St. Mary's Update Heading into the Spring

Jenn Patrick, Project Manager for the Milk River Irrigation Project Joint Board of Control announced a new nearly 6 minute YouTube video 'St. Mary Diversion Dam' for everyone to view and get a better understanding of where the project is currently, and provide some visual insight to all of the components. Patrick reminds everyone, "We are rapidly approaching that May 2023 solicitation for the Diversion Dam, so this is exciting news! Also, this construction project will be funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure package which is a very large relief to the stakeholders in the basin as the project is over $90 million for design, construction and management.

Patrick also provided an update to the situation at Fresno Reservoir, "It is through the solicitation process and is somewhere in the due-diligence land so we should know where those bids came in around mid-February. After that, the project will be off and running and it will be summer again. We have our Joint Board meeting coming up February 7th at 5:30 in Malta. At this meeting we will be going over Reclamation budgets and project budgets for the next few years. If there is anything anyone feels need to be addressed before the irrigation season this meeting would be a good one to get on their radar before things get too busy."

The full scope of what the many individual projects that make up the system are ongoing, "We are continuing designs on the St. Mary and Halls Coulee Siphons as well as kicking off a full Watershed – EIS project sponsored by NRCS. This project will allow us to complete a full Environmental Impact Statement on the project starting after the Diversion Dam to the last Drop into the Milk River. This will be a large undertaking and we are excited to kick that off end of February."

There is still a lot of work going on involving all parties affected, "The Canadian/American Joint Study Board continues to work through the processes and is planning some stakeholder public town hall meetings in the basin the week of May 8th. More information will come as that develops. We also continue to stay engaged legislatively both with the State of Montana and at the Federal Government." Patrick notes that the project is often a topic of discussion and that every opportunity to seek funds is necessary. The process is ever changing, "As amazing as the Infrastructure funding is, we still have a very large lift to complete the project. Our focus for funding needs have now shifted to the next pinch point in the system, the St. Mary and Halls Coulee Siphons. Right now, we have funding for designs which we are pushing ahead on, but after that we will need to work on a funding package for the stakeholder portion for roughly $53 million. "As things progress the public will be updated as best as possible.

The St. Mary's project is of vital interest to the people of the Hi-line as it serves the Milk River Project. Farmers rely on it for water during the hot dry months and the project furnishes water for the irrigation of about 121,000 acres of land. Lake Sherburne, Nelson and Fresno Storage Dams are included in the project as well as Dodson, Vandalia, St. Mary, Paradise, and Swift Current Diversion Dams, the Dodson Pumping Plant, 200 miles of canals, 219 miles of laterals and 295 miles of drains. Chinook, Malta, and Glasgow Divisions and the Dodson Pumping Unit are all provided water from the project. Start to finish the project covers 165 miles along the river from near Havre to a point 6 miles below Nashua, Montana.