The primary goal and needed purpose of this project is to maintain and enhance the functions of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation (CSKT) related to regional coordination capability and implementation.

The CSKT is a federally recognized Indian Nation under the 1855 Hellgate Treaty. It is comprised of the Bitterroot Salish, the Pend d’Oreille and the Kootenai tribes. The CSKT Reservation is comprised of 1.317 million acres in northwest Montana, but prior to the Treaty the tribes lived in the territory now known as western Montana, parts of Idaho, British Columbia and Wyoming. This aboriginal territory exceeded 20 million acres at the time of the Treaty. This comprises a significant and important portion of the Columbia River Basin.

The 1855 Hellgate Treaty included provisions that ceded tribal lands to the U.S. government in exchange for continued or reserved rights to fish, wildlife, water, cultural and other important resources. The CSKT is a sovereign government with management capability and regulatory authority over these resources. The CSKT Natural Resources Department has programs that address Environmental Protection; Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation; and Water Management. The CSKT Cultural Resources program is charged with identifying, evaluating, and protecting cultural, historic and archaeological resources and regulating activities when they may result in changes in the character or use of such cultural resources. Each of these programs maintain and implement plans and programs addressing resources based on the CSKT’s management authority and rights within its’ ceded lands. These authorities are based on federal law, Tribal resolution, and agreements with other state and federal resource management agencies.

This project will provide for continuing the CSKT’s involvement in regionally important processes and programs that address these resources. In 2011, the CSKT withdrew membership from the CBFWA. With the CBFWA being one of the focal regional coordination entities, it is necessary for the CSKT to continue coordination efforts in the absence of CBFWA membership and support. This involvement includes coordination and communication with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC), Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), regional states and tribes that are not members of the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority (CBFWA), and the CBFWA and its members. This is particularly important to the implementation of the NPCC Program and the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980.  The results of this project will be effective and efficient coordination between the CSKT and other entities involved in the protection, mitigation, enhancement and management of the resources noted above.  Specifically, it is expected this will improve and enhance exchanging information, finding consensus on difficult issues, the quality of decision-making, and the process of informing other regional decision-makers.  Quantitative benefits cannot be readily estimated for these results, but it has been demonstrated that effective and efficient coordination provides for cost savings in highly controversial situations such as the Columbia River Basin that have conflicting rights and interests among a multitude of sovereigns and stakeholders.