rethinking the swamp -- montana mends its wetlands

7/28/2019 Rethinking The Swamp -- Montana Mends Its Wetlands

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addy Pope is giving a tour o the old Story Mill

District on the otsirts o Bozeman. It is early

spring, the day trying to decide seasons. The grond

is thawing, bt snow lingers. Ice breas nderoot. A pair o

mallards brst rom a hidden pddle. They seem lonely, waiting

or company. The grond is hmmocy, sponge-lie. Last years

cattails crowd a drainage ditch, ll o red-winged blacbirds.

Abandoned arm bildings decay on the site. A icer calls rom

the trees.

Pope leads the way to a small pond, only visible when she

gets close.

Three deer were illed by montain lions on this property

this winter, she says. And yet, the Food Ban bilding is in

plain sight, the bac o a storage nit complex btts p against

the property, interstate trafc is both visible and adible.Story Mill was once the economic hb o Bozeman. It had its

own railroad spr, a complex o grain elevators, a bstling live-

stoc action yard. Nelson Story and his descendants developed

the property and oversaw a vibrant era o growth in the Gal latin

Valley, between 1880 and 1950. The center o their empire was

right here. Part o that development involved improving this

wet section o land nestled in the headwaters o the East Gallatin

River drainage.

Fill was trced in or an access road and or pads nder

bildings. This small pond was excavated and bermed. A drain-

age ditch was dg, channeling overow away to the nearby

cree. Water, bac t hen, was more problem than asset.

Today the economic ocs has shited elsewhere. The live-

stoc action yard is a vacant set o rotting corrals. Several

grain elevators loom above, silent now, the only movement the

ash o pigeons coming and going. Only the Stocyard Ca

remains active, now catering its ny atmosphere to an rban

breaast crowd. The railroad right-o-way has become part othe city trail system. Jst to the north, what was a densely pop-

lated trailer par has been abandoned and cleared, victim o a

ailed development scheme.

The more science we get, the clearer it becomes, Hinz

says. Beore white settlement, water was abndant. Floodplains

were wide, river channels were deep, native orests were thriv-

ing, beaver were plentil. Settlers came in and either drained

wetlands or the plow or sed them as garbage dmps. Now these

same areas are choed with R

are pshed into remnant bits

bottoms are dying o. Whole

ecology has changed.

Farmers and ranchers

contines, Bt what oten ha

dams and ponds, which arent

spport wetland vegetation a

wildlie, insects and fsh. The

are better than nothing, they

ooding, bt they arent the sa

Wetlands and riparian

percent o or land base, a

nator with the Montana Depa

Yet they spport more than

greatest need o protection. T

percent o all plant species in

the coral rees o the West.

Despite his blea assess

l. Everyone who drins wa

Attitdes are changing. Peop

fts o landscape not simply a

or harvested. There are some

perspectives, woring on this.

M

This is about water in our urban core, says Maddy

Pope, project coordinator for the Trust for Public

Land. Here, she waves to an arriving friend at a

wetlands restoration project near Bozeman.

The environmental ethic has changed as well, and Pope

is the ambassador o that evoltion. She represents the Trst

or Pblic Land, which recently negotiated the prchase o a

64-acre parcel that incldes this 10-acre wetland along with

the abandoned trailer par land on the north side o t he river.

This property was heavily impacted by all the historic

activity, Pope emphasizes. Bt yo can see how beatil it is.

TPL envisions ndoing mch o t he so-called improvement

on the land. Stripping the berm rom arond the small pond,flling the drainage ditch, allowing overow water to seep into

the srronding wetland and grond water, doing battle with

noxios weeds lie the feld o tansy next to the storage nits,

encoraging wildlie with restored habitat. TPL is in the process

o proposing a partnership with Bozeman and other entities to

create a wetland par here or pblic se.

It wold allow or trail connections, says Pope. It might

inclde commnity gardens next to the Food Ban. We wold

enhance the stream corse. The wetland wold also help miti-

gate ooding and priy grond water. This has the potential

to become a real rban oasis or people and wildlie to share.

It is not a done deal. The prchase has been made, and

nding partnerships are being pt in place, bt the City o

Bozeman has to by in to incorporating this large par addi-

tion. Pope and TPL hope to pt the proposal, and their vision,

to the Bozeman City Commission in the all o 2013.

We now were competing with other interest grops, romsoccer parents who want more felds to ols who want an ice-

climbing eatre. Bt we are woring to mae this an attractive

possibility.

She trns and srveys the wetland spreading rom the

small pond, loos ot toward the river. The city srronds her,

the sonds o trafc, bt yo can see the transormation bloom-

ing in her expression.

Imagine how cool that wold be, she says.

CONVERSATIONS ABOuTCONSERVATION TAkE TIME

om Hinz, of the Montana Wetlands Legacy

Partnership, pts things more starly. As wetlands

go, so will the state o Montana, he claims. Im wor-

ing really hard to retain some o the qality o t his environment

or my daghters and their children.

Hinz has been helping with the T PL project in Bozeman, as

well as some notable conservation easement and stream restora-

tion eorts in the Madison River Valley.

T

w

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Wetlands are the rainforest of the West, says Tom Hinz, coordinator for

the Montana Wetlands Legacy Partnership.


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One o those people is Nathan korb, with The Natre

Conservancy in Helena. Most o korbs wor is concentrated

in the Centennial Valley and the pper reaches o the Big Hole

River, both regions that boast large tracts o wetland habitat

and nbroen landscapes.

korb calls his wor science stewardship. He ocses on

stream restoration, weed control, fre, grazing. He has spent

years on projects woring side by side with armers and ranch-

ers in sothwest Montana.

Its not rocet science, says korb. Most o it is pretty

simple. Fencing a little di erently, eeping cattle ot o stream-

beds, eliminating or enlarging clverts, connecting habitat.

The challenge is gaining trst. Thats where I scceed or ail.

And it taes t ime and patience.

korb has earned himsel a nicname, Willow Man, or hisdedication to planting and restoring stands o wetland vegeta-

tion. He remembers one day in 1992, dring his frst smmer

in the Centennial, when a rancher plled p in a trc while he

was planting willow.

He didnt say anything, korb remembers. Jst sat there

looing at me. Finally, he said something abot how willow

never grew ot there and drove o.

A cople o months went by. We came across each other

again. We had another 30-second conversation abot willows.

This went on or almost 10 years. Two or three times a year

wed ndge the conversation a tiny bit, then wed go o and

thin abot it.

Eleven years later that same gy agreed to ence o his

streambed to protect willow. He even ased s to enlarge the

area. That was a great ll circle. Bt it too a decade.

No one nows this lesson better than Tim Swanson, now

retired rom The Natre Conservancy. Swanson spent the

better part o 20 years woring with armers and ranchers in

the Centennial and Big Hole valleys. I there is one person who

deserves credit or the protection o those sweeping watersheds,

it is Swanson. He, too, committed to the patient, long-term

approach to developing trst throgh relationships.

I dran a lot o bad coee arond itchen tables in ranch

hoses, he laghs. Mostly I jst listened to peoples stories.

Moose are often found grazing the willows and grasses of riparian areas.

Facing page: A small frog rests in a

cattail stand in a wetland near Bozeman.

Mostly I jst listened to peoples stories.

I didnt come in with my plan, my soltion.

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I didnt come in with my plan, my soltion. I listened to their

history, their strggles, their hopes, their visions or t he tre.

Swansons style led to some amazing reslts. When he

started, there were barely 1,000 acres in the entire Centennial

in conservation easement. Twenty years later, largely throgh

his eorts, there are more than 60,000 acres held in a variety o

easements. Every acre o it is a matter o trst.

Everyone is involved, says Swanson. From the owners

right down to the individal cowboys. They are all part o it.

The Centennial is the l argest intact wetland ecosystem in

the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Swanson says. An amaz-

ing place. And all yo have to do is pop over Red Roc Pass to

Henrys Lae to see the other option. Henrys Lae sed to have

everything the Centennial hasswans, cranes, loons, stands o

willows, beaver. Development changed that orever.

Problem is, not everyone has the lxry o that level o

patience, and maybe the landscape cant aord that lxry

either.

I a valley becomes trly dehydrated, and stays that way

or several decades, it may never be able to recover, says Hinz.

John Dooling, born more than 70 years ago on the amily

ranch high p the Big Hole River, epitomizes the process. He

also personifes an abiding inship with a landscape. He is

within a ew miles o the literal headwaters o the Big Hole, better

than 7,000 eet high. The Bitterroot Montains rise to the west.

The river bottom spreads wide with willow thicets. A place lod

with birds, rich with beaver and moose. Sandhill cranes call

rom the felds. He is eight miles down a dirt road rom Jacson,

the nearest town, which is to say that it is really, really qiet,

sometimes lonely, and oten beatil beyond words.

I gess yod say Im a reactionary conservative, he says.

Dooling is a pleasant, sot-spoen man. He doesnt trst govern-

ment intererence. He woldnt call himsel an environmentalist,

doesnt thin mch o ideas lie wol reintrodction. At the same

time, he is thoghtl, traditionally conservative, with a cast o

mind that embraces taing care o the land.

I went away to school, lived ot east or a while, went

to college. Ive seen a bit o the world. Dooling pases. Sn

reects o the felds o snow otside. Water drips rom the roo.

The montains lit against the western sy, shadows o clods

rippling over them.

We now what we have

We also now that change is

can stay what it has always be

At frst I thoght conserv

Dooling says. We were appro

Arctic grayling then, and e

spposed to be one o those

good or the fsh.

Dooling too his time. He

and others. He told stories, ta

abot his misgivings.

Ranching is a marginal

dont tae a step lie that light

Dooling committed to an woring within that ramewor

Its grown on s, he adm

abot it. Some have agreed to

In Doolings case, easeme

change. We never did tear thin

the land alone, let Mother Natr

the willows or drained a lot o p

ment they told s to jst eep d

LOOkIN

eeing is believing

set by people lie the

o conservation prog

is nothing more powerl than

Sanders is dedicated to s

wetlands, particlarly in east

than 500 projects, partnering w

tribal agencies, as well as with

grond zero or him.

Imagine i that were 10,000 acres o

redwood orest being clear-ct every year.

People wold be chaining themselves to trees.

S

Bob Sanders, manager of conserva

Facing Page: John Dooling on his ranch west of Jackson, Montana.

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All th pics a in plac f a gat gtawa: a cnt-lng

ptatin, cls pximit t wld-class catin and nspass

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to plow. Yo cant really blame them, Sanders contines.

Theyre jst trying to rn a bsiness.

He nderstands, bt the thoght o losing those CRP lands

is what eeps him p at night.

There are projections or CRP losses in the tens o

millions o acres, nationwide. Were already losing 10,000

acres o native grasslands every year in Montana, he says.

Thats ancient, historic soil that goes bac to the time oglaciers. No weeds, incredibly diversifed.

Imagine i that were 10,000 acres o redwood orest being

clear-ct every year, he contines. People wold be chaining

themselves to trees.

His motto, says Sanders, is Farm the best, leave the rest.

I its marginal grond to begin with, he adds, Why not

eep it in pastre? Or data tells s that most o that CRP land

is pretty poor or crops. And its more than dcs that ser

when its lost. In addition to wetlands, t he srronding prairie

provides ood, cover and habitat or many species. This is an

ecosystem ll o sage grose,

trophic pyramid, rom grasshop

Sanders preers volntary i

ment intact. And when people

helps get them to sign on to a pr

Lets say we boght some r

he says. Once we by it, we se

Fish and Wildlie Service. Weleave the wetlands alone, and s

the new owner can mae pencil

it sits there as an example every

More important, that land a

pintails and gadwalls and rdd

spring to breed and nest. It sp

the trtles and migrating warb

Canada geese and avocets. It r

clamor o lie, as well as land w

Win. Win.

Montana is the third largest dc prodcing state in

the Lower 48, he says. Sixty percent o North Americandcs prodce yong in prairie potholes lie those in

Montana. Thats all de to the act t hat we still have intact

habitat in the eastern plains. My wor has a parallel mission

with that o ranchers. The ideal is to create woring land-

scapes or ranchers and nctioning homes or wildlie.

Sanders wor in Montana centers on Blaine, Phillips

and Sheridan conties. Mch o that contry has retained

its nbroen character by virte o the ederal Conservation

Reserve Program, which pays armers to stop plowing land

that is highly ssceptible to erosion, and to leave it as

pastre. Essentially, the government rents the land rom

the armers. Bt recent bdget pressres are threatening

the tre o that program and high commodity prices are

maing marginal lands loo more attractive.

Its a perect storm, warns Sanders. In Montana alone

there are one million acres o land nder expiring CRP

contracts. Factor in high commodity prices, pls t he saety

net o crop insrance that garantees payment even i the

crop ails, and its a low-ris eqation or armers tempted

Eared grebes commonly nest along marshy ponds, feeding on

aquatic insects and crustaceans.

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that land and its water are magnets or the pintails and gadwalls an

oc north every spring to breed and nest. It spports the pronghorn a

and migrating warblers, the sandhill cranes and Canada geese and a

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rethinking the swamp -- montana mends its wetlands

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