Headwaters Restoration
The Headwaters Restoration Project began in 1999 as an effort by the Yaak Valley Forest Council to help strengthen relationships with the state and federal agencies that manage the terrestrial and aquatic habitats within the headwaters of the Yaak River.
We started small with a couple of culvert replacements in redband habitat. Now, nearly nine years later, the YVFC initiated Headwaters Project has:
By mid-January 2009, the partnership will have incorporated the sediment source survey data, the Montana DEQ’s water quality studies in the Yaak watershed and fisheries data from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks into a comprehensive database that will allow analysis of all available data and create a strategic restoration plan for the headwaters of the Yaak River.
The partnership will begin implementing the plan in 2009.
The partnership will work with the U.S. Fish and Game incorporating information about critical wildlife habitat - including grizzly bear habitat – to give a more comprehensive overview of terrestrial and aquatic restoration opportunities. The partnership acts as an advisory group with agencies. The USFS, U.S. Fish and Game, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks retain all decision-making authority and any projects that come from this data analysis go through normal NEPA and public comment processes. The restoration work generated by this analysis will provide “green-collar” jobs that can help build a restoration-based economy for the local community.
For more information about the project, please contact Robyn King, 406-295-0736, claymtn@hotmail.com.
We started small with a couple of culvert replacements in redband habitat. Now, nearly nine years later, the YVFC initiated Headwaters Project has:
- Coordinated and implemented over 35 miles of road decommissioning projects;
- Created or improved over ten miles of non-motorized trails where degraded roads once existed;
- Surveyed between 500-600 miles of streams in the Yaak watershed;
- Built a strong network of partners that includes agencies and regional NGO’s;
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Implemented cutting edge experimental projects to address sediment load in the fisheries;
- Brought nearly $1,000,000 of habitat restoration-based funding into Lincoln County, Montana, much of which is paid to local residents who have been trained by project partners to do the specialized fieldwork needed to accomplish the restoration goals;
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Made considerable progress toward the design of a Yaak Watershed Restoration Plan using the data collected through years of stream surveys as well as the monitoring portion of the project;
- Began working with NGOs and agency representatives in southern British Columbia to address and replicate watershed restoration efforts in the Canada portions of the Upper Yaak River, which will make the Headwaters Project an international, transboundary habitat restoration effort covering the entire basin.
By mid-January 2009, the partnership will have incorporated the sediment source survey data, the Montana DEQ’s water quality studies in the Yaak watershed and fisheries data from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks into a comprehensive database that will allow analysis of all available data and create a strategic restoration plan for the headwaters of the Yaak River.The partnership will begin implementing the plan in 2009.
The partnership will work with the U.S. Fish and Game incorporating information about critical wildlife habitat - including grizzly bear habitat – to give a more comprehensive overview of terrestrial and aquatic restoration opportunities. The partnership acts as an advisory group with agencies. The USFS, U.S. Fish and Game, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks retain all decision-making authority and any projects that come from this data analysis go through normal NEPA and public comment processes. The restoration work generated by this analysis will provide “green-collar” jobs that can help build a restoration-based economy for the local community.
For more information about the project, please contact Robyn King, 406-295-0736, claymtn@hotmail.com.
