The International Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed Study Board (Study Board) is seeking input on its draft Interim Status Report from the public and interested parties.

The public consultation period will run from August 27 until September 14.

The report outlines the progress made on the study’s main objective: the development of a common understanding of water pollution and its effects on people and species in the Elk-Kootenai/y watershed.

This independent body comprised of experts and knowledge holders from Canada, the United States and the Ktunaxa Nation was established by the International Joint Commission (IJC) to explore the impacts of transboundary water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai/y watershed. Read the Board’s Directive and Plan of Study for more details.

The study was launched in September 2024 and will conclude in September 2026 with a final report and recommendations to be delivered to the IJC. The Interim Status Report will be delivered to the IJC in September 2025.

The Board’s Plan of Study outlines the work it will undertake throughout the study period.

“At the midway point of this study, we are keen to report on what we have accomplished so far and continue to hear feedback from the public and interested groups,” said US Study Board co-chair Tom Bansak.

“The Study Board is very grateful to everyone who has engaged with the study to date,” added Canadian Study Board co-chair Oliver Brandes. “People who live and work in the watershed have critical knowledge and understanding of water quality issues that could pertain to our study.”

The Study Board is inviting public comment before delivering the Interim Status Report to the IJC in late September. Visit the website for more information on how to participate.

Public Meeting

The Study Board will hold a virtual public meeting on Wednesday September 3, 2025, to provide an overview of the Interim Status Report and an opportunity for participants to ask questions and provide input.

Date:  Wednesday September 3

Time: 6-7:30 p.m. MT

Registration link: Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

The Study Board will review comments received by 11:59 p.m. PT Sunday September 14.

You can stay up to date with Study Board activities at www.ijc.org/ekwsb.

The IJC established the Study Board in response to a March 2024 request to the IJC from the governments of Canada and the United States, in partnership with the Ktunaxa Nation. This request (“the Elk-Kootenai/y Reference”) represented an historic moment in United States-Canada transboundary relations, because it is the first time that Indigenous Peoples have played a key role in the development of a Reference to the IJC.

The Elk-Kootenai/y Reference was the result of many conversations and cooperative initiatives involving United States and Canadian federal agencies, provincial, state, and Indigenous governments, and stakeholders regarding the impacts of water pollution in the watershed.

The Elk and Kootenai/y rivers rise in the Canadian Rockies of the province of British Columbia and flow into Koocanusa Reservoir, an impoundment of the Kootenai/y River that spans the Canadian-US border. Below the reservoir, the Kootenai/y River continues to flow through transboundary Ktunaxa lands, through the states of Montana and Idaho, and back to the province of British Columbia, where it empties into the Columbia River.

Lead image: The Elk River before it meets the Kootenay River (Lake Koocanusa).  e-KNOW file photos

The International Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed Study Board

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