The Jefferson River Watershed Council received $300,000 funding from the Bureau of Reclamation last week to enhance watershed planning in the Jefferson River basin to facilitate trout conservation.
The council teamed up with Montana Trout Unlimited, a grassroots organization dedicated to conserving Montana’s coldwater fishery, to secure this grant from the USBR’s WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program. This program funds projects aimed at ensuring water supply sustainability in the western United States, including the conservation of threatened aquatic species.
The funding, allocated over three years, will focus on preparing a Watershed Restoration Plan for the upper Jefferson River. Jefferson river that is a tributary of the Missouri River, and flows north through agricultural lands and limestone cliffs, and into cottonwood forests near Three Forks. The Upper Jefferson River includes the main stem of the river and its primary tributaries goes around Boulder and extends upstream into its headwaters.
