MWCC Impacts: Watershed Fund Project Support

The MWCC Watershed Fund is helping our community-based conservation partners complete on-the-ground projects to benefit natural resources, conservation stewardship, community health, and local livelihoods. Through a partnership with the Montana Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Watershed Fund has provided more than $405,000 in small Project Support grants since 2018. This funding has supported 17 local conservation organizations in achieving community conservation goals on private lands.

 Here are a few examples of the impacts of this funding:

• The Lower Clark Fork Watershed Group is improving native fish habitat and reducing erosion along the East Fork Bull River by replacing invasive grasses with native trees and shrubs.
• The Blackfoot Challenge is building resilience to drought by monitoring soil moisture with local agricultural producers to help them refine their irrigation practices and improve land and water stewardship.
• The Upper Musselshell Conservation District restored and stabilized a bank of the Musselshell River using soft restoration techniques and is now using the project as a demonstration site and learning opportunity for other local landowners.

The Watershed Fund has also awarded more than $125,000 in additional funding for projects led by Big Sky Watershed Corps members to reduce or prevent nonpoint source pollution and improve water quality, as well as more than $337,000 in Capacity Support, Professional Development Support, and assistance with responding and adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic.

We thank the following funders who have contributed to Watershed Fund Project Support since 2018