East Gallatin River Near Bozeman. Photo courtesy Tammy Crone, Gallatin Local Water Quality District.

Accomplishments

Accomplishments through Collaboration.
The Greater Gallatin Watershed Council has been able to assemble an unusually broad spectrum of collaborators to accomplish its goals. Accomplishments to-date demonstrate this course of action and include:

March 2005. Community Focus Group Meeting in Gallatin Gateway. Over 120 citizens from diverse backgrounds were asked to list what issues were important to them and rank them by priority. The number one issue was surface water/ground water interaction.

April 2005. GGWC pulled together a group of scientists and diverse stakeholders to develop a grant proposal that would research ground water/surface water interaction in the watershed. The proposal garnered nomination support from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, U.S. Senators Burns and Baucus and State Senator Wheat and included letters of support from a variety of watershed stakeholders. Despite our best efforts, the proposal went unfunded, but did rank nationally.

May 2005. GGWC sponsored an educational booth at the Montana Outdoor Science School’s Annual Watershed Festival.

June 2005. More than 50 watershed residents attended GGWC’s Annual Meeting in Belgrade to hear a diverse panel of experts provide their perspectives and insight about the current status of knowledge relating to ground water/surface water interaction, land use policy, development pressures, water rights, and the decision-making process at the county level; how to resolve these conflicts; and the role science and research efforts can and should contribute to these issues.

October 2005. GGWC held our first Watershed Tour. Over 30 participants participated in a traveling dialogue on “changing lands, changing waters” with a tour highlight to the Milesnick Ranch north of Belgrade where environmental practices, sound agricultural practices and recreational opportunities come together.

January 2006. Sponsored a meeting for community stakeholders on a Bozeman Creek integrated stormwater – wetland project.

July 2006. GGWC was selected as the local group to work with the Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on state-mandated water quality planning.

October 2006. GGWC held a Gallatin Valley Water Quality Tour to publicly kick-off our water quality planning work with DEQ. Over 60 people attended.

January 2007. GGWC held an annual meeting and public forum on water quality in the Gallatin Watershed in Belgrade.

To learn more about GGWC’s accomplishments, visit our Projects & Activities page.

Financial Accomplishments

The GGWC has been successful in securing funding toward operational and organizational development as well as community outreach for our tours and forums. Thanks to the following: