FWP Sends Drought Alert To New Water Users In Some River Basins And Blue Ribbon Streams

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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is sending drought warning letters for the first time since 1994 to water users with junior water rights on streams important to Montana’s fisheries. Letters are going to junior water users in the Yellowstone, Missouri, and Little Missouri river basins and on some of the 12 blue ribbon streams on which FWP holds in-stream water rights. Statewide, stream flows are projected to be between 60 and 77 percent of average this summer, according to Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) estimates. In April, the Governor’s Drought Advisory Committee issued a drought alert for 46 Montana counties. Alert Counties received a letter from the Committee encouraging them to consider appropriate pre-emptive drought measures at the local level. "Our goal is to alert junior water users in the three basins and on our blue ribbon trout streams of the projections for continued low stream flows and to the possibility that FWP may request those with junior water rights to stop diverting water from certain streams, if drought conditions persist," said Kathleen Williams, FWP’s water resources program manager. Making this "call" for water would be done on a stream-by-stream basis as the summer progresses in an attempt to protect priority fisheries in the state. Recent dry conditions have already impacted Montana’s fisheries and experts such as NRCS predict that these conditions will continue and possibly worsen. Williams said long-term projects to conserve in-stream flow, water leases with senior water rights holders, fish-friendly irrigation structures and overall water conservation measures and strategies worked out at the local level in advance of low-water conditions make a significant impact in dry years. "Also, some watershed groups, such as the Big Hole Watershed Committee, have low-stream flow response plans that are triggered when extremely dry weather conditions come into play," Williams said. Many Montana counties have established local drought committees in response to the alert. Interested individuals may wish to get involved in these efforts or related planning that a local watershed group or Conservation District may be doing. Updated climate projections and stream flow information can be accessed via the State of Montana’s Drought web page at http://www.state.mt.us/ -- choose "Drought 2000" from the "Hot Sites" list.