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Leaders of the Fort Belknap Indian Community said they are glad to have the opportunity to talk about a proposed new mine exploration in the Little Rocky Mountains because it will give its members a chance to show their opposition to the proposal. "The tribe's 100 percent opposed," Fort Belknap Indian Community Council President Jeff Stiffarm said. "We're going to fight this tooth and nail," he added. "I'm glad our people at least will have the chance to speak." Montana Depart...
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in an interview with Havre Daily News that getting $100 million in funding that likely will go to the St. Mary Diversion is a really big deal. "It will be massive," he said. "... It's a big deal. The most important part, really, is the predictability it provides for agriculture and municipalities." Tester, one of the senators who crafted the bipartisan infrastructure bill that has passed Congress and been signed into law by President Joe Biden,...
Editor, For many years, my family has had farm land under the Glasgow Irrigation District. That is part of the larger Milk River Irrigation System that brings water all across the Hi-Line, over 700 miles from the Mountains to the irrigated acres in Blaine, Hill, Phillips and Valley Counties and to many cities and communities for their drinking water. A structure on that system at St. Mary failed some years back. The Bureau of Reclamation has been working to get it properly repaired. I, and I am sure many others, have signed...
Monday 1:30 p.m. — Bureau of Reclamation — Land lease meeting in commissioners’ office Tuesday 10:30 a.m. — Road department meeting in commissioners’ office 3 p.m. — Alcohol Tax Allocation meeting at Bullhook Community Health Center 5:30 p.m. — Fair board meeting at the Great Northern Fairgrounds Community Center Wednesday 9 a.m. — County officials meeting in the Timmons Room 10 a.m. — Work Safe Champions class in the Timmons Room Thursday 10 a.m. — Weekly business meeting in the commissioners’ office 11:30 a.m. — Bear Paw...
The Montana Bureau of Reclamation has extended the comment period on an environmental assessment for a Safety of Dams modification project scheduled for Fresno Dam in the coming years. BOR Engineer Steve Darlinton, the project manager for the Fresno Dam Modification Project, said the bureau is always running assessments on dams throughout the U.S. and the last evaluation of Fresno Dam in 2013 indicated that it did need some updates to increase safety. Darlinton said it's impor...
Montana Free Press by Alex Sakariassen Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate approved a $1.2 trillion spending plan aimed at addressing critical national infrastructure needs. The bill is poised to inject billions of dollars into Montana's highways, bridges, water systems and broadband, and the fate of that funding now rests with the U.S. House of Representatives, which began debating the proposal's path this week. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester was among the bill's chief...
Biologists from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks presented their 10-year Fresno Reservoir fisheries management plan to the public Monday evening in Havre, drawing more people than anticipated. Havre-area Fisheries Biologist Cody Nagel said the plan is the first of its kind for Fresno and was developed with the help of a nine-member citizens advisory council. FWP Region 6 Fisheries Program Manager Steve Dalbey said the plan represents the combined values of FWP and the public. “We all had a common goal to make this the best f...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester D-Mont., celebrated at a press conference Tuesday the passage of a massive infrastructure bill in the Senate which gained the support of a significant amount of Republicans. Tester, who was one of five Democrats and five Republicans who primarily negotiated the initial version of the $1.2 trillion bill, said it's the largest non-emergency investment in the U.S. infrastructure in history addressing both traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges as...
With drought continuing to dry up Montana, listings of resources for agricultural producers are going out around the state and calls for more assistance are again being made. Drought and problems like grasshoppers and blister beetles have decimated hay crops and are pushing cattle producers to sell off herds, and also are hitting the grain production of many Montana farmers. Sen, Steve Daines, R-Mont., renewed a call Wednesday for U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide drou...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has an open house set for Aug. 16 on its proposed first-ever long-range comprehensive plan for the fisheries at Fresno Reservoir. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation owns and operates the dam at Fresno, used for flood control, irrigation and other conservation uses, part of the irrigation Milk River Project. FWP manages the fishery in the reservoir, a wildlife management area at the west end, and a public access area on the Milk River immediately downstream of the dam. FWP put out a call earlier this y...
Editor’s note: This version adds comments from the office of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Members of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group met Wednesday to discuss possible funding sources for improvements and repairs to the structure that provides water resources to northern Montana. The St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works, part of the irrigation Milk River Project and one of the first projects Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to build when it was created at the start of the last century, diverts water into the Nor...
After weeks of negotiations, the Senate Wednesday advanced a bill to increase investment in U.S. infrastructure on a 67-32 vote with one senator not voting. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., voted for advancing the bill to the floor along with all other Senate Democrats, two independents and 17 Republicans, while Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., was one of the 32 Republicans voting against it. A fact sheet released by the White House says the deal includes $550 billion in new spending on infrastructure. The fact sheet says the bill...
North-central Montana is in the midst of a serious hay shortage, the result of a perfect storm of severe drought conditions, a population explosion of grasshoppers and blister beetles, and the effects of last year's drop failure at the St. Mary Diversion. Montana State University Hill County Extension Agriculture and 4-H Agent Colleen Buck said the drought conditions and less-than-ideal nitrate levels in the soil have made it difficult to grow much of anything and a lot of peo...
In a monthly press call Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., provided details regarding a recently agreed-upon framework for a massive $579 billion increase in infrastructure spending that could, if passed, invest a significant amount of money into the nation's roads, bridges, airports, water and broadband infrastructure without the need for new taxes. "For a country that has been living for years off our parents' and grandparents' infrastructure, this is a big deal," Tester said. He...
Despite the weather, ongoing system repair and maintenance projects affecting the waterway, and having to meet remotely, the Fresno Reservoir Fisheries Management Plan Advisory Committee is forging ahead with their task to create a five-year management plan for the popular lake. Steve Dalby, the Region 6 fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the department's coordinator with the advisory committee, said the nine-member committee should have a first draft...
A group trying to rebuild the system that supplies much of the water to the Milk River each year talked Wednesday about how money from the latest COVID-19 relief bill might help. A major topic at the meeting of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group was House Bill 632, the bill the Legislature passed to set up use of relief funds from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in March. The St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works, part of the...
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Drop Structure #5 of the St. Mary’s Diversion, the spotlight remains on the unaffordability of critical repairs to the Milk River Project’s aged infrastructure. From Montana’s irrigators and farmers, ranchers, recreationists, and municipalities that span from Tribal Nations to Canada, the call for affordable repairs are continuing to grow. Not only are construction costs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, Montana’s irrigators alone are responsible for 74% of...
The three members of Montana's congressional delegation have introduced a bill to pay for work starting to rehabilitate the system that provides much of the water that runs through the Milk River each year and to study how much local users should pay for the rehabilitation. The St. Mary's Reinvestment Act, being introduced by Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., will authorize $52 million to rehabilitate the St. Mary's Diversion...
The St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group met Thursday and decided to use state funds they received to pay for an ability-to-pay study to be conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation in preparation for legislation that may change the cost share of repairs to the St. Mary Diversion Dam. Under the current arrangement irrigators are requires to pay 74 percent of the costs of repair and maintenance for the structure with the federal government paying the remainder. Legislation is being worked on by the members of Montana’s congressi... Full story
The Montana House of Representatives unanimously sent to the Senate a resolution urging authorization of funding and work to repair "the lifeline of the Hi-Line." The bill, with primary sponsor Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, and 23 other sponsors including Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, and Sens. Mike Lang, R-Malta, and Russ Tempel, R-Chester, directs the state government to support funding for the repair and replacement of the St. Mary Diversion and Milk River Project...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced it is looking for applicants to be on an advisory committee for a first-ever official fisheries management plan for Fresno Reservoir west of Havre. The deadline to apply to be on the advisory committee is Feb. 22. The release said FWP will review applications and select a five-member committee to serve in an advisory capacity to to agency to develop guidelines for the Fresno Fisheries Management Plan. Ideally, the advisory committee...
From Glacier National Park WEST GLACIER — Glacier National Park will waive its entrance fee on six days in 2021. The fee-free days are part of the Trump Administration’s unprecedented commitment to increase access, promote recreational opportunities, improve visitor facilities and conserve natural and historical treasures in national parks for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people. The entrance fee-free days for 2021 will be: • Monday, Jan. 18 — Martin Luther King, Jr. Day • Saturday, April 17 — First Day of Nati...
One of the more remarkable stories of the year is that of the St. Mary Diversion and it's 22-week-long repair after experiencing a catastrophic failure back in May. Nearly all involved with the effort called it a remarkable example of teamwork and inter-organizational cooperation in a year plagued by social isolation. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said this project is an example to the nation of what they can do when they work together. "It is truly inc...
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is proposing continuing a withdrawal of federal land in the Little Rocky Mountains from mining, in an area still recovering from pollution caused by earlier mining. In 1997, Pegasus Mining Company filed for bankruptcy after contaminating Fort Belknap Indian Reservation’s water using such practices as acid rock drainage while mining gold south of the reservation near Zortman and Landusky. In the acid rock mining Pegausus used chemicals including cyanide to extract gold and silver from ore. S...
ST. MARY DIVERSION - Local, state, tribal and federal partners along with Montana's congressional delegation gathered together Thursday at Drop 5 on the St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works to celebrate the completion of fixing structures after catastrophic failure earlier this year. "I got the privilege of being the project engineer on this job, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime shot to come across a project like this," HDR Engineering Project Engineer Stan Schweissing said. "...
