Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi.

Formed by glacial retreat, the lake sustained Native American tribes for millennia, including the Séliš, Ql̓ispé, and Ksanka people.

The name Flathead is an early European misinterpretation of tribal identity. The lake and the water flowing south out of the lake are on lands reserved to the tribes:

25 miles south of the lake the community of St. Ignatius, founded in 1854 and containing complicated history of white settlements in Montana, lies at the floor of the Mission Mountains. Heading north on highway 93 you will see this view:

North of Flathead Lake, Discovery Land Company – a joint owner of the Yellowstone Club – is developing a luxury golf course and resort on the lake.

Discovery Land Company markets “Flathead Lake, Montana Territory 1889 Golf & Lake Club” as “this mountain-meets-lake retreat” that is “as timeless as it is unspoiled.”

The Yellowstone Club of Flathead Lake includes 359 single-family residential lots and seven commercial lots on 1,700 acres. Wastewater will be treated by Lakeside Water and Sewer District. Road access will be off two separate Highway 93 points.

In addition to luxury homes, the amenity lots include restaurants, clubhouses, a spa, fitness areas, offices, retail stores and maintenance facilities along with open space totaling 864 acres. The development includes a 15-acre lake club and a private marina to provide lake access for its members.

The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2026.

The Flathead Lake Club mirrors the high-end, private club model that Discovery Land Company perfected with Yellowstone Club and other properties like Iron Horse Golf Club in Whitefish and Crazy Mountain Ranch in Shields Valley. Like those other developments, Flathead Lake Club presents problems:

Waste

• In 2016 the Yellowstone Club was fined for discharging 30 million gallons of treated wastewater into the Gallatin River due to infrastructure failures.
• In 2025 Citizens for a Better Flathead and the CSKT filed a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality challenging issuance of a groundwater discharge permit to Lakeside County Water and Sewer District.

Water

• The Yellowstone Club’s development in the Crazies is illegally using water to develop it’s luxury golf course.
• The Flathead Lake Club’s proposed golf course and dense residential units raise concerns about water availability, stormwater runoff, and the capacity of the Lakeside County Water and Sewer District. The District’s current struggles with aging infrastructure and proposed rate hikes become even more contentious when a large, exclusive development plans to connect, potentially reserving significant capacity for itself.

Use of Flathead Lake water includes the operation of the Séliš Ksanka Ql̓ispé Dam. Built between 1930 and 1938 by the Montana Power Company (originally Rocky Mountain Power), and then operated by various private entities, the dam fundamentally altered the lake’s hydrology.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes bought the dam in 2015 from Northwestern Energy, a privately held investor owned utility, becoming the first Native American tribes to own and operate a major hydropower facility, a significant reclamation of sovereignty and resource control. The dam is operated by the Energy Keepers.

In 2023, drought and low water flows made it difficult to use private boat docks. John Hines, Vice President of Supply at NorthWestern Energy with an annual salary of close to a million dollars, filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concerning the operation of the Séliš Ksanka Ql̓ispé Dam. FERC found that Energy Keepers fully complied with their license.

In 2025, Lake and Flathead County are again facing severe drought conditions. Projections show Flathead Lake could be nearly three feet below its full summer pool by the end of August.

When the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam was constructed in 1930, it raised the lake by ten feet. Communities like Lakeside, shaped by logging and farming, and St. Ignatius, shaped by missionaries, did not fall out of the sky onto a blank slate.

As we face questions like:

• Whether anyone is entitled to have Flathead Lake held at a certain level;
• Whether barefoot golfing is a priority; and,
• Who pays for wastewater,

we will do well to remember the long history of these lands, and the resources they have provided for generations and generations of people.

All together.