Bureau of Indian Affairs Land Classification

The Blackfeet Indian Reservation comprises approximately 1.5 million acres and is located in northwestern Montana on the east side of the Continental Divide. The dominant land use is grazing, followed by about 400,000 acres of dryland agriculture and 150,000 acres of upland game and timber management areas. Approximately 100,000 acres of land is currently in use as irrigated agriculture. For over a decade, NewFields staff has been involved in land classification efforts for the entire reservation.

This classification effort has been focused on detailed assessments of arability and irrigability with broad reaching drainage investigations for the purpose of avoiding salinization of lands, existing and proposed wetland delineations, stock water pond determinations, historic irrigation evaluations, water demand estimates for both agricultural and urban uses, continuous ownership updates amongst other land development and evaluation activities. This comprehensive work effort is being conducted at the direction of the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of the Blackfeet Nation.

The work was done to prepare for litigation or negotiation of the proposed overall water rights claim and resulted in significant documentation. Also, multiple mapping products were developed and updated over the decade-long activities. Currently, all directed work has been completed on the reservation and efforts are being conducted to establish a final water rights claim that will be presented to the State of Montana, Blackfeet Nation and the United States Department of the Interior. Efforts involved overall task management for approximately $1.8 million in labor, subconsultants, and expenses.