Water Quality Initiative Created for Stillwater Community

JULY 8, 2021
Article courtesy of Brett French, Billings Gazette Outdoor Editor, Published by Billings Gazette
The Stillwater River nourishes residents and visitors, and now that water, essential to so many lives, is being regularly sampled to monitor its health. “It is about raising awareness and making folks in this watershed realize that it will be up to residents to take ownership,” said retired hydrologist and Absarokee resident Tom Osborne. Osborne pitched his services to the SVWC to lead the project, which also includes monitoring two main tributaries to the river, Rosebud and Butcher creeks.
“It fits neatly with their goals,” Osborne said, and “Monitoring ambient water quality is like doing a checkup of yourself,” which after two years of data will provide a baseline. Such programs improve “the local ability to understand where and what activities could help restore or protect water quality in their area,” said Darrin Kron, Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Section supervisor for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
Locally
Osborne’s partners have a deep interest in water. The SVWC was formed in 2010, expanding a weed management organization in the upper watershed valley. Building on the success of that work, the council added water quality, forest health, soil enhancement and education efforts to its agenda.
Lindsey Clark, coordinator of the council, said some landowners were suspicious of Osborne’s intentions at first. “Water can be war,” she explained, especially in years of low flows like this one. Clark is one of the volunteers helping Osborne collect water samples. She has enjoyed seeing the streamflow changes from month to month and learning more about what the sampling will reveal.
Grants
The MT DNRC and DEQ are helping fund the monitoring, providing lab assistants and paying for testing costs, thus far. Those tests can be pricey, running about $9,000 a year for samples taken from nine stations each month. “This initiative really helps many water quality programs in the state do more with the funding we have collectively,” Kron said. The Stillwater water quality program is not unique. Through partial funding from DEQ, eight other groups monitor water quality on streams across the state. On the Stillwater River, Stillwater Mining Co. also conducts monitoring for point source pollution.
Anglers
The Billings Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU), dubbed the Magic City Fly Fishers, and their state organization, Montana Trout Unlimited, also stepped up to help with funding the program and providing volunteers to help conduct sampling. Lyle Courtnage, president of the Magic City Fly Fishers, has fished the Stillwater for at least 20 years. His group sees the water monitoring project as a way to not only give back to the resource, but also to build relationships with landowners and other river stakeholders. Courtnage said there tends to be a lack of knowledge about trout streams west of the Continental Divide, the monitoring may help fill that void. “As people really understand what’s going on, it will be easier to mobilize support down the road,” Courtnage added. “From a TU perspective, we want people to think about watersheds, and what’s the overall health of a watershed.”
Personal
The water quality monitoring is a way for Osborne to give back to a resource in which he’s long been interested in, invested in and immersed. “For me it’s a legacy thing,” he said. “I’d love to leave the watershed better off.” That’s especially important to Osborne because his grandchildren now recreate on the river, propelling their stand-up paddle boards down the stream.
Article courtesy of Brett French, Billings Gazette Outdoor Editor, Published by Billings Gazette
The Stillwater River nourishes residents and visitors, and now that water, essential to so many lives, is being regularly sampled to monitor its health. “It is about raising awareness and making folks in this watershed realize that it will be up to residents to take ownership,” said retired hydrologist and Absarokee resident Tom Osborne. Osborne pitched his services to the SVWC to lead the project, which also includes monitoring two main tributaries to the river, Rosebud and Butcher creeks.
“It fits neatly with their goals,” Osborne said, and “Monitoring ambient water quality is like doing a checkup of yourself,” which after two years of data will provide a baseline. Such programs improve “the local ability to understand where and what activities could help restore or protect water quality in their area,” said Darrin Kron, Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Section supervisor for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
Locally
Osborne’s partners have a deep interest in water. The SVWC was formed in 2010, expanding a weed management organization in the upper watershed valley. Building on the success of that work, the council added water quality, forest health, soil enhancement and education efforts to its agenda.
Lindsey Clark, coordinator of the council, said some landowners were suspicious of Osborne’s intentions at first. “Water can be war,” she explained, especially in years of low flows like this one. Clark is one of the volunteers helping Osborne collect water samples. She has enjoyed seeing the streamflow changes from month to month and learning more about what the sampling will reveal.
Grants
The MT DNRC and DEQ are helping fund the monitoring, providing lab assistants and paying for testing costs, thus far. Those tests can be pricey, running about $9,000 a year for samples taken from nine stations each month. “This initiative really helps many water quality programs in the state do more with the funding we have collectively,” Kron said. The Stillwater water quality program is not unique. Through partial funding from DEQ, eight other groups monitor water quality on streams across the state. On the Stillwater River, Stillwater Mining Co. also conducts monitoring for point source pollution.
Anglers
The Billings Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU), dubbed the Magic City Fly Fishers, and their state organization, Montana Trout Unlimited, also stepped up to help with funding the program and providing volunteers to help conduct sampling. Lyle Courtnage, president of the Magic City Fly Fishers, has fished the Stillwater for at least 20 years. His group sees the water monitoring project as a way to not only give back to the resource, but also to build relationships with landowners and other river stakeholders. Courtnage said there tends to be a lack of knowledge about trout streams west of the Continental Divide, the monitoring may help fill that void. “As people really understand what’s going on, it will be easier to mobilize support down the road,” Courtnage added. “From a TU perspective, we want people to think about watersheds, and what’s the overall health of a watershed.”
Personal
The water quality monitoring is a way for Osborne to give back to a resource in which he’s long been interested in, invested in and immersed. “For me it’s a legacy thing,” he said. “I’d love to leave the watershed better off.” That’s especially important to Osborne because his grandchildren now recreate on the river, propelling their stand-up paddle boards down the stream.