reservation instream flows than the Montana Compact gives the CSKT.

Attorney Mecham wrote, “The Nez Perce settlement represents a treasure trove of lessons-learned that should be considered in the Flathead context.”

Holmquist must now recognize the truth and change her position. Otherwise, she will damage Flathead County citizens because the CSKT will win their off-reservation water rights claims if Montana rejects the Compact.

Ed Berry
Bigfork