Watershed Restoration Coalition – Upper Clark Fork River Streamflow Group

History

Since 2021 the Watershed Restoration Coalition has participated in and provided support for the Upper Clark Fork River Streamflow Group which acts as a Technical Advisory Committee to the WRC Board of Directors. In fall 2021, In 2021 the Natural Resource Damage Program RDP contracted with a professional facilitator (Chaffin 2021, 2024) to support the request by the WRC to convene a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss potential pathways for improved use and management of water resources in the upper Clark Fork River Basin (Headwaters in silver Bow County to Granite County line). This group is the WRC’s Technical Advisory Committee for project planning & implementation in the area of interest. Initially, the group consistent of staff from NRDP, FWP, DNRC, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe, CFC, WRC (applicant), Trout Unlimited, and the Atlantic Richfield Corporation, as well as individual producers and irrigators working in the UCFRB. Since its inception the streamflow group has added interested stakeholder groups, including representatives from Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, the University of Montana (UM), Montana Tech, and various consulting firms working on watershed restoration projects in the basin.
The group (hereafter “Streamflow Group”) has subsequently met every other month since the first meeting. In 2021 the group underwent a facilitated visioning exercise to determine if there was potential for a collaborative path or process forward toward flow restoration in the UCFRB.

The group agreed in principle that:
1) there is a clear need to augment flow in the UCFRB mainstem river to restore aquatic habitat, specifically during the late summer season and during times of drought.
2) legal water rights should be respected, and water rights holders should be clearly represented in any plan to augment streamflow; and
3) there are likely better ways of addressing water use and streamflow challenges than have been pursued in the past, including opportunities to act on mutual goals and achieve shared benefits. This initial agreement set the stage for the group to agree upon a shared mission and a set of objectives.

Upper Clark Fork River Streamflow Group Mission:

To pursue solutions that support and balance the water needs of the Upper Clark Fork River watershed communities.

Upper Clark Fork River Streamflow Group Objectives:

1) build a clear, collective understanding of the water use and streamflow challenges (including supply and demand) in the Upper Clark Fork River.
2) share information about ongoing activities pursued by participants to address water use and challenges.

WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program Phase I Project:

In 2024 the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) funded the WRC, WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program Phase I Project grant request for the Upper Clark Fork Watershed Restoration Plan Development Project. The Upper Clark Fork Restoration Plan Development Project provides the support required for the streamflow Group to coordinate the development of an updated restoration plan for the Upper Clark Fork River Basin from the headwaters of the Clark Fork River in Silver Bow County to the Granite County line. The proposed planning area is covered by the WRC and is the most extensive area of dewatering and water temperature issues in Clark Fork Basin. In 2024 Heather Stokes of the Director of the University of Montana Center for Natural Resource and Environmental Policy became the Flow Groups facilitator.

Watershed Restoration Planning Activities include:

Completing a Watershed restoration plan, updating an existing restoration plan
Developing general watershed management project concepts to identify and prioritize watershed management projects
Interviewing watershed group members and stakeholders to gain an idea of projects that would improve the watershed.
Working with watershed group members, landowners, federal agencies, and state or local governments to determine how the watershed can be improved.