Lake County petitions White House to remedy Flathead Lake's water woes

Lake County commissioners sent a letter to President Joe Biden June 6, asking him to intercede “on behalf of two counties and affected U.S. citizens visiting this area” and to make compensation for “depredations” by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, mostly pertaining to the low water level in Flathead Lake last summer.

The letter references the Blackfeet Treaty, signed in 1855 by the leaders of eight tribal nations including the Flathead and Kootenai, and refers specifically to Article 8, which states in part “that the navigation of all lakes and streams shall be forever free to citizens of the United States.”

The letter contends that the tribes have “breached” the treaty’s promise of “free” navigation by charging property owners to use the lakebed for dock pilings. The letter also asserts that last summer’s low lake level, which commissioners say was caused by Energy Keepers Inc. releasing water from the tribally-owned Seli'š Ksanka Qlispe' Dam “for power generating purposes,” made “most of the dock, wharfage, piers and access unusable for boating purposes.”