Wilderness proposal pits irrigators, environmentalists

MAY 5, 2006 | A proposal by Montana Senator Conrad Burns to allow irrigators free access to dams which control their water, but which are located in wilderness areas, has fostered a lively debate in Montana.
His plan would allow irrigators with dams in wilderness, mainly in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in the western part of the state, a right of way to those dams, on which they could drive motor vehicles. There would be no charge for the right of way. The total amount of corridor access is estimated as less than 100 miles.
Irrigators said that when the Selway-Bitterroot was given wilderness status, they were told they would be able to have access to maintain the dams, which are prone to wear and could cause damage without periodic attention. Environmental organizations expressed concern about motorized access into wilderness, ordinarily strictly prohibited. 

Reserved rights worked through

APRIL 4, 2006 | The nature and extent of federal reserved water rights on national forest lands in Montana was hashed over in early April at a meeting of the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission.
An opinion piece in the Helena Independent Record suggests that "Curiously, the state's negotiators on the commission appear reluctant to recognize any legal ability in the Forest Service to protect these public resources beyond a few paltry tools granted by (and revocable by) Congress. And they're playing hardball, forcing the Forest Service to navigate technical and legal knotholes in order to justify the seemingly common sense conclusion that to be healthy the public's streams, fisheries and natural areas need water.
In other states, federal reserved water rights have been accepted and approved in court decisions. Generally, federal agencies have a presumed or "reserved" right to enough water to carry out their principle stated purposes under the law.
The results of the negotiations are expected to go to the Montana Legislature in 2007.

Clark Fork restoration okayed

DECEMBER 18, 2006 | Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer has approved funding for seven restoration projects in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin for a total of approximately $7.4 million in 2006 and $1.1 million in 2007. The seven projects approved for funding, subject to certain conditions, are:
· $1,845,500 over two years to the Greenway Service District for the Silver Bow Creek Greenway project.
· $876,162 to the George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited for the German Gulch Watershed Restoration project.
· $1,539,269 to Butte-Silver Bow for the Year 5 of the Butte Waterline project.
· $1,738,700 to Anaconda-Deer Lodge City/County for Year 4 of the Anaconda Waterline project.
· $667,642 to Butte-Silver Bow City/County for the Big Butte Property Acquisition.
· $1,643,809 to the Greenway Service District for the Duhame Property Acquisition.
· $174,634 to Butte-Silver Bow City/County for the Butte Master Plan project.
Funding comes from the partial settlement of a lawsuit brought by the state in 1983 to recover damages to natural resources caused by decades of mining and smelting in the Butte-Anaconda area. The state sued the Atlantic Richfield Co. in 1983 and settled several portions of the lawsuit in 1999, receiving $215 million. About $130 million of that is earmarked to restore the injured natural resources in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin between Butte and Milltown Dam near Missoula.
The state has developed guidelines for spending the funds, outlining a process in which governmental and private entities and individuals can submit grant proposals for restoration projects. The Natural Resource Damage Program, which is part of the Montana Department of Justice, administers the grant process. This is the sixth year for the grant program. With this year's approved projects, a total of 49 projects have been approved for about $36.4 million.
Successful grant recipients will enter into contracts with the state Natural Resource Damage Program to implement the projects. Applications for next year's grant cycle will be available in early January and are due in early March.
Source: Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer Contact: Sarah Elliott 406-444-9725.

TAKING ON THE MEXICO CITY FORUM A guest opinion in the Cook County News Herald of Grand Marais, Minnesota, blasted the approach taken at the March Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City which equated water rights with human rights.
"After the first day of the meeting, however, it became clear that the government and corporate agents were only interested in turning water management into a business opportunity, whereupon the NGOs and activists established an alternative forum intent on identifying access to clean water as a fundamental right . . . If we accept the position that water is a common good, and an inalienable right shared by all people, does that mean that folks in China or France have as much right to Lake Superior’s water as we do?
Perhaps we would be better served if we didn’t use the concept of human rights to justify our control of Lake Superior’s water, but rather, focused on Cibber’s observation that possession is eleven points in the law."