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| Partnerships Transform Pilot Projects into Long-Term Stewardship |
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On a tributary historically significant for west slope cutthroat and bull trout, Trout Unlimited-Montana Water Project has turned a one-year transaction with a key landowner (see the 2003 Annual Report) into a 25-year lease of instream flows. The lease on Rock Creek, in conjunction with a comprehensive stream restoration effort, is showing results even in the first season after completion. The project includes repairing a degraded channel across several private properties and replacing a ditch and flood irrigation system with a pipeline and center pivot. With funding from the CBWTP, the addition of 1.5 cubic feet per second to Rock Creek resulted in continuous flows for the entire irrigation season-for the first time since 1999. |
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With support from the CBWTP, the Montana Water Trust has extended a one-year lease to six years with rancher Delbert Hawkins, restoring flows on a tributary to Flathead Lake that is typically dry for nine out of every 10 years (see the 2004 Annual Report). Monitoring of Ronan Creek confirms that amphibians and macroinvertebrates have returned to previously dewatered reaches, marking a critical milestone in the longer-term goal of restoring the habitat to its historic function as a spawning tributary for bull trout. |
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