In the Clark Fork Basin, environmental restoration is big business. At the headwaters, the ongoing restoration of Silver Bow Creek continues. Downstream, workers continue to excavate century-old mine tailings from the former Milltown Reservoir. And, with the filing of the Consent Decree for the mainstem Clark Fork River Superfund site in February 2008, local governments, state agencies and community groups are making preparations for the many new restoration projects that will result from the $104 million in new funding that will be administered by the State of Montana’s Natural Resource Damages Program.
Restoration projects have been recognized as an economic driver in southwest Montana for most of the last decade, and, at the state and national levels, others are beginning to quantify and explore the idea of a “restoration economy.” To explore the educational and training needs of such a restoration economy, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, along with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and Montana Tech of the University of Montana, presented a workshop on “Filling a Void: Growing Montana’s Restoration Workforce” at Montana Tech’s Copper Lounge on Thursday, October 2nd in Butte.
Before a packed house including Montana scientists, government officials, educators and representatives from labor and community groups, speakers and panelists recounted the history of environmental damages in Montana, and how by restoring damaged landscapes communities create not only healthy ecosystems, but new economic opportunities. Make no mistake, restoration is hard work, and it requires a wide variety of expertise. From on-the-ground heavy equipment operators to scientists and researchers engaged in monitoring and analysis to the designers, administrators and coordinators who take restoration projects from idea to action, restoration means jobs.
After an initial panel discussion on restoration workforce needs in Montana, workshop attendees put their heads together to better define the state’s restoration needs and the sorts of jobs and education required. There was general agreement that the greatest needs lie in the areas of communications, science, and technical skills, and that a balance must be struck between specialists focused on one aspect of the complex process of environmental restoration and generalists who can articulate a “big picture” understanding.
CFWEP Director Matt Vincent sat on an afternoon panel on the present and future of restoration education in Montana, discussing the obstacles the program has overcome and the successes it has enjoyed. The panel largely agreed on the necessary ingredients for successful restoration education: an interdisciplinary approach; project-focused lessons and courses; real-world experiences and mentorships for students; and the promotion of Montana’s stewardship culture. It has been through just such methods that CFWEP has achieved measurable successes over the past several years, and, as the concept of a restoration economy gains traction, CFWEP can serve as a valuable model for other communities seeking to promote restoration, while improving education and local economies at the same time.
A healthy environment, better education and job creation? It almost sounds too good to be true, but, from Butte to Missoula, the restoration economy is thriving. With the commitment on display at the Governor’s workshop, Montana just might be the first state in the nation to develop a sustainable economy hand-in-hand with a sustainable environment. The rest of the country stands to learn a thing or two from the transformation of the nation’s largest Superfund site into the nation’s largest restored, healthy watershed.
-Justin Ringsak, CFWEP Communications Coordinator
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Dr Arlene Alvarado: Welcome Aboard!
CFWEP is excited to announce the addition of our newest staff member, Dr. Arlene Alvarado, Program Specialist. Arlene comes to us from the Montana Tech Biology Department, where as an adjunct faculty member; she teaches Anatomy and Physiology, and has previously taught Zoology, Evolution and Introduction to Biology.
Dr. Alvarado was also a lead member of the Hanta Virus Research team as an animal behavior expert within the Biology Department. Her expertise will allow her to help CFWEP with its database development and management, field research mentorship program and as a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) faculty liaison, with our program’s new elementary education Math and Science partnership project. The addition of our new superstar Program Specialist brings CFWEP full-time staff to five, with another full-time VISTA slated to join us in January. Come meet Arlene at our next fundraiser, Saturday, November 8th from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Quarry Brewery!
Fall Fieldtrip Season Closes with a New Student Record
The fall fieldtrip season has come to a close and with it another great season with our students. As the restoration work continues to move downstream, so do our fieldtrip sites that serve as examples of a stream impacted by tailings. This fall we moved to Silver Bow Creek near Opportunity – next door to the newly built visitor’s center on Route 1. Thank you to Shelley Holland, MT DEQ for allowing us access to that site. Students monitored that site observing vegetation, water quality and macroinvertebrates. Students also monitored Silver Bow Creek in a restored section upstream of Rocker for a contrasting comparison to the tailings in Opportunity. 175 7th graders and 38 9th graders from Butte monitored those sites and each left with an imprint in their minds of what tailings next to a stream looks like, and what it looks like after tailings are removed. We hope it is a site they will remember. 32 students from Drummond school also joined the fieldtrip season monitoring sites in Garrison and Drummond.
Fieldtrip leaders who lead the fieldtrip stations with students are really what make our fieldtrips great. This year our fieldtrip leaders were: From CFWEP staff and student help, Justin Ringsak, Rayelynn Connole, Eric Henrich, Sabira Farrow and I. Volunteers included Dave Salo, US Forest Service, Carly Gibson, US Forest Service, Raj Kasinath, Montana Tech, Joe Griffin, MTDEQ, Rich Prodgers, Bighorn Environmental, Christina Talley, Montana Tech, Debbie Smith, Montana Tech, Kenda Herman, US Forest Service, and Billie-Jean Reynolds, Retired Teacher.
This year’s success with students can be marked with a new student record. CFWEP offers assistance for students interested in continuing their learning in the watershed with research projects or involvement in local projects. This year a record 20 7th grade students all from East Middle School have requested assistance in continuing their research in the watershed. Each student will be matched with a science mentor to complete their science fair project. Students will be meeting afterschool Wednesdays starting November 5th. Each week we will work through a portion of their project. They will meet with their mentors outside of this time. By February students will all have completed their projects. Anyone interested in working with these students as either a mentor, or help with the sessions is welcome!
-Jen Titus, CFWEP Field Coordinator
Fieldtrip leaders who lead the fieldtrip stations with students are really what make our fieldtrips great. This year our fieldtrip leaders were: From CFWEP staff and student help, Justin Ringsak, Rayelynn Connole, Eric Henrich, Sabira Farrow and I. Volunteers included Dave Salo, US Forest Service, Carly Gibson, US Forest Service, Raj Kasinath, Montana Tech, Joe Griffin, MTDEQ, Rich Prodgers, Bighorn Environmental, Christina Talley, Montana Tech, Debbie Smith, Montana Tech, Kenda Herman, US Forest Service, and Billie-Jean Reynolds, Retired Teacher.
This year’s success with students can be marked with a new student record. CFWEP offers assistance for students interested in continuing their learning in the watershed with research projects or involvement in local projects. This year a record 20 7th grade students all from East Middle School have requested assistance in continuing their research in the watershed. Each student will be matched with a science mentor to complete their science fair project. Students will be meeting afterschool Wednesdays starting November 5th. Each week we will work through a portion of their project. They will meet with their mentors outside of this time. By February students will all have completed their projects. Anyone interested in working with these students as either a mentor, or help with the sessions is welcome!
-Jen Titus, CFWEP Field Coordinator
Montana Schools Dive Into World Water Monitoring Day
Water is essential, not only for humans, but for the health of the natural world around us, for our industries and our development, and, for the fisherman and floaters among us, for our recreation and relaxation. But water is also a tricky little molecule. We all live within the fluid motions of the water cycle. The Earth’s waters fall to the ground as rain or snow; sink down to become groundwater; flow downhill to become part of streams, lakes and rivers; or evaporate into the atmosphere to do it all over again. The water cycle means connection. Our local actions affect our waters, which could, in turn, cycle on to affect other waters. And, over the past century, we have affected the Earth’s water in unprecedented ways.
We are only now beginning to understand the consequences through education and events like World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD). WWMD was developed by an international consortium of government and private organizations to promote our understanding of our waters, and to encourage local communities to accept the responsibilities of stewardship. With the support of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, three southwest Montana high schools took part in the 2008 WWMD, collecting and assessing data on several local water bodies.
Tenth grade students from teacher Darcy Schindler’s science class at Drummond High School spent a day at the confluence of the Little Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers and at the Clark Fork at Drummond City Park. The students completed visual observations and evaluated vegetation and animal signs and collected and assessed stream insects along with data on the baseline chemical content of the river. Based on the data they collected, students concluded that the Clark Fork River is a healthy stream and getting better over time with the help of upstream restoration projects, a far cry from the Clark Fork of past decades that would run red with metals contamination.
Further upstream, students from Butte High School and Butte Central High School monitored conditions in the Clark Fork headwaters at the Mill-Willow Creek Bypass Channel, Silver Bow Creek at the Warm Springs Ponds discharge, Silver Bow Creek near Rocker, and Blacktail Creek at Thompson Park. Students did an excellent job of navigating the complex issues and science involved in these headwaters creeks; for the curious, complete data results are listed below.
Butte High students observed significant differences between the aquatic insect populations of Silver Bow Creek at the Warm Springs Ponds discharge and, right next door, populations of the closely linked Mill-Willow Creek bypass channel that circumvents the ponds. While the bypass showed a healthy, diverse insect community, including many specimens of sensitive stoneflies and mayflies, the discharge was dominated by scuds and caddis. Similarly, Butte Central students found vastly different insect populations at Blacktail Creek and Silver Bow Creek near Rocker. While tiny swimmer mayflies and stones were found in large numbers at Blacktail, downstream at Silver Bow more pollution-tolerant leeches and blood midges had taken over. The students’ chemistry data pointed to possible explanations for the differing bug communities, including nutrient issues on Silver Bow Creek related to Butte sewage discharge and the possible effects of the Warm Springs Ponds waste treatment facility on Silver Bow Creek’s insects. All student data was submitted to the WWMD database, which catalogues monitoring results from around the globe.
To quote WWMD organizers, “The need for water is fundamental for all living things. This need knows no boundaries, and it is critical that individuals become aware of the ways in which they can impact water quality.” Today, the Clark Fork Basin offers us seen and unseen reminders of our past impacts, and, in Montana, students are demonstrating an awareness of those impacts and a commitment to the health of our rivers. The future of Montana’s waters is in good hands.
-Justin Ringsak, CFWEP Communications Coordinator
For more on World Water Monitoring Day, visit the WWMD website at http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/
We are only now beginning to understand the consequences through education and events like World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD). WWMD was developed by an international consortium of government and private organizations to promote our understanding of our waters, and to encourage local communities to accept the responsibilities of stewardship. With the support of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, three southwest Montana high schools took part in the 2008 WWMD, collecting and assessing data on several local water bodies.
Tenth grade students from teacher Darcy Schindler’s science class at Drummond High School spent a day at the confluence of the Little Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers and at the Clark Fork at Drummond City Park. The students completed visual observations and evaluated vegetation and animal signs and collected and assessed stream insects along with data on the baseline chemical content of the river. Based on the data they collected, students concluded that the Clark Fork River is a healthy stream and getting better over time with the help of upstream restoration projects, a far cry from the Clark Fork of past decades that would run red with metals contamination.
Further upstream, students from Butte High School and Butte Central High School monitored conditions in the Clark Fork headwaters at the Mill-Willow Creek Bypass Channel, Silver Bow Creek at the Warm Springs Ponds discharge, Silver Bow Creek near Rocker, and Blacktail Creek at Thompson Park. Students did an excellent job of navigating the complex issues and science involved in these headwaters creeks; for the curious, complete data results are listed below.
Butte High students observed significant differences between the aquatic insect populations of Silver Bow Creek at the Warm Springs Ponds discharge and, right next door, populations of the closely linked Mill-Willow Creek bypass channel that circumvents the ponds. While the bypass showed a healthy, diverse insect community, including many specimens of sensitive stoneflies and mayflies, the discharge was dominated by scuds and caddis. Similarly, Butte Central students found vastly different insect populations at Blacktail Creek and Silver Bow Creek near Rocker. While tiny swimmer mayflies and stones were found in large numbers at Blacktail, downstream at Silver Bow more pollution-tolerant leeches and blood midges had taken over. The students’ chemistry data pointed to possible explanations for the differing bug communities, including nutrient issues on Silver Bow Creek related to Butte sewage discharge and the possible effects of the Warm Springs Ponds waste treatment facility on Silver Bow Creek’s insects. All student data was submitted to the WWMD database, which catalogues monitoring results from around the globe.
To quote WWMD organizers, “The need for water is fundamental for all living things. This need knows no boundaries, and it is critical that individuals become aware of the ways in which they can impact water quality.” Today, the Clark Fork Basin offers us seen and unseen reminders of our past impacts, and, in Montana, students are demonstrating an awareness of those impacts and a commitment to the health of our rivers. The future of Montana’s waters is in good hands.
-Justin Ringsak, CFWEP Communications Coordinator
For more on World Water Monitoring Day, visit the WWMD website at http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org/
Milltown Dam Education Program Update
Ever since the breaching of the Milltown Dam last March the confluence area of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers has been in constant flux. Excavators and haul trucks operating, trainloads of contaminated sediments running 100 miles upstream where additional excavators and haul trucks work in reverse at the other end of the watershed, spreading Milltown wastes atop the old Opportunity Ponds tailings. Mother Nature is into it full-board too, carrying tons of sediments and woody debris downstream from the Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers, springing up new riparian growth along sandbars and stream banks and sending trout and other fish up past the confluence for the first time in more than 100 years.
It’s a busy and exciting site, progress in perpetual motion.
In fact, from the Milltown bluff viewing site, the whole process looks something like ants at a big picnic where there’s never a shortage of food, not even for one minute.
The CFWEP is pleased to give an update on our own progress in making sure Missoula, Bonner and Anaconda kids are taking it all in. In its first year of operation in Missoula, the CFWEP is working with Missoula schools to offer the Milltown Dam Education Program. It was only fitting that the first school to go through the new and improved Milltown program be the one closest to all the activity. Sean Kiffe’s 7th graders from Bonner School kicked off the 2008-09 school year in October. Since then, Sussex and St. Josephs in Missoula have taken part, with four more Missoula schools set to visit the site in the spring. Carlton Nelson’s 7-8th graders from Anaconda will finish out the fall Milltown field season the week of November 17th. If you’re a scientist interested in lending a hand or just coming out to observe, please feel welcome and contact CFWEP at mvincent@mtech.edu or at 406-496-4832.
The Milltown program includes three days of classroom lessons and hands-on activities with students and one full-day field trip visiting Milltown, the Clark Fork and the Blackfoot River to see what’s going on, both with their own eyes and with science. To that end, students take on the role of riverine scientists for a day, starting by spending a half-hour at the bluff with one of the many professional scientists and engineers working on the project. Professional scientists who have worked with the students on the project to date include Doug Martin (Natural Resource Damage Program), Ben Johnson (Envirocon), Mike Kustudia (CFRTAC), Chris Brick (Clark Fork Coalition) and Mike Bader (Bader Consulting).
From the bluff, it’s all about the students doing science themselves, led by a team of top-notch University of Montana graduate students working with Dr. Vicki Watson’s Environmental Studies program. Activity stations at the field study sites include water quality, macroinvertebrates, riparian vegetation and sediments and morphology data collection. The University student all-stars who have worked tirelessly with CFWEP in the development and implementation of the field and classroom program are Amy Edgerton, Katie Makarowski, Kelley Garrison, Bethany Taylor, Christa Torrens, Charlie Larson and Sarah Hamblock. Thanks to all who have helped make this program a success so far.
And if we haven’t seen you yet, we’ll look forward to this spring! If you’re a teacher, don’t forget to mark your calendar for Friday and Saturday, February 6-7 for the CFWEP’s next Milltown Dam Education Program Training Workshop at the Bonner School. Participants will receive a $200 stipend and are eligible for 18 OPI renewal units.
Again, visit http://www.cfwep.org/ for more information or contact Matt Vincent at 406-496-4832 or email mvincent@mtech.edu.
-Matt Vincent, CFWEP Director
The photo above shows a train loaded with contaminated sediment at the dam site. The area to the left of the train is the former reservoir, where workers are currently excavating sediment that was contaminated by historic upstream mining and smelting from Butte and Anaconda. The area to the right of the train is the former channel of the Clark Fork River. The river has currently been rerouted as part of ongoing remediation and restoration work.Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Data From East Middle School - 7th Grade Field Trip (April 24,2008)
Data From April 24,2008 EMS Fieldtrip
Blacktail Creek at Father Sheehan Park (Less-Impacted)
Blacktail Creek at Father Sheehan Park is classified as a residential, recreational, urban, area that has been impacted by mining, remediation, illegal dumping, and development.
Water Chemistry - During the visit to the Blacktail Creek site, the weather was cold and windy. The air temperature was recorded at .10 degrees Celsius, and the water temperature was recorded at approximately 3.4 degrees Celsius. The dissolved oxygen and turbidity were 6.74 mg/l and 3.13 NTU respectively. The creek was not tested for copper, but the iron and nitrate concentrations were 0.17 ppm and 0.60 ppm respectively.
Vegetation - For the vegetation assessment, the common vegetation in the riparian area consisted of willows and grasses. The plant/ground cover was dense.
Pollution Tolerance Index - The average pollution tolerance index score for this site was 23. The top three macro invertebrates found at the site were blood midges, beetles, and worms.
Silver Bow Creek at Crackerville Road, Fairmont (Impacted)
Silver Bow Creek at Creackerville Road, Fairmont is classified as residential, agricultural, partially urban/partially rural, and is a superfund site. The area has been impacted by development, mining, agriculture (stock watering/crossing, irrigation/diversion), vegetation removal/maintenance, and remediation/restoration.
Water Chemistry - During the visit to Silver Bow Creek, the weather was windy and cold with some snow. The air temperature was not recorded, and the creek temperature was recorded to be 6 degrees Celsius. The dissolved oxygen and conductivity were 10.70 mg/l and 355.17 uS/cm respectively. The copper concentration was measured at 10.5 ppm. The concentration of iron and nitrates was not recorded.
Vegetation - The common vegetation in the riparian area was mostly willows, salt grass, and tufted hair grass. The overall plant community was impacted by mining and looked very unhealthy.
Pollution Tolerance Index - The pollution tolerance index score was calculated to be 13. The top three macro invertebrates found at the site were snipe flies, blood midges, and crane flies.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Afield Again
Subalpine September snow flurries might intimidate some, but one thing we've learned here in Montana is that if you plan on working in the field, you can't wait on good weather. Such was the Anaconda Range's Storm Lake the perfect setting for our first field trip of the new school year.
CFWEP's Youth Court program took its alternative community service venture beyond new boundaries the weekend after Labor Day with an outing into the wilderness. Literally.
Wilderness photographer and enthusiast Chadeayne Roush, your anything but typical septegenarian, met our students at the Storm Lake trailhead for a 7-mile excursion into the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness area that included a semi-summit of Little Rainbow Peak (9,989') and a walk over Storm Lake Pass to the awe-inspiring Goat Flat.
None of the 13 students who made the hike had ever ventured on a hike of this distance, let alone this destination into the wilderness backcountry before. The trip was an awesome experience for the group nonetheless, as one put it best while taking in a windy vista of the Big Hole valley through a snow-speckled screen:
"I think I just found my new hangout."
Prior to making the trek, the Montana Wilderness Society's John Gatchell and Montana Tech ecology professor Dr. Michelle Anderson delivered evening lectures and discussion on the unique and important benefits that wilderness areas provide to humans, plants and animals.
Wilderness is an unspoiled setting where all of us, regardless of species, can sink in and simply be ourself without anything else getting in the way, even if it only lasts for a day. And at many times throughout this day, the students faces said it all.
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