Big Hole River, Montana Watershed Restoration Plan Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole Watershed Produced by: Big Hole Watershed Committee November 1, 2012 Big Hole Watershed Committee PO Box 21 Divide, Montana 59727 website: bhwc.org Produced with Funds and Support from: Montana Department of Environmental Quality 319 Program Helena, Montana Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed Page | 2 Table of Contents Tables ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Figures ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 Project Area .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Purpose ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Watershed Restoration Planning ................................................................................................................ 11 The Big Hole Watershed Committee .......................................................................................................... 12 Vision ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Watershed Characterization ....................................................................................................................... 14 Sensitive Species ..................................................................................................................................... 17 The Fluvial Arctic Grayling and the CCAA Program ............................................................................. 17 Westslope Cutthroat Trout ................................................................................................................. 18 Lake Trout ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Western Toad ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Western Pearlshell Mussel .................................................................................................................. 19 Section I: What is the Problem? .................................................................................................................. 20 Causes of Impairment in the Upper Big Hole Watershed ........................................................................... 20 Section II. Who Determines Water Quality Issues? .................................................................................... 21 Water Quality: Montana Department of Environmental Quality ........................................................... 21 USFS Beaverhead - Deer Lodge Forest Plan ............................................................................................ 23 Bureau of Land Management - Upper Big Hole Watershed Assessment ............................................... 27 CCAA Program ......................................................................................................................................... 31 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks ........................................................................................................... 33 Big Hole Watershed Committee ............................................................................................................. 34 Section III: What Should the Watershed Look Like? ................................................................................... 36 Water Quality Goals & Priorities ................................................................................................................. 36 Blended Watershed Restoration Goals ................................................................................................... 36 Section IV: How Will We Get There? .......................................................................................................... 41 Road Map to Watershed Restoration ......................................................................................................... 41 Plan & Research ...................................................................................................................................... 42 Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed Page | 3 Educate ................................................................................................................................................... 45 Restore .................................................................................................................................................... 47 Preserve & Protect .................................................................................................................................. 50 Partner .................................................................................................................................................... 52 Partners ....................................................................................................................................................... 53 Best Management Practices ....................................................................................................................... 55 Section V: How Will We Know When We Arrive? ....................................................................................... 58 Section VI: Discussion, Recommendations & Review ................................................................................. 61 Sub-Watershed Summaries ........................................................................................................................ 62 Upper Big Hole Watershed - Whole ........................................................................................................ 64 Governor Creek ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Warm Springs Creek ................................................................................................................................ 66 Big Hole Headwaters ............................................................................................................................... 67 Big Hole River - Wisdom.......................................................................................................................... 68 North Fork Big Hole River........................................................................................................................ 70 Squaw Creek ........................................................................................................................................... 72 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 73 Appendix ........................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Resources .................................................................................................................................................... 75 Link Addresses......................................................................................................................................... 76 Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed Page | 4 Tables Table 1: Watershed Characterization ......................................................................................................... 14 Table 2: Sub-watersheds, 303d listed streams, and their impairment sources. See Table 11 for details. See Figure 3 for map. See page 63 for sub-watershed summaries. ........................................................... 15 Table 3: Other sensitive species (Montana Field Guide) ............................................................................ 19 Table 4: Water quality impairments, causes, and remedies in the Big Hole River watershed. See Table 5 for detailed impairments by sub watershed and stream. Source: (Montana DEQ, June 2009) ................. 20 Table 5: Summary of Upper Big Hole watershed impairments and their sources as stated in the TMDL (Montana DEQ, June 2009) ......................................................................................................................... 21 Table 6: TMDL Target Summary .................................................................................................................. 22 Table 7: USFS Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest Plan - Resource Categories. Each category lists goals, objectives and standards. (US Forest Service, 2009) .......................................................................