Melissa Hornbein

A group of self-described concerned citizens are proposing an alternative to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Water Compact to settle water rights claims on and around the Flathead Reservation.

The state Legislature narrowly passed the CSKT Compact in 2015. It now awaits federal ratification.

Without a compact, some 10,000 tribal water claims extending farther east than Billings would need to be adjudicated individually.

In Montana, nearly 40 percent of adults who’ve been to prison end up going back.

On Tuesday state and tribal leaders are meeting with U.S. Department of Justice officials to talk about how to turn that around.

Without water, we perish. For 30 years, the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes and the state of Montana have disagreed about tribal water right claims. But this year the legislature approved a comprehensive water rights agreement. Melissa Hornbein was one of the lead attorneys in the negotiations, working for Montana DNRC and the Montana Reserved Water Rights Commission. Hornbein talks with Brian Kahn about the legal and emotional challenges of negotiating the Flathead water compact.

This past weekend, about 40 of Montana’s state legislators did something unusual. After a very busy week, they stuck around when they could have gone home.

They spent close to three hours on a Saturday morning in the old Supreme Court chamber of the capitol, at the invitation of Republican Senator Chas Vincent of Libby.

 Tonight in Helena Montana’s Reserved Water Rights Commission meets, and is expected to approve a huge water rights settlement between the state, the Confederated Salish and Kootnai Tribes and the federal government.