Big Hole River, Montana Watershed Restoration Plan

Big Hole River, Montana Watershed Restoration Plan Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole Watershed

Produced by: Big Hole Watershed Committee November 1, 2012

Big Hole Watershed Committee PO Box 21 Divide, Montana 59727 website:

Produced with Funds and Support from: Montana Department of Environmental Quality 319 Program Helena, Montana

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Table of Contents

Tables ............................................................................................................................................................ 5 Figures........................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms ...................................................................................................................................................... 7 Project Area .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 9 Purpose ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Watershed Restoration Planning ................................................................................................................ 11 The Big Hole Watershed Committee .......................................................................................................... 12 Vision........................................................................................................................................................... 13 Watershed Characterization ....................................................................................................................... 14

Sensitive Species ..................................................................................................................................... 17 The Fluvial Arctic Grayling and the CCAA Program............................................................................. 17 Westslope Cutthroat Trout ................................................................................................................. 18 Lake Trout ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Western Toad...................................................................................................................................... 19 Western Pearlshell Mussel.................................................................................................................. 19

Section I: What is the Problem?.................................................................................................................. 20 Causes of Impairment in the Upper Big Hole Watershed........................................................................... 20 Section II. Who Determines Water Quality Issues? .................................................................................... 21

Water Quality: Montana Department of Environmental Quality........................................................... 21 USFS Beaverhead - Deer Lodge Forest Plan............................................................................................ 23 Bureau of Land Management - Upper Big Hole Watershed Assessment ............................................... 27 CCAA Program......................................................................................................................................... 31 Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks ........................................................................................................... 33 Big Hole Watershed Committee ............................................................................................................. 34 Section III: What Should the Watershed Look Like?................................................................................... 36 Water Quality Goals & Priorities................................................................................................................. 36 Blended Watershed Restoration Goals................................................................................................... 36 Section IV: How Will We Get There? .......................................................................................................... 41 Road Map to Watershed Restoration ......................................................................................................... 41 Plan & Research ...................................................................................................................................... 42

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Educate ................................................................................................................................................... 45 Restore .................................................................................................................................................... 47 Preserve & Protect .................................................................................................................................. 50 Partner .................................................................................................................................................... 52 Partners....................................................................................................................................................... 53 Best Management Practices ....................................................................................................................... 55 Section V: How Will We Know When We Arrive?....................................................................................... 58 Section VI: Discussion, Recommendations & Review ................................................................................. 61 Sub-Watershed Summaries ........................................................................................................................ 62 Upper Big Hole Watershed - Whole........................................................................................................ 64 Governor Creek ....................................................................................................................................... 65 Warm Springs Creek................................................................................................................................ 66 Big Hole Headwaters............................................................................................................................... 67 Big Hole River - Wisdom.......................................................................................................................... 68 North Fork Big Hole River........................................................................................................................ 70 Squaw Creek ........................................................................................................................................... 72 Works Cited................................................................................................................................................. 73 Appendix ........................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. Resources .................................................................................................................................................... 75 Link Addresses......................................................................................................................................... 76

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Tables

Table 1: Watershed Characterization ......................................................................................................... 14

Table 2: Sub-watersheds, 303d listed streams, and their impairment sources. See Table 11 for details.

See Figure 3 for map. See page 63 for sub-watershed summaries. ........................................................... 15

Table 3: Other sensitive species (Montana Field Guide) ............................................................................ 19

Table 4: Water quality impairments, causes, and remedies in the Big Hole River watershed. See Table 5

for detailed impairments by sub watershed and stream. Source: (Montana DEQ, June 2009)................. 20

Table 5: Summary of Upper Big Hole watershed impairments and their sources as stated in the TMDL

(Montana DEQ, June 2009) ......................................................................................................................... 21

Table 6: TMDL Target Summary.................................................................................................................. 22

Table 7: USFS Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest Plan - Resource Categories. Each category lists

goals, objectives and standards. (US Forest Service, 2009)........................................................................ 23

Table 8: USFS Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest Key watersheds in the Upper Big Hole watershed.

(US Forest Service, 2009) ............................................................................................................................ 24

Table 9: Land Health Summary by BLM Management Unit - from BLM Upper Big Hole Watershed

Assessment Executive Summary page 2 (U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 2009) ................................. 29

Table 10: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Statewide Fisheries Management Plan priorities Big Hole

Watershed. The table includes priorities that apply to the Upper and North Fork Big Hole River

watershed. The contents of this table are a direct copy from the statewide plan. Reference the entire

plan for more information. (Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 2012)

* denotes priorities

that apply to the entire Big Hole watershed .............................................................................................. 33

Table 11: Blended watershed restoration priorities from state, federal, and local groups ....................... 36

Table 12: Restoration goals and associated potential load reductions. ..................................................... 39

Table 13: Best Management Practices........................................................................................................ 55

Table 14: Monitoring components, responsible party, and occurrence. ................................................... 58

Table 15: Watershed restoration interim milestones................................................................................. 59

Table 16: Overarching watershed restoration success indicators. ............................................................. 60

Table 17: TMDL and 303d Listing Summary by HUC 5 watershed and grouped by impairment. Beneficial

Uses abbreviations: N=Not Supporting, P = Partially Supporting, F=Fully Supporting. Blue regions are

potential water quality impairment sources with persistence in that stream marked with an x. Red

regions are possible causes with persistence marked with an x. Source: (Montana DEQ, June 2009)...... 63

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Figures

Figure 1: Big Hole River Watershed, Montana ............................................................................................. 8 Figure 2: Proportion of land ownership in the Upper Hole watershed managed under existing watershed restoration plans........................................................................................................................................... 9 Figure 3: Map of 303d listed streams, abandoned mines, streams and land cover in the Upper Big Hole River Watershed. Map Source: (Montana DEQ, June 2009) - Appendix K. ................................................ 16 Figure 4: USFS Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest Plan - Key watersheds. Note: This map is cropped from its original size to show only the Upper Big Hole watershed. (US Forest Service, 2009) .................. 24 Figure 5: Bureau of Land Management map of lands assessed in the Upper Big Hole watershed (U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 2009) .......................................................................................................... 28 Figure 6: Left: CCAA Management Sections. Right: Area of state and private land enrolled into the Big Hole Grayling CCAA Program since August 1, 2006. ................................................................................... 31 Figure 7: BHWC Watershed Restoration Planning Goals and Methods ..................................................... 34 Figure 8: Upper Big Hole riparian vegetation cover density. Source: (Montana DEQ, June 2009) Appendix K .................................................................................................................................................. 38

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Acronyms

BDNF BHWC BLM CCAA DEQ EPA ESA MFWP TMDL USFS USFWS

Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest Big Hole Watershed Committee Bureau of Land Management Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances Montana Department of Environmental Quality Environmental Protection Agency Endangered Species Act Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Total Maximum Daily Load United States Forest Service (Beaverhead Deer Lodge National Forest) US Fish & Wildlife Service

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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Project Area

The Big Hole River watershed is located in southwest Montana (outlined in red). The colored areas within the watershed represent public lands and the white areas represent private lands. The Big Hole River headwaters begin in the south-west corner of the watershed and flow north, then east, to its confluence with the Beaverhead River near Twin Bridges. There are two watershed restoration plans at work in the Big Hole River watershed. The black line shows the division between two watershed restoration plans:

Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan (this document)

Part II: Middle & Lower Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan (separate document)

Part I: Upper and North Fork Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan

Part II: Lower and Middle Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan

Figure 1: Big Hole River Watershed, Montana

Big Hole River Watershed Restoration Plan - November 1, 2012 Part I: Upper & North Fork Big Hole River Watershed

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