Laura Nowlin Receives Montana Watershed Stewardship Award
Building a True Conservation Coalition in the Musselshell River Watershed
Laura Nowlin has a gift for bringing people together in service of watershed health. Since joining the Musselshell Watershed Coalition (MWC) as the group’s first coordinator in January 2014, she has built relationships with and among landowners, state and federal agencies, municipal governments, state legislators, nonprofits, and countless community members across a watershed that spans 9,500 miles – an area larger than the state of Vermont – and is home to 9,500 people. Laura delights in the connections made as these partners work together to plan and complete conservation and restoration projects, knowing that relationships are the key to successfully stewarding natural resources and livelihoods.
“People are the heart of the work that we do,” Laura has said. Those who have worked with Laura know she has put her own heart into turning MWC into a true coalition of partners who share the goal of conserving natural resources in the Musselshell. During Laura’s time with MWC, the organization has accomplished the following:
- Established the Roundup Reach to help landowners impacted by major flooding, clean up coal waste in the floodplain, create new recreational opportunities, and protect the community from future severe floods
- Completed a Musselshell Watershed Plan that includes top natural resource and conservation project priorities and a strategy for implementing them
- Developed an operations manual for the Musselshell River Water Distribution Project to help district court judges and river water commissioners more easily step into their work
- Grew a salinity monitoring program for agricultural producers
- Secured funding to install 14 MesoNet drought and climate monitoring stations
- Advocated and fundraised for continued operation of stream gaging stations
- Established two new watercraft inspection stations in Eastern Montana to help keep invasive species out of the state’s waterways
A Key Thread in Montana’s Watershed Conservation Fabric
Laura also serves as a trusted resource for locally driven collaborative conservation efforts across Montana. Community-based watershed conservation organizations throughout the state reach out to her for advice and ideas. When flooding devastated communities along the Yellowstone River and its tributaries in 2022, Laura reached out to offer up what she and her partners had learned after repeated flooding along the Musselshell in 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2018. Laura also served on the Montana Watershed Coordination Council (MWCC) Board of Directors from 2017-2020. Laura is a key thread in the fabric of Montana’s statewide conservation network as well as in her own community of Winnett. There she co-manages her own family’s ranch while raising two children and serving as an active member of the community.
In recognition of her whole-hearted, inclusive, and successful conservation work, MWCC has selected Laura as a 2023 Watershed Stewardship Award recipient. The biennial Wetland and Watershed Stewardship Awards are a joint project of MWCC and the Montana Wetland Council (MWC) to honor individuals and groups who embody excellence and commitment to wetland or watershed conservation, protection, and restoration. Award recipients will be honored at a ceremony co-hosted by MWCC and MWC on Wednesday, April 26 at the Holter Museum in Helena. The ceremony will be part of the 2023 MWCC Annual Meeting.
