RONAN — It’s a historic week for the Mission Valley, as varied interests come together to begin a new era of water management in the Flathead Basin.
With the Flathead Water Compact, now known formally as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes-Montana Compact, as the law of the land, working is getting underway to organize all the moving parts that must function for decades to come.
That includes the formation of the Flathead Reservation Water Management Board.
“It’s been a long road for all of us. Now we realize this is a federal law,” CSKT Tribal Vice Chair Leonard Twoteeth said while welcoming the large crowd. “We all have to work together because it’s going to benefit all of us.”
The board’s first meeting in Ronan drew a large crowd Thursday afternoon, as tribal officials and Montana Lieutenant Kristan Juras announced the appointees to the new panel.
