A River on the Mend

| summer 2013 your voice water for clean your A RIVER ON THE MEND 1453187-A.indd 1 6/6/13 12:06 PM PG.1 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sarah Bates President Cindy Poett Vice President Cameron Lawrence Secretary Tim Polich Treasurer Nick Babson Missoula MT Tr e n t B a k e r Missoula MT Beth Brennan Missoula MT Ali Duvall Missoula MT Chris Eyer Stevensville MT S Tim Flynn Anaconda MT NT Paul Moseley Missoula MT URRE Paul Roos Lincoln MT 2 C Beth Schenk Missoula MT Traci Sylte Missoula MT Germaine White St. Ignatius MT SUMMER 2013 STAFF Jill Alban Outreach Director Chris Brick PhD Science Director Andy Fischer Project Manager Barbara Hall Legal Director Karen Knudsen Executive Director Ellie Long Education Coordinator CLARK FORK COALITION 140 S. 4th W., Unit #1 · Missoula, MT 59801 Big Sky Watershed Corps Clara Moulton mail: PO Box 7593 · Missoula, MT 59807 Will McDowell Stream Restoration Director T 406 542 0539 | F 406 542 5632 Pat Ortmeyer Development/Comm Director www.clarkfork.org Maggie Schmidt Ranch Manager Currents is a quarterly publication of the Clark Fork Coalition, a non-profit organization Liz Underwood Dev/Special Events Manager dedicated to protecting and restoring the Clark Jed Whiteley Project Manager Fork watershed. TECHNICAL ADVISORS Find us on Facebook at clarkforkcoalition Matt Clifford, Esq. Follow us on Twitter @clarkfork Jim Kuipers, P.E. Printed on paper that is FSC-certified and contains design = joanna yardley | my-design.net Vicki Watson, PhD 30% recycled content. 1453187-A.indd 2 6/6/13 12:06 PM PG.2 DEAR FRIEND OF CLEAN WATER: ’ve been reminded this spring Dedicated river advocates like these about connections—those that make it possible to pursue the big link people living along the Clark vision of a fully restored river, which I Fork to each other, and those that now requires a major push to clean up link people to their river. the 100+ miles connecting Milltown to Silver Bow. Our 10th annual river cleanup in April drew an astounding 900 volunteers, Getting there will take a lot of effort, including one community member but we are already hard at work re- who described the event as “an watering tributaries to help them antidote” to the despair she felt through another hot summer; training following the horrific attacks at the and deploying our new Volunteer Boston Marathon. River Corps; educating people about the river; and protecting Montana’s A few weeks later, a flotilla of water resources through vigilant celebratory boaters navigated the work at the legislature (big thanks to SUMMER 2013 newly opened Clark Fork-Blackfoot Gov. Bullock for vetoing several bills confluence, toasting the restoration that would have hurt our rivers and now well underway at Milltown. We streams). shared the float with former Coalition C leaders who initiated the dam removal Even as we cultivate new relationships 3 and now continue their work as allies throughout the basin, we treasure URRE in other capacities. I was fortunate to the ones we’ve enjoyed for decades. NT S share a boat with Chuck Erickson, who Sadly, we lost one of our great river owns land adjacent to the restoration champions in March, when Dr. Pat area and is a passionate volunteer Robins passed away. Pat’s leadership working to create a new community of the Coalition board during the park and clean up industrial waste in Milltown campaign was one of his the Blackfoot proudest achievements. near the old Bonner Mill. He We honor Pat’s memory as we push shared with me forward to ensure the best possible his love for the future for our river and its people. river and his gratitude for the hard work that got us here. Sarah Bates, Board President 1453187-A.indd 3 6/6/13 12:06 PM PG.3 MILLTOWN SUPERFUND SITE MISSOULA iver Clark Fork R DRUMMOND k e e r k lackf C B o k e le o c e t t Riv o r it er R C L t in l GARRISON F DEER LODGE War ek m S re prings C ANACONDA BUTTE Silver Bow Cre ek WASHINGTON MONTANA SILVER BOW CREEK OREGON CURRENTS SUPERFUND SITE IDAHO 4 2013 SUMMER CLEANUP BEGINS IN THE UPPER CLARK FORK For 150 years the Clark Fork River has served Montana’s industrial and cultural needs, picking up some pretty nasty scars in the process. It’s taken some prodding - and quite a bit of patience - but after decades of meetings and planning, the money is flowing, dirt is moving, and cleanup is finally beginning on 43 miles of the Upper Clark Fork (UCF) – a rare second chance for a hard-working river. This is a time like no other in the river’s history. In the headwaters, the once-highly contaminated Silver Bow Creek has been restored, and 120 miles downstream, Milltown Dam has been removed and the Blackfoot and Clark Fork are flowing free. Between these two remarkable restoration bookends the Upper Clark Fork is finally getting its turn, as the first tangible steps are taken to bring a river back to life. Let the healing begin. 1453187-A.indd 4 6/6/13 12:06 PM PG.4 MILLTOWN SUPERFUND SITE MISSOULA iver Clark Fork R DRUMMOND k e e r k lackf C B o k e le o c e t t Riv o r it er R C L t n i l GARRISON F WHAT’S NEXT UP: DEER LODGE HAPPENING Dry Cottonwood NOW: Cleanup Creek Ranch Near Warm Springs ry Cottonwood Creek Ranch is a working cattle ranch located at the upper end k Warm ree hase I of the cleanup started in early 2013 S pr s C of the Superfund cleanup zone that ing on a state-owned 1.6-mile stretch of river contains heavily contaminated floodplain ANACONDA downstream of Warm Springs that’s highly D soils. The Coalition and its partners purchased the contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, SUMMER 2013 BUTTE P ranch in 2005 as a learning site that would allow us to Sil copper, lead, and zinc. Cleanup at this site will ver Bow C experiment with restoration techniques and figure re ek continue through early 2014 and entails: WASHINGTON MONTANA out how to do cleanup on a working ranch in a way SILVER BOW CREEK • Removing contaminated soils from the river’s that minimizes short-term impacts and maximizes OREGON SUPERFUND SITE C IDAHO streambanks and floodplain (excavated long-term gains. 5 material will go to the BP-ARCO repository URRE Why is that so important? Because this complex, in Opportunity, where it will be capped and large-scale Superfund cleanup is occurring in one of NT revegetated). S Montana’s most important agricultural valleys, where • Replacing soils with clean sediment. lives and livelihoods are inextricably linked to land • Lowering the floodplain and reconnecting it and water resources. With much of the restoration with the river and the water table, allowing for activity taking place on working ranches, cleanup must lush growth of native willows. be carried out in a way that works with agriculture, not against it. Here’s what’s in store for the ranch: • Removing and rebuilding highly-contaminated CLEANUP BY THE sections of riverbank NUMBERS • Backfilling excavated sections with native $123 million floodplain material from elsewhere on the in cleanup funds ranch, and restoring the “borrow” areas as wetlands. 56 miles of river • Making necessary adjustments to keep 900 acres the agricultural operation running during of floodplain and after cleanup, such as moving fencing, realigning ditches, and providing off-site 10-12 water for cattle. years of cleanup Once cleanup is underway, the Coalition will host 1 RIVER, ON THE MEND tours of the ranch for Deer Lodge ranchers and residents to share restoration techniques and lessons learned. 1453187-A.indd 5 6/6/13 12:06 PM PG.5 FROM HEALING TO WELLNESS: A HEALTHY WATERSHED NEEDS MORE THAN CLEANUP emoving heavy metals and other toxic nutrient concentrations, and decreased dissolved contaminants from streambanks and oxygen; harm to fish and aquatic life, including fish floodplains is critical to healing the Clark being stranded in hot, stagnant pools; and reduced R Fork. But we also need to ensure it is resiliency as creeks are severed from their mainstems healthy, whole, and resilient for the long haul. From and riparian habitat is starved for moisture. destabilized streambanks to loss of floodplain Fortunately, a lot can be done to rewater thirsty connectivity, the Clark Fork streams, such as improving and its 28,000 miles of irrigation to reduce water tributaries face a number of More than 900 miles of loss and increase efficiency, historic and emerging threats. streams in the Clark Fork enhancing natural water The Coalition is working basin suffer from low storage in headwaters, and to address many of these flows or even dry up compensating water users issues, one of which is chronic for leaving water in-stream and seasonal dewatering of completely each summer instead of irrigating. S creeks and streams. More NT The common thread through than 900 miles of waterways URRE these strategies is in the Clark Fork basin suffer from low flows or even private landowners, who own the majority of land through which dewatered 6 dry up completely in the late summer and fall due C to lack of snowpack, early run-off, hotter summers, creeks and streams flow. The Coalition works hand- inefficient irrigation, and over-allocation of water in-hand with landowners and water users across rights (when more water can be removed from creeks the basin, currently managing 18 projects that than is actually available).

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