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Centennial Valley Association Drought Outreach Plan 2019

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Centennial Valley Association Drought Outreach Plan 2019 Centennial Valley Association PO Box 240077 Dell, MT 59724 715-681-0795 Centennial Valley Association Drought Outreach Plan View of Red Rock River from Stibal Lane – Centennial Valley, Montana. 2019 Prepared by the Centennial Valley Association Funding provided in part by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and Bureau of Reclamation 1 | P a g e 2019 Content is property of the Centennial Valley Association. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission. Centennial Valley Association – Drought Outreach Plan Table of Contents A. What is Drought? Community Definition ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Purpose of Plan ............................................................................................................................................ 3 B. Centennial Watershed Background Geography ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Land and Water Use (Historical, Current, and Future) ................................................................................... 6 Climate/Precipitation ..................................................................................................................................... 9 C. Development CVA Background ......................................................................................................................................... 12 What can CVA bring to the community regarding drought? ......................................................................... 13 Drought Planning into the Future .................................................................................................................. 13 D. Stakeholders Stakeholders of the Centennial Valley ......................................................................................................... 14 The Role of Stakeholders ............................................................................................................................ 14 Communication with Stakeholders .............................................................................................................. 14 E. Drought Monitoring Current Infrastructure .................................................................................................................................. 14 Needed Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................. 15 Monitoring Plan ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Sharing Data with Stakeholders .................................................................................................................. 17 F. Vulnerability Assessment ......................................................................................................................... 18 G. Mitigation Strategies Mitigation Actions ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Existing Plans to Assist with Mitigation Strategies ....................................................................................... 19 Centennial Valley Association Mitigation Strategies .................................................................................... 20 H. Response Actions .................................................................................................................................... 21 I. Update Process .......................................................................................................................................... 22 J. Links, References, Supplemental Data, and Relevant Publications ..................................................... 22 2 | P a g e 2019 Content is property of the Centennial Valley Association. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission. Centennial Valley Association – Drought Outreach Plan A. What is Drought? Community Drought Definition Drought is a natural part of Montana’s climate and is predicted to be exacerbated with rising temperatures1. Drought periods are predicted to increase globally both in frequency and intensity in the future. However, defining drought is not always an upfront and straightforward process. There are many different parameters that ecologists look at when defining drought, such as reduced precipitation, low soil moisture, or reduced streamflow. There are also a variety of different ‘droughts’ that have been identified, such as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socioeconomical. As defined by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), “A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions that results in water-related problems”2. These problems can range from in the parameters listed above, such as decreased precipitation and declined flows in rivers and streams to water level drop in reservoirs and lakes. Depending on a person’s relationship with water, and particularly water deficiency, a drought can affect everyone differently. Figure 1. The above word cloud depicts the common words The Centennial Valley Association (CVA) sent out a short, repeated in answers from CVA community members from an anonymous drought information survey given by the CVA. four question survey to various community members to understand how they define drought, how it may affect them, and what resources would be most helpful to them. A common theme was found throughout all the answers – drought being related to a shortage or lack of precipitation. Some of the community members stated a lack of irrigating water, some stated a reduced streamflow affecting fisheries, and others talked about a lack of vegetation. This demonstrated to CVA how drought can affect and impact the various community members of the valley differently. Purpose of Plan The topic of drought is an increasingly important topic to the landowners and stakeholders in the Centennial Valley. Due to the valley being primarily an agricultural community, water is an important resource and topic of discussion among landowners. Many landowners have pointed out the lack of resources available in the Centennial landscape that would allow for landowners and other resource managers to make appropriate, effective decisions about water and grazing practices. This is one of the main reasons for constructing this outreach plan. The purpose of developing this plan is to aid the community and implement a forum on drought awareness, education, and information dissemination, install needed hydrological infrastructure, and improve management decisions in the future. This plan will serve as a starting point for drought resources in the Centennial Valley. It will provide background information on the Centennial Valley’s geography, land use history, and climate patterns, the various stakeholders, current and needed monitoring infrastructure, mitigation and response actions, and the plan update process. 3 | P a g e 2019 Content is property of the Centennial Valley Association. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission. Centennial Valley Association – Drought Outreach Plan B. Centennial Valley Watershed Background Geography History of the Evolution of the Centennial Valley The Centennial Valley, a 385,000-acre high-altitude valley, runs east to west and is defined by the Gravelly, Snowcrest, and Madison Mountain Ranges to the north and the Centennial Mountain Range to the south. The east-west orientation of the Centennial Valley, a rarity in the predominantly north-south oriented Rocky Mountains, is responsible for many of the characteristics that define the valley today. As the Earth’s crust moved two million years ago, it passed over the Yellowstone hotspot, which heated and uplifted the crust, forming a minor fault line that now lies on the north side of the Centennial Mountains, within the Centennial Valley. As the millennia passed, the Centennials continued to rise, and the bedrock dropped several thousand Centennial Valley feet, leaving an incredibly Figure 2. The above map shows the Centennial Valley in relation to the Snowcrest, Gravelly, Madison, and deep valley. The mountains Centennial Mountain Ranges. Photo credit: ArcGIS Online. surrounding the Centennial Valley were shaped by glacial erosion, with ten glaciations since the Centennials formed. When the last glaciers receded, the slope of the Centennial Valley caused water to drain to the northeast through a river, the remnants of which can be seen by a string of lakes beginning with Elk Lake and extending to the Madison River Valley. The draining of the valley ended abruptly between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago when a massive landslide northeast of Elk Lake dammed the outlet for the valley. This created Lake Centennial, a massive lake with water levels 60 feet higher than the present levels of Red Rock Lakes. Lake Centennial persisted for thousands of years until a series of shifts in the western geologic fault, at what is now the site of Lima Dam, caused draining that lowered the water to its modern levels of around six feet. Streams flowed into Lake Centennial
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