Two meetings with decidedly different views about a proposed water compact for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes will be held in Kalispell over the next couple of weeks.

On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn, there will be a series of speakers who are critical of the compact that has been the subject of negotiations among the tribes, the state and the federal government. 

On Thursday, Sept. 18, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Montana Water Stewards and the Montana Farmers Union will host a roundtable discussion on the compact at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building.

The keynote speaker for Saturday’s seminar will be Elaine Devary Willman, author of a book called, “Going to Pieces ... The Dismantling of the United States.”

Several other speakers are featured Saturday:

— State Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, will provide an overview of proposed water policies and their potential political and economic outcomes.

— State Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, will report on interim legislative activities related to the compact that will be brought to the Legislature next year. He also will give a report on tribal acquisition of Kerr Dam that is scheduled to happen next year.

— State Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman, will speak about statewide water and land issues, regulations and their impacts on land values and the economy.

— Tim Orr, a Mission Valley irrigation district commissioner, will discuss how changing control over water and regulations could impact Flathead Reservation property owners.

— Rick Jore, a small business owner in the Mission Valley, will have a  similar presentation but he will discuss impacts off the reservation.

— Trudy Samuelson, a real estate broker, will talk about how regulations at all levels of government add to the complexity of real estate investments.

The Sept. 15 meeting will involve roundtable discussions about why the compact is important to irrigators, farmers and ranchers on the reservation and across Montana, and what the Montana Water Stewards organization is doing to promote the compact.

Montana Water Stewards is a private, nonprofit organization supported entirely by private donations, according to its website. Its board is made up of farmers and ranchers on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The group aims to achieve a negotiated water compact rather than the issue being decided by litigation.

“Our livelihoods here on the reservation depend on the ratification of the final compact,” the organization says in its mission statement.