After decades of negotiations, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) have finalized a $1.9 billion water rights settlement that resolves thousands of tribal claims tied to waterways throughout western Montana.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland signed the long-pending water compact last week, executing a complex agreement that confirms CSKT’s water rights and authorizes funding to modernize a federal irrigation project comprising 1,300 miles of aging canals also known as the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project. The agreement, which was initially introduced in Congress in 2016 before being passed last year, also provides funding for habitat restoration and transfers control of the National Bison Range to the tribes.

Although the compact requires CSKT to relinquish thousands of off-reservation water rights claims, the final agreement received broad support from both the tribes and many of the non-Native water users who rely on rivers that flow through tribal lands in Montana.

According to attorneys involved in the negotiations, the $1.9 billion being put into trust represents the largest amount ever awarded to a tribe as part of a water rights settlement.

“Our elders continually remind us to protect our water and this day marks the beginning of the water compact implementation that will protect the water for all generations to come,” CSKT Chairwoman Shelly R. Fyant said in a prepared statement. “The many people who worked on this, especially those who are no longer with us, I’d like to honor them for their efforts allowing us to reach this point. They were all instrumental in realizing this long-awaited vision.”

Read the full article about the water rights settlement by Mark Armao at Grist.