Public comments are being accepted through April 3rd for a proposal that would allow for the drawdown of Pablo Reservoir and aerial herbicide treatment of 2,000 acres to reduce Eurasian Water Milfoil. The treatment would begin in fall 2025 and could be repeated, up to three times over 10 years.
See the full notice below:
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs – Flathead Agency
ACTION: Notice of a Fourteen Day Public Scoping Period
PURPOSE: This notice is to advise interested parties that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) as lead federal agency, with the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation is initiating a fourteen-day scoping period from March 20-April 3, 2025, to identify issues of concern for the proposed Pablo Reservoir Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) Treatment. EWM is a new aquatic invader to the waters within the reservoirs, lakes, and irrigation systems of the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP).Treatment would include physical (reservoir drawdown following irrigation season) and aerial application of herbicide within the project area, approximately 2,000 acres in size, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation approximately three miles northwest of Pablo, Mont. Treatment would beginning in the fall of 2025 and be implemented potentially three times over a ten year timeframe to eliminate and/or control EWM within the Pablo Reservoir. An inter-agency interdisciplinary team has developed this Proposed Action to minimize impacts to wildlife, fisheries, riparian and wetland ecosystems, and irrigation. Not properly managed, this new invader has to potential to spread to nearby waters and exacerbate containment issues that will further increase long-term suppression expenses, economic impacts to irrigators, and increase impacts to aquatic dependent ecosystems.
HOW TO COMMENT: You may email your comments to BIA NW Region NEPA Coordinator at tobiah.mogavero@bia.gov. Please include “Pablo Reservoir Eurasian Water Milfoil Treatment Scoping Comments’ in the subject line. Hard copy comments will be received by Shane Hendrickson, Superintendent, BIA Flathead Agency, Old Admin Office, 42464 Complex Blvd (HWY 93 N), PO Box 40, Pablo, MT. If the comment period ends on a holiday or a weekend, then the next business day is the close of the comment period. Comments received after April 3, 2025, may not be included in the project development but will still be considered.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tobiah Mogavero, BIA NW Regional NEPA Coordinator at (971) 940-5875, or Shane Hendrickson, BIA Flathead Agency Superintendent, at (406) 675-2700.
