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Musselshell Watershed Coalition Meeting Minutes

October 12, 2021

In-Person Meeting, Musselshell County Extension Office

Present: Bill Milton, Facilitator; Laura Nowlin, Musselshell Watershed Coalition Coordinator; Wendy Beye, MWC Scribe; Shirley Parrott, Lower Musselshell Conservation District Supervisor; Steve Tyrrel, Lower Musselshell Conservation District Supervisor; Craig Dalgarno, Upper Musselshell Water Users Assoc.; Shane Moe, Upper Musselshell Water Users Assoc.; Leon Hammond, Deadman’s Basin Water Users Assoc.; Lynn Rettig, Delphia/Melstone Canal Water Users Assoc.; Greg Seder, Delphia/Melstone Canal Water Users Assoc.; Ken Eickhoff, Delphia/Melstone Canal Water Users Assoc.; Mike Goffena, Musselshell County Commissioner; Kelsey Miller, Weed Coordinator Wheatland County; Colin Threlkeld, Big Sky Watershed Corps Member, CEMIST Outreach; Tom Woolf, MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Autumn Holzgen, Montana Conservation Corps; Liam Bean, MT State Univ.; Nikki Rife, NRCS Roundup Field Office; Devin Roloff, NRCS Harlowton Field Office;

Facilitator Bill Milton called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. asking how much snow fell in each attendee’s area.

Musselshell Watershed Coalition Coordinator Report:

Laura Nowlin handed out a 2-month update on her activities. She met with the Montana Drought and Water Supply Advisory Committee in Helena to inform them about the local impacts of drought in our area. She has been active in the Central and Eastern Montana Invasive Species Team, working to maintain funding for the project. Floodplain mapping has been ongoing in Wheatland County and the City of Harlowton. Kilby Butte Colony east of Roundup is in the process of planning a bank restoration project with help from MWC. They will be doing bank grading and willow lifts. She and Wendy Beye participated in a Flood Awareness Day in Roundup, open to pertinent agencies and the public, to remind folks of what our docile Musselshell River can do to the landscape and people when it floods. Retired Petroleum County Conservation District Carie Hess has left a huge void in the Winnett office, and Laura has been helping out with grant monitoring until a replacement can be hired.

NOAA Drought Report – Arin Peters, Great Falls Office

Arin showed the group the latest drought monitor map of Montana. The Musselshell watershed is suffering from extreme or worse conditions at present. The whole state is 100% identified as D2 Severe or worse, a record since 2000. Temperatures across the state were in the top 10 percentile for the summer season, with record heat readings occurring in June over much of the state. Precipitation totals for June- September were 40-55% of normal for the Musselshell watershed. There is a La Nina event forecast for winter this year, but it may not bring the expected increase in precipitation and cooler weather. The 14- day outlook in October is for drier and warmer than average weather. We need a good snow year to help recover from this year’s drought.

Documentary – Life in the Landscape

A preview of a documentary about life in eastern Montana filmed by Stories for Action for the Western Collaborative Network was an interesting peek at the project. It featured Laura Nowlin and her young family, as well as an interview with Bill Milton about how ranchers and other rural residents strive to improve their landscape for the benefit of all. The film will be completed by next summer.

AIS in Montana Update – Tom Woolf, MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks

CEMIST has been working on plans to deal with all non-natives, including land and water plants, insects, animals such as mussels, clams, snails, fish, and turtles. These species can have detrimental impacts on hydroelectric power plants, irrigation infrastructure, municipal water systems, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, and can reduce property values.

Adult zebra mussels can survive more than a month on boats and equipment that have been in infested waters. The larvae form usually die within a few hours if they dry out, but in bait boxes and boat bilges, can survive much longer. There are inspection stations around the state for boats, but sometimes people buy irrigation pumps that have been used out of state, and don’t think about inspecting them before installation in Montana. Equipment used in construction in or around water can also be infested

During the boating season so far this year 109,000 interviews with boat owners have been conducted, with more than that number of boats inspected. There were 61 cases of boats being fouled with adult mussels, with most of those boats having been purchased in the Midwest for transport to new owners in Montana. Staffing was difficult, and training for those employees is conducted each year by MT Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. Employees have been doing a good job.

For the fifth year after invasive mussel larvae were found in Tiber Reservoir, no more larvae or DNA markers have been found, so next year, boats used there will be able to travel to other bodies of water in the state without inspection certification. The mussel larvae in Canyon Ferry Lake also did not settle and multiply, probably due to the irrigation drawdowns leaving the larvae beached and drying or freezing on the banks. All waters in Montana are continuously being tested for larvae or DNA, and checked for adult mussels by divers and specially-trained dogs.

Outreach programs continue, with signage at boat ramps, public service spots on TV, radio, and newspapers. FWP partners with local groups and conservation districts.

Tom commented on the current work being done on Lake Elmo in Billings to eradicate a population of Asian mussels, found only in that lake in Montana. All the water is being pumped out during the fall when the mussels are not reproducing by larvae. The lakebed will remain dry over the winter, freezing the clams. Even though the lake is used for irrigation, no other clam infestations have been found downstream of the lake.

Steve Tyrrel commented that his research shows that the cost of eradicating invasive mussels in irrigation infrastructure would cost at least $5.70 per acre/foot of water delivered. That would economically cripple ranchers in our area who rely on delivered water to irrigate their cash crops. We should consider the cost of working to prevent introduction of these invasive species an insurance policy against huge losses that would occur should the invaders establish themselves in our state. At present, NorthWestern Energy pays the most toward the AIS program in Montana, but the company has cut the amount for next year.

Irrigators say they should not be asked to pay more because they pay when they buy power to run their irrigation pumps. That does not, however, hit irrigators who buy power from rural electric cooperatives. They feel that recreationists should pay more, since they are more likely to spread the invasive species.

The legislature will be taking up the issue in January.

More on CEMIST – Colin Threlkeld, Big Sky Watershed Corps Member

Colin is the Education and Outreach Specialist for CEMIST, and will be on staff until his term expires in early December. He has developed a poster that shows how people move invasive species around the state, both intentionally, and unintentionally, by land or water. The poster emphasizes prevention.

The main economic impacts of invasive species fall on agricultural operations and nature-based recreation pursuits. Also impacted are hydroelectric plants and municipal waterworks.

Changing focus from Aquatic Invasive Species, Colin described an infestation of eastern heath snails in Cascade County. The snails not only eat grain crops and alfalfa, but make the plants unpalatable for livestock, and clog headers on harvesting equipment with their sticky shells. There is so far no feasible way to rid the landscape of these pests, so ranchers should be wary of buying hay from areas that are known to have infestations. So far the spread has been relatively contained.

This spring, summer, and fall, Colin made numerous classroom presentations on invasive species, distributed many brochures, visited with fishermen at access sites, met with local organizations, and did podcasts on the subject.

Field Reports:

* Craig Dalgarno said that Bair Reservoir is at 2,100 Acre/ft or 30% capacity and Martinsdale is at 8,100 Acre/ft or 35% capacity. On October 1, bids came in $50,000 over budget for re-lining the Two Dot canal, so another bid solicitation will be attempted. They did some canal cleaning and bentonite linings after the end of the season. Being Chief Commissioner of the Musselshell River Water Distribution Project was a real challenge this year. Pete Marchi helped out with advice. There were 35 water priority date changes made over the short season.

* Leon Hammond reported that Deadman’s Basin Reservoir is down to 28,000 Acre/ft with no water being released. Contract water kept the Musselshell River channel wet all summer, with the exception of one 5-day period when it went dry near Delphia. 37,000 Acre/ft were delivered to irrigators. Over the winter, two canal projects and replacement of the operator gate on the dam will be accomplished.

* Lynn Rettig reported that Delphia/Melstone Water Users were out of water by July 14, with only 10.5 days of decreed water available early in the season. Contract water only lasted 7.5 days. A grant sponsored by LMCD will pay for telemetry on water gauging stations so that conditions can be monitored remotely. DNRC provided grant money for remote gate controls. The Board of the Association has still not found a replacement for Lynn, though there may be some behind-the- scenes arm-twisting going on.

Agency/ Partner Reports:

* Lower Musselshell Conservation District – Steve Tyrrel reported that fuel mitigation efforts in the future will expand to landscape scale instead of just doing small plots of timber around homes. NRCS has set aside $4.5 million for mitigation projects in Musselshell County.

* Petroleum County Conservation District -- Carie Hess has retired, and staff is struggling to keep up with the workload before a replacement administrator can be hired. Laura Nowlin has been helping with grant fund tracking and reporting requirements.

* MWC Scribe/Publicist -- Wendy Beye reported that she participated in the Floodplain Awareness Day activities sponsored by the City of Roundup. She had hoped that more “newcomers” to the area would attend, as it’s hard to believe that the summer-docile Musselshell River can become a raging giant during a flood.

* Wheatland County Weed Department – Kelsey Miller, the new Weed Dept. Coordinator, said she has been working with the City of Harlowton on their trails program through the wetlands along the river. The department received $120,000 in Weed Trust Fund money to share with landowners for weed control. Biocontrol of weeds did not go well this year, as it was too hot and dry for insects to survive. A weed survey of 30 miles of river discovered two new infestations of salt cedar. She may try a drone next year to see if weeds can be identified and marked by GPS from the air. She will be checking into the possibility of obtaining ARPA funds for irrigation infrastructure repairs and replacement in the county.

* NRCS – Devin Roloff reported that he has been working with Kelsey Miller on the weed control program in Wheatland County.

* MSU People Places Water Lab – Liam Bean has a project to look at volunteer salinity water monitoring projects like the one in the Musselshell to assess the impacts and determine whether the data are being accessed and used for decision-making.

* Montana Conservation Corps – Autumn Holzgen announced a $300,000 grant that will pay for Northern Great Plains restoration projects such as man-made “beaver dams,” wildlife-friendly fencing, and grazing management adjustments. MCC will have field crews available to help landowners with these projects, and a “demo” project is being done in Petroleum County.

* Montana State Senator – Barry Usher thanked Laura Nowlin for inviting him to participate in today’s meeting. He enjoyed hearing what the Coalition has been up to in the past few months.

Next Meeting:

The next MWC meeting will be Tuesday, December 14, noon, at a place to be decided.