International St. Mary and Milk Rivers Study Board Progress Report

Study Progress In the 11 months since the study began, the IJC and the Study Board have developed plans for completing the work assigned under the Directive, including standing up various Advisory Groups, actively engaging in extensive public and Indigenous outreach, and identifying and tasking the technical leadership and experts needed to complete the science and engineering studies needed to in. [...] On the Canadian side of the border, the leadership of 2 First Nations has changed since the beginning of the study, and elections will occur in the other 4 First Nations before the study is concluded. [...] The work of the TWGs is being overseen and guided by the Options Formulation and Evaluation Group led by the Alternate Co-Chairs for the study, Malcolm Conly for Canada and Joanna Thamke for the US, aided by the Technical Leads for the study, Bruce Davison (ECCC) and Cheryl Miller (USGS). [...] Data Management Under the leadership of the study’s Technical Leads, a team has been formed to establish a data management policy needed to manage the various data and models being developed by the TWGs to ensure that is available for use by all the TWGs and its preserved and available to the public and possibly the AOs at the end of the study. [...] Next Steps With the workplan for the study written, and most of the moving parts of the study built and in motion, the next steps for the study come down to following through with the plans that have been made, monitoring progress, and providing information to advisory groups, the public, and Indigenous Peoples and receiving feedback for them as the study progresses.