Senate President Matt Regier grew up learning to water ski on Flathead Lake — the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi — as did many of his constituents.
“I have friends that live there. Hopefully, someday I can afford to live on it, too,” Regier told reporters during a press availability this week. “But Flathead Lake is not just for the people around it. Tourism is a big draw for the Flathead Valley. And when you have a problem like we did two years ago with lake levels and not being able to put boats in, I mean, that’s just the start of it.”
Regier presented Joint Resolution 18 to the Senate Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, which requests that water managers consider recreation to be as important as other priorities when making decisions about Flathead Lake, the Daily Montanan reports.
In late June 2023, water levels on Flathead Lake were historically low — nine inches below the lake’s full-pool mark and a foot below the 23-year median, according to U.S. Geological Survey data — and causing problems for businesses and recreational users.
Requests to raise the lake level, made to the inter-agency team that coordinates dams across the Columbia River Basin, were denied, as water managers had to balance multiple uses including flood control, wildlife management and irrigation — not just recreation.
“I needed to do something to stand up for my constituents, especially back home, (to show) how vital having water in Flathead Lake is,” Regier told reporters. “I always speak for my constituents, but this is special to them.”
Regier cited comments from Gov. Greg Gianforte made that year about the importance of the lake to the region’s economic vitality — roughly $600 million is spent from anglers, boaters and other tourists in Flathead County alone, according to a University of Montana study.
During a normal year, the dam-controlled lake fills up during the spring runoff by mid-June and tends to stay level throughout the summer months.
In 2023, however, low snowpack and regional drought conditions prevented the lake from reaching full-pool levels.
According to the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station — which operates from a campus on the east side of the lake — snowpack the previous winter was just 80% of the long-term average, and an unusually warm May led to a rapid meltout.
Flathead Lake Biological Station Director Jim Elser said inflows from the main stem Flathead River, which is the primary source for the lake, was between 34% and 60% throughout the year.
With so little water entering the lake, levels continued to drop, ultimately reaching a full two feet below full pool, which is 2,893.
Low water levels affected boat and business owners around the lake, according to the Flathead Beacon, as many public and private boat access sites couldn’t operate. Rental companies lost customers, too.
Farmers upstream of the lake saw irrigation issues, as lake water often backs up the river to an elevation high enough to divert into sloughs, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crops were jeopardized.
Efforts to address the problem ran up the ladder from county officials,to the governor and Montana’s Congressional delegation.
One avenue considered was a plan to release water from Hungry Horse Reservoir located upstream.
Hungry Horse Dam, along with Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ (SKQ) Dam, operated by Energy Keepers Inc., on behalf of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, are part of a network of 60 dams throughout the Columbia River Basin. Many of the dams are operated by the Army Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation, but all of them are jointly coordinated to regulate flood control, energy generation, irrigation, streamflow for fish migration and recreation.
An inter-agency Technical Management Team comprising representatives from four states, five federal agencies and six tribal nations, coordinates operations across the Columbia River Basin. A proposal by Gov. Greg Gianforte to fill Flathead Lake using water from Hungry Horse was considered, but ultimatelyfound to be an inadequate solution,due to the risk of draining too much water from the reservoir during drought conditions. During the fall, water released from Hungry Horse augments the Flathead River to aid endangered Bull Trout.
Many elected officials, including U.S. Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke lambasted the decision, accusing the Technical Management Team of prioritizing fish over people.
Zinke later introduced legislation to Congress that would require Flathead Lake to be held at full-pool capacity through Labor Day each year, but the legislation never got out of committee.
Watch our 2023 Special Report about Flathead Lake's historic low water levels:
Regier said during the committee hearing on Wednesday that he had considered similar legislation “with a lot more teeth than just a resolution” until he researched the intricacies involved in coordinating the water system of the Pacific Northwest.
“Once we started digging into that, there were a lot more players than I realized that were involved in water levels in Flathead Lake,” Regier said.
The resolution put forward instead requests that “all decision-making bodies with an influence on the usability of Flathead Lake ensure that recreation needs be measured fairly compared to hydropower, fish, and irrigation demands,” and also requests that Flathead Lake Recreation be “expressly reflected” in the next iteration of the Columbia River Treaty.
Negotiations to update the 61-year-old treaty between the U.S. and Canada are currently paused due to President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty.
The committee did not take immediate action on Regier’s resolution.
A chart showing snow water equivalent in the Flathead River basin. Courtesy USDA
State of the lake
Management of Flathead Lake primarily rests with Energy Keepers Inc, the company that operates SKQ Dam.
Under the dam’s federal license, the lake is dropped to its lowest level during the winter, and has specific flood-risk limitation on how quickly the water level can be brought up during the spring runoff.
In a February news release, Energy Keepers said that streamflow conditions in the Flathead Basin were “similar to 2023 and 2024” and the dam was being operated to increase the likelihood of meeting refill requirements.
In both 2023 and 2024, the dam operators requested waivers from the Army Corps of Engineers to deviate from the normal process and begin filling the lake early in order to maximize capacity.
The first water level benchmark to be released won’t come until mid-April, and Energy Keepers has not updated its forecast for the lake since Feb. 2.
Data from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service show that snowpack in northwest Montana is significantly better than in recent years.
As of March 27, NRCS data indicated that snow water equivalent — the amount of moisture contained within the snowpack — across the Flathead Basin is at 96% of the 30-year median. Rain and snow are forecast during the next week in the area.
Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com.
