A recent ad campaign encourages people to challenge the Flathead Indian Reservation’s water compact, despite its approval at tribal, state and federal levels.
The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, Montana Legislature, U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump each have ratified the CSKT Water Compact. And in 2021, U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland signed it.
The Compact resolves the tribes’ water rights claims and establishes a joint state-tribal system for administering water rights on the reservation. More than a decade of negotiations went into its drafting.
An organization called Equal Water Rights took out full-page ads in several Montana newspapers encouraging people to submit objections to the Montana Water Court regarding the Compact. The same organization has funded similar billboards throughout the Flathead Reservation.
