Building Capacity Around Water Quality Monitoring on the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River

This project will lead to Flathead Rivers Alliance (FRA) collaboratively producing a guiding document to steer coordinated efforts for agency and citizen science water quality monitoring efforts on the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River. FRA will have a better understanding of what services are most needed and how to expand education and outreach programming around nonpoint source pollution specific to the unique needs of the Three Forks. An added benefit long term will be having a plan to guide programming that will assist FRA in ensuring the river’s administrative agencies are meeting their obligation with the Comprehensive River Management Plan to protect the outstanding water quality of the Three Forks.

The health of the Three Forks can’t be dependent on one organization. It takes recognizing all stakeholders and involving them in the process. FRA will host meetings and workshops to ensure there is proper analysis of who is on the landscape, who is doing what, what data are we missing, and capture priorities for short and long term monitoring and success in ensuring the health of the watershed.

Funding support is provided through a grant administered by Montana Watershed Coordination Council.