My name is Dalton Pauley and my wife Madi and I live and ranch in Deer Lodge, MT. My family and 4 other ranching families: The Reistads', The Verlanics', The Kelleys', and The Forsons' are being sued by 2 environmental groups, Save the Bull Trout and Alliance for the Wild Rockies. They are weaponizing the Endangered Species Act to shut down our irrigation ditch, with water rights from the 1880s, when the Clark Fork River in Deer Lodge, MT, reaches 90 CFS (around mid-July). The environmental groups are suing for the incidental take of bull trout each year, a violation of the Endangered Species Act, Sections 5 and 9. The environmental groups also want a new diversion and fish screen installed that could cost over a million dollars. The upper 62.8 miles of the Clark Fork River were designated critical habitat for bull trout in 2010 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Montana Fish and Wildlife Service have performed fish counts 2023 and 2024 and have found no bull trout within 30 miles of the West Side Ditch diversion. Along with the 5 private users on the West Side Ditch: The City of Deer Lodge, and a National Historical Site, Grant Kohrs Ranch (GKR) own irrigation shares in WSD. GKR is owned by the Department of Interior. The environmental groups use the Equal Rights to Justice Act to get their litigation fees paid for by the federal government whether they win or lose. This is the second time in 3 years the West Side Ditch has been sued by these environmental groups. The first case was dismissed with prejudice, and West Side Ditch thought we couldn't be sued again. The environmental groups know the private users of the West Side Ditch are not made of money and are dragging litigation out until we are broke. We are in federal court; the judge is the honorable Judge Brian Morris. This litigation is an attack on private water rights and property rights. It is another way for NGOs to push people off the land and destabilize our food system.

It is a precedent-setting case. If environmental groups win, it sets the precedent that NGOs can win on a possibility only. The NGOs will use this case to take other farmers' and ranchers' water in our area and across the state of Montana. There are hundreds of users of water on the Clark Fork River in our area that could potentially be harmed if West Side Ditch loses this case.

In September of 2025, Judge Morris submitted a restraining order against West Side Ditch, and we lost our irrigation water for 2 weeks at a very critical watering stage for our crops.

Alliance for the Wild Rockies sues the federal government 50% of the time related to endangered species. They are a fraudulent group that does not care about the environment; they only sue to make money. The drawn-out litigation has begun to take a toll on the 5 family farms and ranches mentally and financially. Without our water, the family farm and ranch's operations will be unsustainable financially. Our current litigation fees have cost over a quarter million dollars with no end in sight. We need help to fight these radical environmental groups that are destroying the very thing this country was built on: freedom and agriculture.

Currently, West Side Ditch is preparing to move forward with summary judgment; a court date has not been set.