The Clark Fork Coalition, Missoula, Montana

by  Will McDowell, Stream Restoration Director, Clark Fork Coalition

The Clark Fork Coalition is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to “protect and restore the Clark Fork watershed” in western Montana.   Since 1985 the Clark Fork Coalition has worked to fulfill this mission through a combination of advocacy, education, and on-the-ground restoration. The Coalition uses science-based, community-focused approach to ensure the waters of the basin flow clean, cold, and reliable for all water users are restored from past harms, and are resilient in the face of new threats and challenges.

 

Our 14-member staff works basin-wide, with offices in Missoula and Deer Lodge, sustained by some 3,000 supporters, and guided by a 15-member board of directors. Our key accomplishments include:

 

  • Spearheading the advocacy for removal of Milltown Dam and millions of tons of mining contamination behind it, and supporting our State agencies in restoring the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork River. The dam was removed in 2008, restoration of the reservoir was accomplished by 2010, and the former waste site is now a State Park.
  • Successfully advocating to the State to secure settlement and restoration funds of nearly $300 million to clean up toxic mine wastes and restore 56 river miles in the heavily-polluted headwaters of the Clark Fork basin—the largest Superfund site in the nation;
  • Purchased a working cattle ranch and pioneering successful Superfund cleanup of Clark Fork River floodplain mine waste on our ranch in the Deer Lodge Valley, which is providing a crucial roadmap for other agricultural producers in the valley whose properties will subsequently undergo large-scale Superfund cleanup;
  • Developing a tributary restoration program which has rewatered, reconnected and restored eight tributary streams to the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers, using in-stream flow deals, irrigation improvements, new fish passage structures, and riparian habitat protection.
  • Negotiating, monitoring, and managing 22 in-stream flow deals in the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Blackfoot drainages, including a variety of innovative practices which rewater small streams, and improve cold-water habitat for native fish, sport fisheries and other aquatic life;
  • Winning key legal victories in Montana that protect clean water and prevent watershed degradation and unsustainable practices in the land development and mining industry.
  • Creating standards- and science-based watershed education and volunteer programs that engages 2,000 youth and adults each year in active learning and care of their rivers.

 

Over the past 32 years the Clark Fork Coalition has established a solid record of achievement that has earned us respect within communities and among agencies, partners, and decision-makers. We have a clear, strategic vision for a restored and healthy watershed and a strong credibility based on a record of successful actions.

 

CLARK FORK RIVER WATERSHED

  • 14 million acres (22,000 sq. miles)
  • Headwaters of the Columbia River in Montana
  • 28,000 miles of tributaries
  • 350,000 watershed residents

 

CFC RESTORATION EXAMPLES:

Since 2010, the Coalition has brokered seven in-stream flow deals in the Upper Clark Fork watershed, which have increased flow in dewatered segments of the Clark Fork and its tributaries above Deer Lodge (see map above).  Our field staff monitor and manage this water carefully to assure that the flow actually makes it to the stream, and delivers ecological benefits. We not only monitor flows, but water temperature, habitat quality, and fish populations in these reaches.

 

 

 

The Lost Horse Creek project pictured above illustrates a stream reach which was formerly dry every summer near its confluence with the Bitterroot River south of Hamilton, Montana. A large siphon was installed in 2015 to pass river canal water under the stream, obviating the need to divert the entire stream into the ditch, as had been the case for 100 years.  The Irrigation District signed a long-term agreement with the CFC to allow a certain flow to pass downstream and reconnect the tributary to the Bitterroot.

The Coalition purchased the 2,400 acre Dry Cottonwood Creek Ranch in 2005 with the vision of promoting a Superfund clean-up success on a private working ranch. In 2014-2016 the State of Montana successfully cleaned up and restored 150 acres of floodplain and reconnected two tributaries on the Ranch.  The CFC continues to manage the Ranch for conservation/restoration.

To read more about the Clark Fork Coalition or contact us, please visit our Website