Minutes Musselshell Watershed Coalition Meeting August 11, 2020
September 9, 2020
Via GoToMeeting
Present: Bill Milton, Facilitator; Laura Nowlin, Musselshell Watershed Coalition Coordinator; Wendy Jones, Lower Musselshell Conservation District Administrator; Shirley Parrott, Lower Musselshell Conservation District Supervisor and MWC Board Member; Carie Hess, Petroleum County Conservation District Administrator; Cheryl Miller, Upper Musselshell Conservation District Administrator; Brian Hauschild, Big Sky Watershed Corps; Andrew Sanders, Big Sky Watershed Corps; Gary Olsen, Wheatland County Weed Coordinator; Kelsey Miller, Wheatland County Assistant Weed Coordinator; Mike Ruggles, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks; Reba Ahlgren, NRCS Winnett Field Office; Devin Roloff, NRCS Harlowton Field Office; Ethan McJames, NRCS Harlowton Field Office; Mike Lucas, NRCS Winnett Field Office; Arin Peters, Tom Fieders, and Patrick Gilchrist, NOAA National Weather Service; Shane Moe, Rancher and MWC Board Member; Emily Standley, MSU Extension; Steve Riley, Northern Great Plains Joint Venture; Tory Kolkhorst, Senator Dianes’ Office, Casey Collins, Representative Gianforte’s Office; Autumn Christensen, Healthy Watershed Consortium Initiative; Susan Lenard, Montana Department of Transportation; Diane Ahlgren, Petroleum Conservation District and MWC Board Member, Heidi Anderson-Folnagy, MT DNRC CARDD
Facilitator Bill Milton called the meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. Introductions followed, with the question “What do you think about Zoom meetings?”
Musselshell Watershed Coalition Coordinator Report:
Coordinator Laura Nowlin reported that MWC has still been busy even though there have not been any meetings since February. MWC has been active in the Central and Eastern Montana Invasive Species Team and has put together AIS monitoring kits for 4 conservation districts and the Big Horn River Alliance. BSWC members have been running the salinity monitoring program and mapping weeds along the River. MWC is working with the City of Roundup and Musselshell County to facilitate the sharing of information and hoping to arrange public meetings for a land use discussion on the reclaimed area within the Roundup Reach. MWC is working with the Upper Musselshell Conservation District and FWP on a bank restoration project near Two Dot. MWC has gotten WaterSMART funding to update the Musselshell Watershed Plan and will also be doing some organizational strategic planning. Laura shared the Cattle Heat Stress Index website: https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/clay-center-ne/marc/docs/heat-stress/main/
Partner Updates:
Susan Lenard, Montana Department of Transportation – Since a meeting hosted by MWC last fall in Roundup, MDT has reworked designs at three sites to minimize impacts to the Musselshell River by placing rock as close to US 12 as possible, rather than riprapping the banks
of the river. One of those three sites is still in negotiation with an irrigators group and will be resolved or dropped by the end of the month.
Leon Hammond, Deadman’s Basin Water Users Association – Deadman’s Basin Reservoir is at 60,632 AF/84% of full pool and is currently releasing 248.79 cfs. Stored water delivery percentage has increased from 75% to 85%. Grants have been approved for projects on the
Barber and Supply Canals with a start date of October 10. A check structure may be needed in the supply canal for the Winnecook ranch headgate and DNRC is working on a design.
Diane Ahlgren, Mosby-Musselshell Area – The River is at about 100 cfs, a good level for this time of year. Many have been able to irrigate for a second cutting of hay, but the grasshoppers are bad enough that they might not get the second hay crop.
Cheryl Miller, Upper Musselshell Conservation District – Working on the Two Dot Bank Restoration project that will be a good demonstration opportunity to encourage future bank restoration projects.
Ethan McJames, Harlowton NRCS – Austin Shero has accepted an NRCS position in Washington. Landon is the acting District Conservationist for now. The acting position will move to Ethan next (the acting position is for a set amount of time). The Roundup NRCS hired Hayden Nelson into an NRCS position and so the Pheasants Forever position is currently being filled. 2021 TIPs are due December 31, 2020 and then work will begin on 2022 TIPS. The more input from landowners and partners the better. Weeds on Fish Creek and Musselshell River Practices are being considered for 2022 TIPS.
Gary Olsen, Wheatland County Weed District Coordinator – Wheatland County Weed District is transitioning from Gary to Kelsey by December 1, 2020. Andrew Sanders, BSWC member, has been doing weed surveys and found fewer salt cedar than were predicted.
Kelsey Miller, Wheatland County Assistant Weed District Coordinator – has been working in four main grant areas and preparing environmental assessments.
Andrew Sanders, BSWC member – has been mapping Salt Cedar in Fish Creek drainage and has totaled 101 miles of riverbanks and roads mapped this summer. He will begin compiling GIS data to prepare maps and a final presentation in October.
Wendy Jones, Lower Musselshell Conservation District – Reported that LMCD has sponsored a grant for Delphia-Melstone to update its water measuring system. LMCD and
Musselshell/Golden Valley Extension have partnered to bring a noxious weed workshop to Roundup on August 27th. LMCD participated in the Weed District weed pull in June. LMCD has a grant to assist landowners with defensible space around their homes and has another grant in process to work on the urban/wildland interface. LMCD is also working on a program to cost share on cover crops and has success selling trees in 2020 and has orders for 2021. LMCD has been processing several 310 permits, including a bank protection project using soft armoring on 3,200 feet of bank.
Carie Hess, Petroleum County Conservation District – PCCD is drafting is Long-Range Plan and has been working on several conservation projects, including a Nicole Masters Soil Health Workshop with Winnett ACES and has also been assisting with weed management and mapping.
Brian Hauschild, BSWC Member – Brian has been managing the Musselshell River Salinity Monitoring program and has also been monitoring stock ponds for salinity levels. The results at the end of the year will be interesting and will be interesting to continue monitoring.
Mike Lucas and Reba Ahlgren, Winnett NRCS – A 2021 TIP for Fuels Mitigation on Tin Can Hill Road is being reviewed and work is beginning on a 2022 TIP for weed management on Flatwillow and Elk Creeks. Andrew’s mapping work will help to inform these TIPs. Reba worked with Landowners and APHIS to put together maps for spraying grasshoppers, an effort that stalled in Petroleum County when the Lewistown BLM did not approve the project. Bill is working with the BLM to be better prepared to respond quickly in the future.
Mike Ruggles, MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks – Reported that there had been an oil spill where a frozen line caught on vegetation as the water level was dropping last spring. Everything was cleaned up. Shannon Blackburn is the new Fisheries Biologist for the Musselshell region.
Recreation has increased at Fishing Access Sites, with Deadman’s and Selkirk being extra busy.
Tiger Muskie have been stocked at Deadman’s. A culvert collapsed and has been fixed at Selkirk. FWP must follow County level fire restrictions and encourages everyone to be safe – especially where campgrounds are full and campers are camping outside of designated campsites. The 2021 legislative session is coming up and FWP is asking for the authority to spend more than $150,000 on projects that it has found the funding for (this is not a request to FWP for more than $150,000 of FWP funds, but a request for the authority to spend that much
money from combined sources). Projects on the Musselshell that are on the priority list and might fall into this category are: Goffena Sudan Fish Bypass, Kilby Butte Channel Reconnection, McCleary Channel Reconnection, Newton/Pedrazzi Dam Removal. The permits for the McCleary Channel Reconnection are close be being finalized. FWP is working with UMCD and MWC on the Two Dot Bank Restoration project. In 2021 or 2022 the new FAS at Roundup will begin to be developed. Fish sampling is being done at the Harlowton Roundhouse
reclamation site and at Jawbone Creek, where there may be opportunities to restore the channel dimensions. Mike reminds everyone that water rights for fish ponds are different than stock ponds and asks if the CD’s could share guidelines that have been developed for off-stream fish ponds.
Tom Woolf, FWP AIS – There has been higher boat traffic in 2020 than ever before, with a combination of Montana as well as out of state boaters traveling around and accessing MT waters. Twenty-five boats with mussels have been intercepted, six of those boats were caught in
Eastern MT. FWP has partnered with conservation districts in eastern MT to increase boat stations and station effectiveness. Garfield, McCone, and Powder River Conservation Districts are operating stations better than ever before. AIS monitoring training with MWC and CEMIST will most likely be done virtually. Tom is working with local partners for more effective on-theground outreach.
Stephanie Criswell, MT DNRC/Montana Invasive Species Council – The next Montana Invasive Species Council meeting is September 3. Contact Stephanie for meeting information. High priority species, such as feral swine and Emerald Ash Borer will be on the agenda. Also the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome in bats has been found and more monitoring will be done to determine if the fungus is actually in MT. There has been a science advisory panel put together for the Eastern Heath Mudsnail, which is only present in the Belt, MT area. The next cycle for the AIS grants will open the end of August and close the end of October.
Heidi Anderson-Folnagy, MT DNRC/CARDD – Rankings for the RRGL and RDG applications will be out in November. It is unclear what the 2021 Legislative Session will look like, but Heidi and/or Lindsay Volpe will be in contact with RDG and RRGL applicants in January about session info.
Arin Peters, NOAA – As is usual for August, the next two weeks look hot and dry. Bill asked about siting MesoNet stations and Arin said that NOAA uses MesoNet data when it is shared, but that NOAA is not involved in siting the stations.
Autumn Christensen, Healthy Watershed Consortium Initiative (HWCI) – HWCI is a partnership between MT Conservation Corps, Missouri River Conservation Districts Council, and NRCS/SWCDM. Autumn is currently looking for 2021 BSWC Host Sites and has just put out the 2nd quarterly report for the program. HWCI works with Ranching for Rivers, a program for landowners for improving riparian area health and is partnering with the DNRC Rangeland Resources Program. The Naked River Campaign is another program with the goal of implementing low-cost but high impact projects. The first two projects have been identified that will serve as demonstration projects to encourage stewardship along our riverbanks. Autumn is also helping with technical assistance for CRP enrollment and with Cascade County’s TIP
Outreach Plan.
Scott Graham, Abandoned Mine Lands Division, DEQ - Excavation of topsoil, waste coal, and scoria continues at the Abandoned Mine Lands Bair-Collins Mine Reclamation and Floodplain Restoration Project in Roundup. Construction is being completed by Rehbein Enterprises with engineering oversight by Pioneer Technical Services, Inc. The project is designed to mitigate flooding, restore riparian habitat, and improve recreational access to the Musselshell River.
Funding for the project has been provided by grants from Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and DEQ’s Brownfields and Abandoned Mine Lands Programs. #DEQAMLOurWorksNotDone
Bill Milton, Gaging Station Partnership – Bill reported that the State Working Group is finalizing a work plan and will be getting information to the legislature. A 2023 proposal to the legislature for secure funding is most likely. A group of dedicated stakeholders (MWC among them) is working on a long-term funding solution for gaging stations.
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