Floods offer a great opportunity to rethink our relationship with rivers…The greatest action we can take to help both people and streams is to give these channels room to move and evolve over time.

Dr. Jordan Fields, Aquatic Scientist, TU

In June of 2022, a historic 500-year flood event hit the waterways flowing from the Beartooth Mountains of south-central Montana, causing an estimated $38.5 million in damage to roadways, campsites, homes, and businesses. Historically, stream and river focused efforts after floods have focused on removing large woody material and stabilizing eroded banks with riprap. The Custer Gallatin National Forest of the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (CGNF) has recognized that these methods impair river health, so has partnered with MTU to implement restoration projects that improve resilience of Forest and downstream infrastructure to future flooding events by restoring or improving a stream’s natural ability to disipate floods and greatly reduce downstream risks, which also happens to be very good for trout and watershed health.

At 3.2 billion years old, the Beartooth Mountains are some of the oldest in the world. Glacier carved their high-alpine plateaus in the last ice age. Much smaller modern glaciers, snowfields, and wetlands, all remnants of these landscape-shaping ice sheets, feed steep and rocky creeks that provide cold, clear water to the Lower Yellowstone River. Historically the home of abundant Yellowstone Cutthroat trout, these native fish remain in a fraction of their natal homes in the area. Most of the streams originating in the Beartooth Mountains and feeding the Yellowstone River are occupied by wild rainbow, brown and brook trout. Threats to these fisheries include habitat loss and low late-season flows.

MTU’s restoration in partnership with the CGNF will largely focus stabilizing bank erosion with woody material and riparian revegetation, improving side channel flow conditions with engineered log jams, restoring floodplain connectivity, and moving infrastructure out of the floodplain. Priority watersheds include Rock Creek, East Rosebud Creek, Soda Butte Creek, and the Stillwater River.

Using large, woody material in flood remediation and stream restoration projects has multiple benefits for people, fish, and wildlife. Post flood cleanup often involves removing wood from streams, which makes them less resilient for future catastrophic events. The benefits of jump-starting natures natural placement of large wood in streams include:

• Diffusing the power of a flooding stream so that it does less damage to infrastructure.
• Increasing water retention on the landscape resulting in fuel breaks during wildfire events and higher late-season base flows.
• Trapping and reducing sediment and controls erosion, leading to cleaner water.
• Increasing the quantity and quality of trout habitat by creating deep scour pools that provide cover from predators, maintaining colder water temperatures, and providing overwintering habitat.

Much of the funding for this project is being provided through an agreement with the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to MTU’s matching of the CGNF funding with private funding, staff time, etc. This suite of work is supported by contributions of data, staff and volunteer time, and outreach from Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Carbon County Resource Council, Clarks Fork Yellowstone Partnership, and the Joe Brooks and Magic City Flyfishers chapters of Trout Unlimited.

MTU’s agreement with the CGNF will allow for a multi-year partnership to develop and implement flood resiliency projects.

• Summer 2024 – Watershed assessments identified potential project sites
• Fall 2024 – MTU and CGNF created a prioritized list of project work
• Winter 2024/2025 – NEPA pathways for Rock Creek and East Rosebud Creek projects were identified
• Spring/Summer 2025 – Project site data was collected, NEPA process continued,
• Fall 2025 – Engineers contracted for design work in all priority watersheds.
• Winter 2025/2026 – Project designs drafted and NEPA pathways for work on Stillwater River and Soda Butte Creek identified
• Summer 2026- NEPA surveys and project permitting
• Fall 2026 – Implementation of all project work
• Spring 2027 – Project completion

We would be happy to discuss how we can best acknowledge your contribution–through a press release, signage at the project site, or otherwise. Thank you for partnering with MTU to improve water quantity and quality, reconnect streams, protect native species, and provide economic and educational benefits to local communities, now and for future generations.

To learn more about this ongoing project and how to support it, contact Project Manager Katie Young.