Sager Lane Pin & Plank Diversion Removal Restoring Flow and Fish Passage at Sager Lane In September 2024, we began work to remove a century-old “pin and plank” irrigation… Stream Restoration Water Management Adequate Flow Ecosystem Health Vulnerable Wildlife Recreation Upper Clark Fork
Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch Cattle and Clean Water at Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch From 2005 to 2021, Clark Fork Coalition and partners ran Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch (DCCR), a 2,300-acre working cattle ranch in Montana’s Deer Lodge Valley, to be a living classroom for the largest river repair job in the West, located in… Stream Restoration Superfund Vigilance Water Management Research Education Pollution Ecosystem Health Upper Clark Fork
Cottonwood-Baggs Fish Passage In the late fall of 2019, the Coalition finished a stream reconnection project on Baggs Creek and Cottonwood Creek in the upper Clark Fork. Eight miles of stream was opened to fish passage for the first time in many decades. Cottonwood Creek also benefited from a large… Stream Restoration Water Management Wildlife Coexistence Adequate Flow Ecosystem Health Vulnerable Wildlife Upper Clark Fork
Valiton Ditch Split Season Lease In summer 2024, after years of work toward a diversion reduction agreement and a 20-year split-season water lease agreement with local landowners, we successfully decommissioned the Valiton Ditch and legally protected 13 cfs of new instream flow water in the Clark Fork River which would have been previously diverted into… Water Management Water Monitoring Adequate Flow Flood and Drought Climate Change Ecosystem Health Vulnerable Wildlife Upper Clark Fork
Broken Circle Diversion Upgrade Historically, Broken Circle Ranch rebuilt their irrigation diversion every summer using broken concrete and streambed material, which resulted in passage issues for fish and recreationists. In 2023, the ranch worked with the Coalition to install an innovative floating fish screen and river pump that requires minimal structure in the river… Stream Restoration Water Management Adequate Flow Climate Change Ecosystem Health Vulnerable Wildlife Recreation Upper Clark Fork
Helen-Johnson Ditch Project The Helen Johnson project reduced irrigation withdrawals from the mainstem of the Upper Clark Fork by over 15 cfs on three ranches. It removed a… Stream Restoration Water Management Adequate Flow Ecosystem Health Upper Clark Fork
Exempt Wells Loophole In 1973, the Montana Legislature passed the Water Use Act, which created a process for permitting new water rights. To reduce permitting burdens on small, individual users, it exempted groundwater use for “domestic, agricultural, or livestock purposes.” This meant applicants did not have to prove that the water was physically… Advocacy Adequate Flow Ecosystem Health Growth and Sprawl Upper Clark Fork Bitterroot Middle Clark Fork Blackfoot Flathead Lower Clark Fork
In-stream Sediment Sampling 2022 In partnership with Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Natural Resources Damage Program, and the University of Montana – Western, we measured the amount of sediment in streams along several reaches of the Upper Clark Fork River. Students collected over 70 in-stream sediment samples to see if sediment levels affect trout… Superfund Vigilance Research Education Pollution Upper Clark Fork
Thermal Mapping of the Upper Clark Professor Raja Nagisetty and environmental engineering graduate student Meggie Olsen at Montana Tech, along with several other collaborators, completed a series of drone flights on the upper Clark Fork River to study thermal refugia habitat. Professor Raja and his team documented an unremediated reach of the Upper Clark Fork… Superfund Vigilance Education Research Climate Change Ecosystem Health Pollution Upper Clark Fork
Assessments of Geomorphology and Macroinvertebrate Diversity The CFC has coordinated data collection efforts with Professor Rob Thomas at UM Western annually since 2019. Over that period, Rob’s students have focused on a variety of studies in the UCF OU from assessments of geomorphology and macroinvertebrate diversity on both remediated and unremedied phases, to a study examining… Superfund Vigilance Research Education Pollution Ecosystem Health Upper Clark Fork
Slickens Assessments in the Upper Clark Fork The CFC coordinated with Fish, Wildlife & Parks to complete a hazard assessment of the remaining slickens in Reach A of the Upper Clark Fork Superfund Operable Unit. In the summer of 2019, over 170 individual slickens were assessed and mapped for hazards related to surface runoff and channel avulsion… Superfund Vigilance Research Pollution Ecosystem Health Upper Clark Fork
