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A work crew covers an eroded slope above Mount Creek with matting aimed at curbing additional erosion. The grant-funded project - part of the Flathead Basin Commission's Ashley Creek Watershed Restoration Project - will eventually cover 6,000 feet of unstable slopes. Jim Mann/Daily Inter Lake

Basin commission turns to field work

The project represents a transition for the commission from years of water-quality monitoring work to field work.

By JIM MANN

The Daily Inter Lake

Just one week after restoration work was complete, brook trout were darting about in a stretch of Truman Creek that had been devoid of any fish.

The stream had unraveled into a braided, marshy bog in one place. Upstream, bank erosion spread the stream into a shallow, straightened run that readily collected sediment.

With just a sparse collection of cottonwoods and hawthorn shrubs lining the stream, the waterway had developed temperatures inhospitable to fish.

Restoring the stream was fairly simple: bring in root wads and logs to shore up vulnerable banks; create berms to contain the creek in its old meandering channel; place heavy rocks in the stream bottom to dissipate the current and create colder pools for fish.

The project's final phase will involve planting willows and other plants along the stream banks to provide shade and stability.

The benefits of colder, cleaner water are expected to spread downstream as part of the Ashley Creek Watershed Restoration Project, an effort undertaken by the Flathead Basin Commission.

The project represents a transition for the commission from years of water-quality monitoring work to field work. The program is aimed at improving water quality through voluntary partnerships with landowners and funding from multiple grant sources.

"We've been involved with monitoring and planning since 1978," said David DeGrandpre, chairman of the basin commission. "And since that time, we've collected a heck of a lot of data and we've done a lot of planning. We felt like we needed to expand our role a little bit. What's the point of studying and planning if you're not going to do anything?

"We're trying to make an actual difference and show the public that you can have an influence on water quality and we can help you do it," DeGrandpre said during a tour of project sites in the Ashley Creek basin last week.

Having served six years on the commission, Flathead Forest Supervisor Cathy Barbouletos said she is pleased with the transition to field projects.

"One of the neat things about this group is it's voluntary and it brings together people and entities that want to work together," she said.

The Ashley Creek project involved a comprehensive inventory of every stretch of water in the Ashley Creek basin west of Kalispell. That inventory identified seven priority sites for restoration work.

Among them was the Truman Creek site and two other active project areas on Mount Creek and in the Browns Meadow area.

Both of those sites provide stark examples of water quality degradation.

Barren slopes above the county road that parallels Mount Creek have obviously been bleeding tons of sediment into the creek. Every year, workers with the county road department remove roughly 10,000 tons of fill that plugs culverts and clogs ditches along the road.

The project area encompasses about 6,000 feet of unstable slopes above the road. This year, stabilization efforts are focused on just 1,000 feet, said Brandy Moses of Kirk Environmental Consulting, the firm that has coordinated grant funding for the commission.

A work crew is using burlap and rock riprap to stabilize the slopes, with a finishing touch of dogwood and cottonwood trees being planted along the slopes.

If those measures prove effective, Moses said, the remaining slopes will get the same treatment starting next spring. The entire project will cost roughly $315,000.

Farther up Mount Creek, at Browns Meadow, efforts are under way to shore up a barrier that has effectively separated a population of genetically pure cutthroat trout from a downstream population of brook trout.

Fencing has been installed along a section of the creek to prevent cattle from trampling the stream banks. Decades ago, that same stretch was straightened into a ditch for agricultural purposes, but now it is gradually resuming a meandering course due to some in-stream improvements and revegetation made possible by cattle exclusion.

The projects are possible largely because of the commission's aggressive pursuit of grants over the last few years.

Close to $500,000 in grant funding from several state, federal and foundation sources is being used for the three projects on the two small streams.

The commission intends to ramp up its pursuit of grants by hiring an executive director for the first time in the next couple of months, DeGrandpre said.

Whoever is hired for the position - made possible by a $50,000 grant - will be mostly tasked with applying for grants and managing projects and contractors.

If those efforts pan out, DeGrandpre anticipates that the commission will be able to team up with landowners in the Ashley Creek basin or in other areas who would benefit from water quality improvements.

"We may not have money right now to do projects for landowners who walk in the door, but we might be able to get that money," DeGrandpre said.

For more information, contact the commission at 752-0081.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com