RONAN, MT — The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are constructing a new $11.5 million facility in Ronan to serve as a centralized hub for the Division of Engineering and Water Resources.
Funded by the water compact settlement, signed into law in 2020, the 21,500-square-foot building will house up to 100 employees. It will also host a national program monitoring dams across the western United States.
The CSKT Natural Resources Department has grown from 11 employees to 258, leaving the team scattered across different offices.
Rich Janssen Jr., CSKT Natural Resources Department head, said the project has been years in the making.
"These offices here are going to house our engineers, hydrologists, our safety of dams program," Janssen said.
"To see this finally come to fruition, that is a big deal for the tribal people, for the community for the jobs this building will provide," Janssen said.
George McLeod, CSKT chief of field operations for the water measurement program, has dedicated nearly 50 years to the tribes' natural resources. He was part of a team of scientists and hydrologists whose decades of data collection helped lead to the water compact settlement.
"I tell my employees they are modern day warriors," McLeod said.
"Because what we're doing is getting information to protect our water rights," McLeod said.
"One of the great things is we'll all be together instead of scattered in different offices," McLeod said.
For McLeod, the new building carries a deeper meaning, and it may finally be time to pass the torch once it opens.
"I'm going to work until I at least get in here, I've been saying that for five years," McLeod said.
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