Shared Waters: A film for a defining moment for the Kootenai River

Jennifer Ekstrom
Reader Contributor

Pollution from five mountaintop removal coal mines in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is flowing downstream through the Elk River Valley of British Columbia; into the transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir; and then into the Kootenai River of Montana, Idaho and beyond.

For decades, selenium and other contaminants from these mines have threatened water quality, fisheries and tribal cultural resources far downriver. Despite proven water treatment technology and promises of improvement, the pollution problem is escalating. Adding to the problem, Glencore’s proposed Fording River Mine Extension would expand coal exploitation to take down Castle Mountain and extend mining for decades. This and other new coal mining projects are moving through permitting processes by the British Columbia and Canadian governments.

This is also a moment of extraordinary possibility.

After years of pressure from the Ktunaxa Nation, which includes the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, solutions are finally being formulated under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.

For the first time in the treaty’s history, Indigenous governments have their rightful seats at the negotiation table — alongside federal, provincial and state governments — to help determine the path forward for the watershed.

We are approaching an important milestone in their process. At the end of September, a draft report will be released for public review and comment. This public comment period will provide an important opportunity for people to make their voices heard before the action plan is drafted.

The process also raises a larger question: Once the action plan is drafted, will the governments that are responsible for permitting the polluting coal mines actually implement it?

That question is exactly why public engagement matters.

The Idaho Conservation League is producing the film Shared Waters: Ktunaxa and the Coal Mines, because this complex story urgently needs to reach beyond regulatory processes, scientific reports and government meeting rooms.

A film can do something those proceedings and documents cannot.

It can take viewers into the Elk Valley and show the immense scale of the mines. It can bring them onto the Kootenai River with the people restoring sturgeon and burbot. It can allow Ktunaxa leaders to explain, in their own words, why these waters and fish are inseparable from culture, identity and responsibility.

It is this moment — and the people who have worked for decades to protect these waters — that we are documenting in Shared Waters: Ktunaxa and the Coal Mines. At the heart of Shared Waters is the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho and the larger transboundary Ktunaxa Nation.

The film begins with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Vice Chairman Gary Aitken Jr., who tells the remarkable story of his grandmother, who was the tribe’s chairwoman in 1974, leading the tribe to declare war on the United States government. At the time, the tribe had dwindled to fewer than 70 members and was struggling without basic services. They needed a reservation order to get help, and their needs were being ignored. Their “war of the pen” ultimately helped secure a reservation and access to services — and demonstrated how thoughtful and committed action can change the course of history.

That history provides a powerful backdrop for their work to protect the river that is unfolding today.

One of the most hopeful parts of this story is what the tribe has already accomplished for the Kootenai River. For decades, they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars restoring habitat and rebuilding native fish populations that were devastated by dams, dikes and other historic changes to the river.

The results are remarkable. Burbot, once functionally extirpated from the river, have recovered enough to again support Tribal subsistence as well as recreational fisheries. Endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon from their hatchery program are also beginning to return to the Idaho portion of the river, after spending the first 30 years or so of life downstream in Kootenay Lake. These long-lived fish have been here since the time of the dinosaurs, and are particularly susceptible to reproduction failure resulting from selenium pollution. 

Our goal is for Shared Waters to do more than document this moment. We want the film to help shape it.

As the diplomacy process unfolding under the Boundary Waters Treaty moves toward recommendations, ICL and its partners plan to bring Shared Waters to communities throughout the watershed and beyond. Screenings will create opportunities for audiences to engage with governments about protecting the Elk-Kootenai watershed. 

The premier is scheduled for Sept. 16 at the Roxy Theater, in Missoula, Mont. Look for a screening in Sandpoint shortly thereafter. 

Shared Waters is our effort to make sure people understand what is at stake — and know that they can make a difference in how the future unfolds.

Jennifer Ekstrom is Kootenai River Campaign lead for the Idaho Conservation League.