In anticipation of another drought year, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is providing an opportunity for funding to assist private landowners, watershed groups and others to act now to help Montana’s fisheries survive the low stream flows associated with drought. "All the indicators point to continued drought, so we’re urging people with project ideas for improving stream flow this summer to submit their proposals by April 20," said Kathleen Williams, FWP water resources program manager. "We’ve created this special one-time funding window through FWP’s Future Fisheries Program specifically to get projects on-line by this summer." Any individual or group with a project designed to restore or enhance in-stream flow may apply. "Successful stream flow enhancement projects funded over the past several years all have one thing in common -- cooperation and trust," said Glenn Phillips, Chief of the Habitat Protection Bureau in FWP’s Fisheries Division. Phillips cited the Upper Big Hole Watershed Group as an example of what can be accomplished when people work together to find creative approaches. The watershed group helped to conserve water by replacing stock-water diversions with wells, which watered 3,000 cattle this summer. The wells helped to increase stream flows by about 6 to 18 cubic feet per second during the low-flow months last summer. Projects that could qualify for this emergency funding might, for example, replace a surface diversion with a well, improve the efficiency of an irrigation system with the water savings left in-stream, or dedicate water to in-stream use through a lease agreement, Phillips said. Projects should result in significant benefits to fisheries on a long-term basis and water must stay in-stream over a significant length of the river or stream. FWP and Department of Natural Resources and Conservation staff will work with successful applicants to ensure that water rights dedicated to in-stream use are protected. Lt. Governor Karl Ohs, who chairs the Governor’s Drought Advisory Committee, urged water users to consider creative and proactive drought planning. "Early action now, and continued efforts to reduce Montana’s vulnerability to drought, will pay off in the future," Ohs said. "Water conservation measures are essential to sustain our agricultural way of life, while at the same time ensuring that our world class trout streams are protected." Applications for this emergency funding window are due April 20 and will be evaluated by the Future Fisheries Review Panel on May 1. Recommended projects will be brought before the FWP Commission for final approval on May 11. Contracting and other administrative requirements should be completed and projects ready to begin by June 15. The Future Fisheries Enhancement Program’s regular deadlines of July 1 and January 1 offer additional opportunities for project funding. Future Fisheries Program application forms are available on the FWP web site at http://fwp.state.mt.us. For more information on FWP’s water resources program, contact Kathleen Williams at 406-444-3888 or for drought information, visit the Governor’s Drought Advisory Committee web site at http://nris.state.mt/drought/. For information on the Future Fisheries Program, contact Glenn Phillips at 406-444-5334 or Mark Lere at 406-444-2432.
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