Extension Granted to International Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed Study Board

WASHINGTON and OTTAWA, ON, April 14, 2026 /CNW/ -- On March 8, 2024, the Governments of Canada and the United States provided a Reference that incorporates a proposal developed in partnership with the Ktunaxa Nation to the International Joint Commission (IJC), under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, requesting the IJC undertake certain actions regarding the impact of transboundary water pollution in the Elk-Kootenai/y watershed. One of the actions was to establish a study board comprised of experts and knowledge holders that would conduct and synthesize transparent and coordinated transboundary knowledge sharing. The International Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed Study Board (Study Board) has received an extension to the date by which it must submit its final report and recommendations to the IJC exploring the impacts of water pollution in the Kootenai/y watershed. 

The extension ensures adequate time for the Study Board and its technical working groups to complete a synthesis of water quality and ecosystem health in the watershed. The extension was necessary to offset critical time lost during the United States federal government shutdown and the province of British Columbia government labour action in late 2025.

With the extension granted, the Study Board will submit its final report and recommendations to the IJC on December 9, 2026. As the Study Board continues its synthesis of available information, there will be opportunities for the pubic to engage via public events and a consultation period on the study's final report. 

The IJC will review the final recommendations of the Study Board and hold additional public hearings and stakeholder engagements in the basin before finalizing its recommendations to governments for their consideration.

Quick Facts

• The Elk-Kootenai/y Reference, the Proposal, and the establishment of the Study Board are the result of many conversations and cooperative initiatives involving U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, provincial, state and Indigenous governments, and stakeholders regarding the impacts of pollution in the watershed.
• This is a historic moment for Canada-United States transboundary relations as it represents the first time that Indigenous Peoples have played a key role in the development of a reference to the IJC under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.
• 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-U.S. 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.

Links

• Reference | International Joint Commission
• Trilateral Elk-Kootenai Scope, IJC Proposal
• Study Board | International Joint Commission
• Interim Status Report | International Elk-Kootenai/y Watershed Study Board

Contacts:
Jasmine Jarjour, Director of Policy and Communications, Canadian Section
Ed Virden, Public Affairs Officer, US Section
[email protected]

SOURCE International Joint Commission