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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…
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…
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…
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…
Community Science Monitoring Miller Creek

On Miller Creek, community science volunteers assessed habitat, noxious weeds, and riparian vegetation species diversity pre- and post stream restoration at two sites. Community science is scientific work undertaken by members of the public in collaboration with professional scientists and scientific institutions. When community members and scientists work together, scientists are…
Grant Creek Restoration

With new, intensive development happening along its lower reaches, the future of Grant Creek depends on community investment in the creek’s rich cultural and ecological functions before it’s too late. Right now, we have an amazing opportunity for holistic, headwaters-to-…
West Fork Lee Creek Road Decommissioning and Fish Passage
Granite Creek Restoration

To improve fish passage and reduce chronic stream sedimentation, we upgraded eight undersized culverts along Granite Creek Road. We also installed wood jams in the creek and reclaimed more than ten miles of unneeded forest roads. These projects decrease sedimentation, improve habitat connectivity, and increase the number of fish living…
East Fork Lolo Creek Restoration

On the East Fork Lolo Creek, we installed wood jams into the stream to create complex aquatic habitat and help filter and trap sediment. We also re-naturalized unused forest roads to decrease sources of sediment washing into the stream. Clark Fork Coalition has worked in the Upper Lolo watershed since…
Lolo Ditch Fish Screen

In 2020, CFC completed installation of a fish screen on Lolo Ditch, which, before this project, had trapped 10,000 fish each year, greatly impacting native and wild fish populations.
Milltown Dam Removal

For 100 years, Milltown Dam blocked the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers near Missoula, trapping toxic sediments that washed down from mines in Butte and contaminating local drinking water wells. Now, the dam is out, the mining waste is gone, fish can swim back upstream, and two mighty…