The biggest dam removal project in U.S. history is underway in Northern California, signaling the restoration of one of the state’s largest rivers and a revival of salmon runs long called for by Native American tribes and environmentalists. The $500 million project, expected to resurrect the lower half of the Klamath River historically fished by tribal communities and populated by salmon and migratory birds, has been championed by tribal leaders, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown. Speaking of water.
The Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Settlement Act, had its first hearing during the Committee of Indian Affairs meeting after the bill was first introduced earlier in June. The bill allocates $1.3 billion to the Fort Belknap Indian Community to improve irrigation infrastructure as well as improve the community’s economic development. The bill, cosponsored by the bipartisan Montana senators, Steve Daines and Jon Tester, will also address the agricultural aspects of the Fort Belknap water compact by including Native and non-Native stakeholders. The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is located in south central Montana and is home to the A’aniiih and Nakoda tribes and, according to the bill sponsors, would be the last tribal water settlement to be resolved in Montana.
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
