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(including Flathead Reservation forms)

DNRC staff attend to the State's obligations under each compact through a wide range of technical, administrative and legal compact implementation duties. The State's compact obligations are described throughout MCA 85-20 and are also found within executive agreements between compact parties. Frequent implementation duties include: providing statutorily required quarterly and annual reports, participation on technical teams, water right and water management assistance to state-based water users and compact parties and administering the disbursement of State settlement funds. In addition, compact implementation work frequently requires resolving unanticipated technical and administrative issues related to large compact infrastructure developments and changed circumstances.

Compacts

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Federal Compacts

Department of the Interior

BLM Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument Compact 85-20-1801 MCA

BLM Bear Trap Canyon / Upper Missouri Wild and Scenic River Compact 85-20-501 MCA

National Park Service Compact 85-20-401 MCA

USFWS Benton Lake and Black Coulee Compact 85-20-701 MCA

USFWS Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge Compact 85-20-1301 MCA

USFWS Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge Compact 85-20-1701 MCA

USFWS National Bison Range Compact 85-20-1601 MCA

USFWS Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Compact 85-20-801 MCA

 
U.S. Department of Agriculture

USDA Forest Service Compact 85-20-1401 MCA

USDA Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Station Compact 85-20-1101 MCA

USDA Sheep Experiment Station Compact 85-20-1201 MCA

Tribal Compacts

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Compact 85-20-201 MCA

Blackfeet Tribe Compact 85-20-1501 MCA

Chippewa Cree Tribe of the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation Compact 85-20-601 MCA

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation Compact 85-20-1901 MCA

Crow Indian Reservation Compact 85-20-901 MCA

Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Compact 85-20-1001 MCA

Northern Cheyenne Tribe Compact 85-20-301 MCA

Water Right Negotiations

 The 1979 Montana Legislature established the Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission (RWRCC) as part of the state-wide general stream adjudication.The RWRCC’s mission was to negotiate settlements with Montana Indian tribes(7) and federal agencies(11) claiming federal reserved water rights within Montana.

The RWRCC's mission was “to conclude compacts for the equitable division and apportionment of waters” between:

• the State of Montana, its people and the several Indian tribes claiming reserved water rights within the state (MCA 85-2-701), and
• the State, its people and the federal government claiming non-Indian reserved water within the state (MCA 85-2-703).

Recognizing many federal reserves have very senior priority dates, in negotiations, the RWRCC through various methods focused on protecting water rights under state law to the maximum extent possible. 

Contact the following staff members for assistance: