The job of protecting human health and the environment of the Flathead Basin is never done. The children and grandchildren of each succeeding generation will judge the success of this generation's efforts. In part, we will be judged by what we knew about the impacts of pollution, what steps we took to learn more, and what we did with the information available to us. What we know about the environment of the Flathead Basin today is vastly greater that what we knew only a decade ago. This knowledge provides us with ever-increasing evidence of the sensitivity of the environment to human activity.

We have learned that economic prosperity and environmental protection are dependent upon each other.Without economic prosperity we lack the resources to protect the environment; without environmental protection, economic prosperity is hollow and short-lived.

The Flathead Basin has experienced unprecedented pressures on the environment, especially water quality, over the past fifteen years.The Basin has become a prime venue for those seeking the high quality of life in this area. The influx of new residents has increased the demand for residential and commercial development of suburban and rural lands over and adjacent to vulnerable groundwater tables, free-running streams and Flathead Lake. It is our challenge to manage present and continued growth for a healthy economic future on both sides of the border while protecting the natural resources that sustain that growth.

Proposed extraction industry development projects on the North Fork Flathead River in British Columbia continue to present challenges for bi-national cooperation to protect the headwaters of the Flathead River and down stream water quality. The Commission, with leadership from Governor Schweitzer, has made progress in collaborating with our Canadian neighbors in identifying the environmental issues that effect the transboundary Flathead Basin and methods for mitigating those effects.

The Montana Legislature showed admirable foresight in creating the Flathead Basin Commission in 1983 with a mission to "protect the existing high quality of the Flathead basin aquatic environment . . ." and a duty to "encourage economic development and use of the basin's resources to the fullest extent without compromising the high quality of the Flathead Basin's aquatic environment".

Importantly, the Commission is charged with accomplishing its mission by collaborating with local governments and other stakeholders in the Basin and British Columbia and by creating a cooperative, non-regulatory approach to protecting the economic value and environmental resources of the Basin.

This Strategic Plan represents the road map by which the Commission will be guided for the next five years. Its focus is on achievable goals that, when achieved, will make a significant contribution to protecting the Basin's fragile environment without impeding sustainable economic development. The Plan builds on the Commission's strength: a partnership of private citizens and resource management agencies with a public interest perspective and resource management expertise. Working with local, state, tribal and federal governments, non-governmental organizations and business interests we will seek better ways to gather scientifically credible data and improve information sharing so that all responsible agencies and citizens can make reasoned judgments of personal behavior, growth management policy and environmental protection for the broader public interest.

We look forward to the opportunity to serve and we embrace the challenges inherent in that opportunity.


Rich Moy, Chair
Flathead Basin Commission

The Flathead River Basin is truly one of the unique watersheds of North America. The creation of what today is known as the Flathead Basin can be traced to momentous geological activity that led to the formation of the Rocky Mountains 150 million years ago. About 3 million years ago, glacial activity began with a series of "ice ages" in the Northern Rockies, gradually shaping the physical character of the land and sculpting the river valleys and mountain ranges into what we today know as the Flathead Basin. Such significant geological attributes as Flathead Lake and the glaciers in Glacier National Park are living reminders of the end of the last ice age, a mere 10,000 years ago.

Located in northwest Montana and southeastern British Columbia, the watershed encompasses 8,587 square miles-approximately six million acres. The Basin is larger than the combined territory of Puerto Rico and the states of Delaware and Rhode Island. The long, north-south axis stretches 175 miles, while the maximum width is 88 miles.

The Flathead River drainage is the largest tributary to the Clark Fork River, part of the extensive headwater of the Columbia River. The Flathead's three forks-North, Middle and South-together supply 80 percent of the water carried within the watershed. Other rivers in the Basin include the Stillwater, Whitefish and Swan. The Lower Flathead River-that portion below the outlet of Flathead Lake at the town of Polson-empties into the Clark Fork River at the town of Paradise at an elevation of 2,500 feet above sea level.

Elevations elsewhere in the watershed range from Mount Stimson in Glacier National Park at 10,142 feet to 2,893 feet at Flathead Lake, the Basin's major catchment. The Lake is one of the 300 largest lakes in the world and the largest body of fresh water in the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, with a full pool surface area of 126,000 acres. The Basin's approximately 500 other lakes range in size and character from nearly inaccessible alpine lakes of only several surface acres to such other significant large water bodies as Swan, McDonald, Whitefish, Tally, and the Little Bitterroot Lakes.

For millennia, human beings have been part of the Flathead Basin environment. Over the past two centuries the nature of that relationship has changed dramatically as tribal ways of life that had long shaped the region's ecosystems were marginalized and an industrialized market economy became predominant.

The Flathead Basin Commission was formed to come to terms with that complex legacy and to help chart a path toward a more sustainable future. In doing so the Commission is fortunate to draw from a vibrant and diverse community, spanning an equally diverse political landscape that includes virtually all of Flathead and Lake Counties; a segment of Missoula County; the entire Flathead Indian Reservation of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; the portion of Glacier National Park west of the continental divide; parts of three wilderness areas; millions of acres of forest land under federal, provincial, state, tribal and corporate management and; tens of thousands of acres of privately owned property.

watershed today maintains remarkably pristine bodies of water and diverse communities of plants and animals that depend on clean water, including over 300 species of aquatic insects and 22 native and introduced species of fish.

Yet warning signs are evident, reminding us of the urgency of our work. The water quality of Flathead Lake is experiencing a deteriorating trend due to increased nutrient pollutant runoff from populated areas and deposition of wind-carried smoke and dust particles. Food web changes have been caused by the introduction of non-native species of invertebrates and fish. Invasive species of non-native plants deleterious to the health of the native ecosystem have been introduced. Shallow groundwater tables are showing increasing levels of contamination putting at risk drinking water and human health. Finally, wildlife habitat is shrinking-the grizzly bear, bull trout and water howellia (an aquatic plant present in the Swan Valley) are currently listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as threatened, while the peregrine falcon, grey wolf, and lynx are listed as endangered.

The Flathead Basin Commission (FBC) was created in 1983 by the Montana Legislature to monitor and protect water quality and the natural resources in one of the State's most important watersheds. The FBC is a uniquely structured non-regulatory organization that works to accomplish its mandate in a consensus-building manner, stressing education, cooperation, broadly based community involvement, partnerships with agencies and nonprofit groups, and the voluntary participation of Basin residents. Consistent with the duties of the Commission as stated in the establishing stature the Commission considers its role in the Basin to: