Basin Commission to discuss new goals

The Flathead Basin Commission will meet Wednesday, June 20 for a strategic planning session during which members will discuss a new path for the commission in the wake of massive budget cuts and the loss of its executive director in May.

According to Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation’s Kate Wilson, who serves as the commission’s administrator, though the budget cuts reduced the group’s initial $150,000 budget for 2018 to around $15,000, the commission remains operational. At Wednesday’s meeting, the group plans to identify priority issues to focus on going forward.

Wilson added that once members establish goals for the committee and potential future projects, the commission still has the option of seeking grant funding.

Though she could not give specifics about possible topics of conversation, Wilson said that the scope of focal points could expand into terrestrial territory. Wilson said that when the commission was created in 1983, it was tasked with monitoring and protecting both water quality and other natural resources in the Flathead Basin.

Now that the Upper Columbia Conservation Commission has taken over most of the defense against aquatic invasive species in the Flathead, the Flathead Basin Commission will be discussing whether to continue in its efforts against aquatic invaders as well or move its focus elsewhere, Wilson said.

The meeting will take place at Flathead Electric Cooperative from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with breaks scattered throughout. Most of the morning agenda is devoted to business items, including an overview and update on the Flathead Lake Total Maximum Daily Load and consideration of a septic leachate study bill by the Water Policy Interim Committee.

The strategic planning session is scheduled to follow a working lunch at around 1 p.m.

Interested members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

For more information, contact Kate Wilson at 542-4282 or kate.wilson@mt.gov.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.