DRUMMOND — Thursday evening, a meeting about the Milltown Water Right drew a crowd to the Drummond Community Center.
“You got to have water to grow anything. If you are a gardener and you shut the water off to it, it's pretty hard to sit there and watch it dry up and die,” said Drummond rancher, Charlie Parke. “People get pretty excited.”
The meeting was hosted by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). Since 2015, CSKT and FWP have publicly co-owned the water right to steward the rivers and fisheries.
“I think healthy rivers and healthy fisheries are important to all of us that call Western Montana our home,” said Casey Ryan, engineering and water resources division manager for CSKT’s Natural Resources Department.
The right was once privately-owned and used for hydropower at the Milltown Dam in Bonner at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers, before the dam was removed in 2008. In 2015, the Montana Legislature made CSKT and FWP the co-owners of the right, but put a 10 year hold on enforcement.
On April 24th, 2025, those 10 years ran out. Now, FWP and CSKT can enforce the right, meaning that if water levels drop below a threshold, they can call on water from more junior right-holders. But CSKT and FWP say they are looking for input on their approach from people all along the river.
“We just need to find out what works for them, so we'll work closely with the irrigators, water commissioners, the community to find out how to best approach that,” said FWP director, Christy Clark. “This first year is honestly a large learning curve.”
FWP and CSKT say they have a framework, but not a plan. They want to build that plan with help from the community.
“Now, we're here tonight to meet with community members to present the implementation framework for the Milltown Water Right but also to listen and talk to water users and get some ideas about how best to move forward together,” Ryan said.
But, in Drummond, some community members expressed concerns, like rancher Charlie Parke, who’s been irrigating in the Drummond area for 65 years.
“These people in town haven't got a clue what water means, because in western Montana without water, you don't grow anything but knapweeds,” Parke said.
He was one of many who spoke at the meeting, with questions over the future of their water, their local systems for managing it and the details of FWP and CSKT’s approach.
“I don't know what they'll do on the Clark Fork because they don't ever have a water commissioner,” he said. “A lot of details to work out.”
But, CSKT and FWP say they understand the apprehension.
“These guys have been doing this for so long, and this is like having a new neighbor in town. They don’t know how we're going to show up. They don't know what we're going to do. Honestly, that’s what we’re trying to do, to get the dialogue started,” said Clark. “The last thing we want to do is reinvent the wheel or cause chaos.”
FWP and CSKT say they are hoping to work with and learn from locals about their water and their concerns.
“We look forward to continuing conversations with folks to figure out how we can move from a framework into an implementation plan that's going to work for everyone that's going to help to preserve a healthy river while also preserving the way of life that we enjoy here in western Montana,” Ryan said.
They hosted meetings in Drummond, Ovando and Deer Lodge and welcome input online. Parke said he was glad for the meeting but hopes the process stays collaborative.
“It sounds like they're willing to work with however it works for everybody,” Parke said.”Like usual, if people work together, it works a lot better than if they get to feuding over it.”
