The water is given to all of us
About the water compact: Is it right or wrong?
We say it is not right! Promoters of the compact base it on the Hellgate Treaty of 1855 — time immemorial. All that the treaty gave the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes was the right to fish on all the streams on and off the reservation.
Dan Salomon writes his response to Keith Regier’s letter of July 27, 2014, (published in August 2014), “There is judicial precedent for a water right claim for sustaining fisheries. These are known as in-stream flow rights. The priority date would be time immemorial.”
Does putting your hook and line in the water make you an owner of that water? Don’t we the people have a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to oversee our streams and rivers for sustainable fisheries? Does fishing in 1855 give the tribes the right to all the water in the Clark Fork drainage? This is a fabricated tale that has been promoted for decades!
When water rights are applied for through the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the document contains the provision, “This right is subject to all prior Indian water rights of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in the source of supply.” This is on and off the reservation, making no distinction between surface and ground water. DNRC regulations require that when you apply for a water right, the property that the water will be used on has to be legally designated!
We have to be thankful that many years ago, men had the foresight to build Hungry Horse Dam and also Kerr Dam. Before this, there were major floods in the spring, experienced by the tribes and many of us upstream. These dams even out the flow of water throughout the year, making it possible to wisely use the water downstream.
In the Bible, Isaiah 55:10 reads, “As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the Earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, ...” Isn’t it wonderful how God created this system of mountains and seasons? Just think, it didn’t just start back in 1855. This water is given to all of us to use wisely and honestly, and to honor one another in the use of this very precious gift. It has been given new to us every year since creation, not just since 1855. Let us then be thankful to God, and not selfish!
The compact grants the tribes off reservation senior water rights — even to the point they could lease excess water downstream within Montana. Really? California sure could use more water? Is this the goal? Montana owns the water! We have the DNRC and our own water courts to handle issues over water. There is no legal basis for a so-called “sovereign nation,” i.e. the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, to own and control Montana’s water.
Certain of our politicians are “selling us downstream” and making bold statements that this is the best thing for us. Proverbs 14:5 reads, “A truthful witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.” Do trusted leaders receive money from the tribes to promote the compact?
Thank you, Keith Regier, Verdell Jackson and Mark Blasdel, and others, for being honest about the ramifications of the compact as it is now proposed. We farmers who depend on water to irrigate our crops and all users of water need to realize what a serious issue this is!
The Koenigs are residents of Kalispell.