The Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission was created by the Montana legislature in 1979 to:
- conclude compacts for the equitable division and apportionment of waters between the State and its people and the several Indian Tribes claiming reserved water rights within the state(MCA 85-2-701), and
- between the State and its people and the federal government claiming non-Indian reserved waters within the state (MCA 85-2-703).
Up to this point, the Commission has settled 15 reserved water rights compacts with tribes, BLM, Department of Interior, National Parks Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are three remaining compacts that need to be settled before the Commission sunsets in July of 2013. Those three compacts are the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge, and the Salish Kootenai Tribal Compact for the Flathead Indian Reservation.
After debate was heard on March 15 on the CMR compact, another negotiation session is set for Wednesday, May 9 at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown. It will begin at 1:00 p.m. For the agenda, full negotiation schedule, and information from the last meeting, visit the DNRC’s website. The government is looking to have the remaining water in all existing watersheds entering the CMR that is not currently taken up by an existing water right.
For more details on any of these water rights compacts, visit the Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission website. You’ll also find more details on the first CMR negotiation session and the upcoming meeting.
To hear from Melissa Hornbein, Attorney for the Montana Reserved Water Rights Commission, please read “CMR Water Rights Negotiations Set for Thursday.”
© Northern Ag Network 2012
Haylie Shipp
