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River News & Brews: When the Berm FailsTuesday, June 18 | 6-7:30pm | Alberton Community Center RSVP HERE The only thing separating the Clark Fork River from ill-constructed holding ponds brimming with toxic waste at the abandoned Smurfit-Stone pulp mill site is a shoddy, permeable berm that stretches on for four miles. If that berm failed,… -
Karen Knudsen’s Retirement Bash: Celebrating 31 Years of “YES!”Thursday, May 16 · 5 – 10pm MDT Live music, local food trucks, drinks, and an introduction to incoming Executive Director, Brian Chaffin! RSVP HERE Join us in celebrating this extraordinary leader and human as she journeys beyond a career marked by positive impact, deep personal connections, and saying YES!… -
Meet CFC’s new Executive Director!After an intensive and thoughtful candidate search, we are beyond thrilled to announce that CFC staff and board have appointed Dr. Brian Chaffin as the new Executive Director of the Clark Fork Coalition, succeeding current Executive Director Karen Knudsen after her 17 years at the helm and 31 at the… -
Deer Lodge Community Deserves a Safe & Clean Arrowstone ParkAs advocates for the Clark Fork River and the communities that it supports, we believe that the ongoing Superfund work in the headwaters represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for cleanup and restoration. While we might occasionally disagree with decision makers about how cleanup should be accomplished, there are a few underlying… -
A New Season for Clark Fork CoalitionDear Friends, Organizations are a lot like rivers. They don’t stand still. They move and shift. They cut new channels. They have seasonal flows. As the Clark Fork River went about its summer business of moving snowmelt through western Montana, the Clark Fork Coalition (CFC) was busy with its own… -
Public Comments Open on Upper Clark Fork Strategic PlanThe State of Montana’s Superfund cleanup of legacy mining pollution from the upper Clark Fork River corridor – between Warm Springs Creek and Garrison – has been underway for 13 years. In that time, the State has removed metals-laced soils from roughly 14 of the project’s 47 river miles and… -
Peak Snow Water Equivalent SeasonHappy peak SWE (snow water equivalent) season! For those of us who really like to nerd out on the climate data, this time of year is always exciting. Most mountainous locations in western Montana experience peak levels of snowpack accumulation anywhere from mid-March through mid-May (largely dependent on elevation) but… -
Commissioners weaken selenium standardby David Brooks, executive Director, Montana Trout Unlimited; Andrew Gorder, legal director, Clark Fork Coalition; Ellie Hudson-Heck, conservation assistant, Idaho Conservation League; Derf Johnson, Clean Water Program director and staff attorney, Montana Environmental Information Center Commissioners not telling the truth about selenium standard As the adage goes: everyone is entitled… -
Clark Fork Litter Is a Global Issueby Sam Dwyer I’ve spent 94.9% of my life in Montana, but a few years ago I had an opportunity to work at an international school in the Middle East. When I moved to Oman, one of the most striking cultural differences wasn’t the Arabic language or the abayas—there… -
Upper Clark Fork Diversion Dam Removal ProjectAbove: Alvi-Beck site in October 2021 after installation of rock riffle diversion and… -
Gianforte’s Refusal to Enforce Bad Actor Law Is Dead Wrong for MontanansGUEST OPINION by Jeffrey Stiffarm, Kathi Slora, Jim Nash, Dave Lyman, and Debbie Lyman After we read Jerry Bennett’s recent guest opinion, “Montana DEQ did the right thing on Hecla mining proposal” (Helena Independent Record, Dec. 7, 2021), we couldn’t help but wonder, “right for whom?” The Department of Environmental… -
Keep Our Rivers Clean, Not GreenNutrient Pollution in Waterways Set to Worsen Click for enlarged view and links. You might remember that around this time last year we asked for your help in fighting legislation that would abandon longstanding science-based and data-driven methods of preventing…