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Montana Watershed Coordination Council | P.O. Box 1416 Helena, MT 59624 | info@mtwatersheds.orgClick Here to Sign-up for our Watershed Newsletter

Learn from Watershed Fund Grant Recipients

With nearly $1.2 million awarded to 73 different local conservation organizations since 2018, the MWCC Watershed Fund has helped our partners accomplish a lot! See below for a sampling of products and processes developed by Watershed Fund grant recipients. These resources are widely applicable to local watershed conservation work across Montana. Many thanks to all our Watershed Fund partners – funders and grant recipients alike – for their dedication to stewarding natural resources across the state!

OrganizationGrant TypeDescription
Gallatin Watershed CouncilBSWC Project SupportGWC developed this Riparian Restoration Maintenance & Stewardship Plan to help a local school maintain and monitor a streambank revegetation project the school established with GWC’s Big Sky Watershed Corps member, Kori Navarro. The plan includes detailed information about the project, how to take photo points, and how to schedule and carry out routine and future maintenance to ensure the project’s long-term success.

OrganizationGrant TypeDescription
Stillwater Valley Watershed CouncilCapacity SupportThe Stillwater Valley Watershed Council (SVWC) helped strengthen community resilience and healing from historic flooding in June 2022 by establising a River Assessment Triage Team (RATT) of local experts to assess flood damage. Through landowner surveys, in-person site visits, and follow-ups, the RATT documented and evaluated flood impacts and helped landowners obtain funding and permits for restoration and clean-up projects. The RATT created a full post-flood assment report and executive summary of their efforts and outcomes. SVWC shared these documents with the communities they represent and is using them to determine next steps for long-term recovery and flood resilience.
– River Assessment Triage Team 2023 post-flood report + Landowner Survey
Upper Yellowstone Watershed GroupCapacity SupportIn response to the historic June 2022 flooding in the Upper Yellowstone River and resulting impacts, the Upper Yellowstone Watershed Group (UYWG), with support from the local community and regional partners, formed the Upper Yellowstone River Advisory Committee (UYRAC) to have a focused and coordinated response to flood-related challenges. Composed of local landowners, agency professionals, technical experts, and local non-profits, the UYRAC assisted landowners with developing post-flood response plans, developed educational resources for the public, navigated the permitting process, and assisted the community in making critical decisions about property, livelihoods, and the health and resilience of the Yellowstone River watershed and its natural resources.The group also served as a hub of interagency and landowner coordination and outreach and education. The Post-Flood Recovery Basics document and StoryMap emerged from this work to help impacted landowners and the broader community.
Winnett ACESCapacity SupportThe Winnett ACES Soil Health Initiative utilized their Education and Outreach Coordinator’s knowledge and skill set in soil health and added a technical assistance component to the Education and Outreach program already offered by ACES. The program expanded the Education and Outreach Coordinator’s role to include technical assistance for ranchers in Central Montana, working with them on their individual soil health plans and in a long-term consultation format that cannot be provided by a single workshop. This example pasture care report includes information on soil health, best practices, and a specific management plan for the individual landowner based on observations and landowner objectives expressed during a one-on-one consultation and ranch visit.
Gallatin Watershed CouncilCapacity SupportGWC developed the Gallatin Valley Riparian Planting Guide for landowners living along small streams in the Gallatin Watershed to re-plant and care for their riparian edge. The goal was to create something that was concise, visually engaging, and approachable. The small booklet describes why bushy streamsides matter and includes several elements: section and plan views of an ideal riparian plant community typically found in the Gallatin Watershed; a step-by-step for how to plan, plant, and care for riparian areas; best management practices; a list of local, native riparian plant species; and a list of resources.

OrganizationGrant TypeDescription
Blackfoot ChallengeCapacity SupportThe Challenge organized and hosted a series of four webinars on drought resilience planning in the winter of 2022. All helped support the Blackfoot Drought Technician’s outreach later in the spring and summer as the Challenge coordinated updates to individual landowner drought plans and implemented drought response activities. Webinar topics:
– Using Regional Climate Data to Create a Ranch Drought Plan
– Climate Tools for Producers in Montana
– Creative Solutions for Drought Resilience — A Ranchers’ Panel
– Drought Planning for your Ranch
Lower Clark Fork Watershed GroupCapacity SupportLCFWG researched techniques for converting reed canary grass landscapes to native vegetation as part of a long term, systems-based approach and then created a planting guide of best practices. LCFWG Watershed Coordinator Brita Olson shared this guide and what she has learned through both research and dozens of on-the-ground restoration projects in a December 2022 MWCC Conservation Conversation. (Recording and slides here.)
– Restoring Native Vegetation in the Face of Reed Canarygrass: Planting Guide

OrganizationGrant TypeDescription
City of Kalispell, Flathead Basin Commission, Flathead Conservation DistrictBSWC Host Site Cost ShareBSWC member Emilie Henry with the City of Kalispell and Flathead Basin Commission worked BSWC member Mikaela Richardson, who served with Flathead CD, to establish the Flathead Rain Garden Initiative. This StoryMap includes information about rain gardens and their benefits, and resources for creating your own rain garden, including designs and best plant species for rain gardens of different sizes in different locations and soil types.
City of Kalispell and Flathead Basin CommissionBSWC Host Site Cost ShareBSWC member Emilie Henry conducted a preliminary study of the Flathead watershed’s stormwater infrastructure, stormwater and nonpoint source pollution, and recommendations to expand the project in the future. Stormwater Management, Pollution, and Monitoring in the Flathead Watershed, Montana: Phase 1
Sun River Watershed GroupCapacity SupportThe Sun River Watershed Group (SRWG) developed a process for screen, prioritizing, and tracking watershed restoration and stewardship projects across the Sun River Watershed. This process, which SRWG Executive Director Tracy Wendt shared in an October 2023 Conservation Conversation (recording here), includes prioritizing projects by potential resource benefits, education and outreach potential, resources needed to complete the project, and available funding, among other criteria.
– Project Prioritization Matrix
– Project Screening Tool
– Project Status Tracking Spreadsheet

OrganizationGrant TypeDescription
Big Hole Watershed CommitteeProject SupportTwo separate Watershed Fund Project Support Grants helped the Big Hole Watershed Committee launch its “Holding Back the Snowpack” initiative, beginning with adjacent low-tech, process-based restoration projects on the East Fork of Divide Creek. The project video for this work is particularly inspiring!
Gallatin Watershed CouncilCapacity SupportIn 2019, the Gallatin Watershed Council (GWC) updated its website, logo, mission statement, strategic messaging, style guidelines, and name to boost public understanding and perception of the organization’s work and to amplify GWC’s vision. Previously the Greater Gallatin Watershed Council, GWC used these tools to amplify and increase understanding of their work to elevate watershed-wide concerns, collaborative efforts at finding solutions, and opportunities for active engagement by diverse groups. The resulting Gallatin Watershed Council Brand Guide serves as an example for other local conservation organizations.
Musselshell Watershed CoalitionCapacity SupportIn collaboration with more than 20 local organizations, the Musselshell Watershed Coalition established a Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) set along the Musselshell River and created an Integrated Weed Management Plan. The plan provides a framework for the Musselshell River Cooperative Weed Management Area, including goals, boundaries, and a steering committee. It also describes what Integrated Weed Management means and suggests recommendations based on Integrated Weed Management for cooperators.