David Murray

dmurray@greatfallstribune.com

The Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation have been awarded $70,000 to study the feasibility of updating and expanding the tribes’ irrigation system.

Cattle ranching and farming are important sectors of the economy on the Fort Peck Reservation. Important crops grown in the area include cereals and feed grains, hay silage and grasses, however, the lack of an adequate water supply has been a major obstacle to expanding agricultural and livestock production. Non-irrigated “dryland” farming, mostly in spring wheat, accounts for about 75 percent of all harvested acreage on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.

An existing 5,000-acre, tribally owned irrigation system, known as the North of Sprole project, is located north of the Missouri River about six miles east of the town of Poplar. The system was constructed in 1908.

In 1985, the Fort Peck tribes and the Montana State Legislature reached agreement on a state water compact, which specifically allocated a 250,000-acre-foot water right to the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes from the Missouri River specifically for irrigation. That water compact has yet to attain federal approval, but since 2000, the Assiniboine and Sioux have actively sought to expand the North of Sprole project.

On Tuesday, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Indian Affairs Lawrence S. Roberts announced the Assiniboine and Sioux of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation were one of 21 tribal organizations within the U.S. to be awarded business development grants totaling $947,406

The awards originate from the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development and a program designed to enable tribal leaders to better evaluate and identify viable economic opportunities for their communities.

Over the past year’s funding cycle the IEED received 66 funding proposals from all 12 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs regions. If all the proposals had been approved the total cost would have exceeded $4.36 million, more than four-and-a-half times this year’s Native American Business Development Institute program’s budget.

“Grants are awarded on the basis of a proposal’s potential to create jobs for tribal members and stimulate economies in Native American communities,” an Indian Affairs news release states. “This year’s grants will fund studies for diverse projects ranging from farming operations, restaurants, retail facilities, a shopping center and grocery stores to an airpark, a wood pellet manufacturing plant, and an RV park. Funds will also support one tribe’s exploration of commercial uses for lands it received through the Cobell Land Buy-Back Program.”

The 2016-2017 NABDI grant award to the Fort Peck Tribes’ is this year’s second largest. Only the Pueblo of Jemez people of New Mexico received a larger grant – $75,000 to study the feasibility of developing a wood pellet manufacturing business.

A 2007 study to examine the benefits of increased irrigation on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation estimated the cost of expanding the North of Sprole project to 15,000 acres at approximately $43 million.