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Powder/Tongue/Little Bighorn River Basins

Current Issues:

Two storage projects planned and funded by the Water Development Commission are under construction in these basins. The City of Sheridan is enlarging Twin Lakes Reservoir to increase municipal supply. The City of Buffalo is building Tie Hack Dam in the Clear Creek drainage for municipal supply, hydropower and instream flow. Both of these facilities faced great difficulty in obtaining their Section 404 permits from the Corps of Engineers. Montana is in enlarging the Tongue River Reservoir, which lies just downstream from the Wyoming-Montana border. This enlargement will supply water as part of the negotiated settlement of the federal reserved water right for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

Compact Allocations:

The Yellowstone River Compact allocates the flows of the Tongue River 40% to Wyoming and 60% to Montana based on a measurement point just upstream of the Tongue River's confluence with the Yellowstone River. The Powder River is allocated 42% to Wyoming and 58% to Montana, and does not include the Little Powder River. All valid water rights prior to January 1, 1950 are recognized by the Compact. The supplemental supplies necessary to bring a full supply to lands with a pre-1950 water right are also exempt from apportionment. When the Compact was negotiated, the states could not agree upon an allocation for the Little Bighorn River. While general provisions of the Compact are interpreted to cover the entire basin, no specific allocation of the flows of the Little Bighorn were made as they were in the other tributaries to the Yellowstone River.

Future Concerns:

Montana has begun negotiations with the Crow Indians to determine the tribe's reserved rights. The same issues that prevented compact apportionment of the Little Bighorn River between the states will surround any agreement between the states and the Crow tribe. Wyoming must monitor any negotiated settlement to insure guarantees to the Crow tribe do not adversely affect the State's allocation.


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