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DEWRDivision of Engineering
& Water ResourcesCONFEDERATED SALISH & KOOTENAI TRIBES
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Engineering and restoration projects

Projects

DEWR’s work includes engineering, restoration, irrigation infrastructure, water management, and other initiatives that support implementation of the CSKT-Montana Water Compact. Explore our completed, current, and upcoming projects below.

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Our Projects

DEWR’s work includes engineering, restoration, irrigation infrastructure, water management, and other initiatives that support implementation of the CSKT-Montana Water Compact. Explore our completed, current, and upcoming projects below.

DEWR project

Kicking Horse Dam Safety Upgrades

Kicking Horse Dam and outlet works was constructed in 1930 along with two dikes. Through an Issue Evaluation level risk analysis that was performed evaluating baseline static, hydrologic, and seismic risks posed by potential failure modes, certain risks have been identified for Kicking Horse Dam resulting in increased justification to take risk reduction action. The safety upgrades will modify and/or replace the aging infrastructure to current industry standards, including hydrology, hydraulics, structural, mechanical, geotechnical, and seismic. This includes installation of a cement bentonite cutoff wall along the entire length of the dam, removal and replacement of the existing outlet works, toe drain installation, realignment of the G-Canal Lateral, replacement of the downstream check structure, and raising low spots in the dam crest. Design is currently in a final design phase. Extensive measures have been and will continue to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts of construction on the wetlands and native prairies located on the site.

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DEWR project

Jocko River - Bison Range Reach Restoration

The Bison Range Reach of the Jocko River plays an irreplaceable ecological role in the Jocko watershed — it is the gateway for migratory salmonids that move among the Jocko, Flathead, and Clark Fork rivers to complete their life histories. This stream reach is critical to cold-water fish seeking thermal refuge as the Flathead River warms during summer. However, the reach has been impaired by a suite of anthropogenic disturbances that have diminished its capacity to provide the range of quality habitats it once did. Habitat degradation and hydromodification are outcomes of both private and federal actions. For example, 65 percent of reach of river has been channelized and contained by rip-rapped levees; it is almost entirely disconnected from its former floodplain. These conditions raise water temperatures, simplify the fish habitat, reduce floodplain diversity, and cause increased sedimentation in the downstream reaches.

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DEWR project

Jocko Pipelines

The Jocko Service Area of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project has been identified as a high-priority target for rehabilitation, betterment and modernization as it relates to water delivery efficiencies. The Jocko K Canal irrigation service area will be rehabilitated with a delivery network of pressurized, buried pipe. Pressurized pipe operates by completely filling the pipe with water, allowing the pipe to pressurize by the effect of gravity. A Master Plan for the area was developed as a collaborative effort between the engineering services of Morrison-Maierle, CSKT, and FIIP staff. The conceptual design is split into six phases over the next few years that will involve 17.7 miles of pipeline. Some of the challenges in the Jocko service area include canals overgrown with vegetation, high seepage, due to the character of underlying soils, and flow control structures.

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DEWR project

North Fork Jocko Tabor Diversion

The North Fork Jocko Tabor Diversion Project is located at the intersection of the North Fork Jocko River and the Tabor Feeder Canal, approximately 1.5 miles downstream of North Fork Jocko Falls. The purpose of the project is to address reliability, operational, and environmental issues by replacing the diversion structure.

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DEWR project

Crow Pump Diversion Reconstruction

The Crow Pump Diversion is part of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project and is within the Charlo Irrigation Service Area. The Crow Pump Diversion was originally constructed to allow FIIP to supplement water in the Charlo Irrigation Service Area with water from Crow Creek. The diversion is used to divert water from Crow Creek into a pumping plant that lifts it to the Crow Pump Canal. In September 2026, minimum instream flows within Post Creek will become enforceable and will set a firm threshold for the amount of water that the Charlo Irrigation Service Area can rely on from Post Creek. The Crow Pump Diversion system, however, is currently inoperable. The configuration and location of the existing Crow Pump Diversion result in sediment deposition downstream of the diversion structure and in the Crow Pump Canal. There are currently 12-inches of silty sediment in the existing pump intake. The plan is to improve the diversion and irrigation infrastructure through reconstruction in a manner that accommodates fish passage, habitat restoration, and improved pump efficiency and operation.

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DEWR project

Twin Lakes

The Tabor Feeder canal goes through both of the Twin Lakes before entering Tabor Reservoir (AKA St. Mary’s Lake). The DEWR is working on numerous projects along the Tabor Feeder Canal that will impact public access. To mitigate for the lost access opportunities, the Tribes will improve an important Tribal-member use area: Twin Lakes.

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DEWR project

Charlo Irrigation Modernization

The Charlo Area Water Management Improvements project aims to rehabilitate and modernize the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP) irrigation infrastructure serving the Charlo area. The instream flows and river diversion allowances of the CSKT Water Rights Compact require water management improvements to accomplish the water conservation objectives. Although other localized infrastructure projects are being implemented, the CSKT selected the Charlo area as the highest priority for implementing water management improvements at a larger geographic scale.

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DEWR project

Crow Dam Spillway

The Crow Dam Spillway Project consisted of two phases: Phase 1 of construction (Area 2) consisted of replacement of the badly deteriorated existing chute and stilling basin with a new chute, a flip bucket, and armored apron to dissipate the energy prior to discharging into Lower Crow Creek. The Phase 2 (Area 3) consisted of the replacement of the existing side-channel inlet structure and tunnel with a piano key weir spillway crest structure, sloped trough, channel crossing beneath Crow Dam Road that will tie into the new structures constructed in Area 2, and installation of a bridge at the Crow Dam Road crossing.

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DEWR project

Pablo 31A Chute Replacement

A n aging 626-foot concrete chute is set on a steep slope and is operated by FIIP conveying an estimated 50 cubic feet per second. In 2019, FIIP installed materials to reduce seepage. This project will include replacing the concrete chute with a buried 36-inch diameter steel pipe, new concrete inlet structure with debris screen and a new energy dissipation structure at the pipe outlet. Maximum flows will remain the same, however, the improvements will increase operator safety. Seepage mitigation will protect the headworks and chute structures from soil erosion around the foundation.

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Public Engagement

For an individual project or public notice, authorised DEWR staff could invite written feedback during a defined public-comment period. Submissions are private records for staff review, not discussion-board posts displayed publicly.

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