Project Grant R19AP00274

This Project Grant award, provided by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation under the Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554), will fund capacity-building and implementation activities to increase the health and resilience of the Upper Yellowstone and Shields River watersheds in Montana. The $299,533 award to Montana Freshwater Partners, Inc. will support: 1) formalizing the Park County Water Initiative to coordinate stakeholder collaboration; 2) developing a website to house prioritized...

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $300,000 Project Grant under the Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554) to the Jefferson River Watershed Council in Montana. The grant supports the council's efforts to improve water quality and quantity in the Jefferson River watershed, which is a primary tributary of the Missouri River basin. Key activities include completing a watershed restoration plan with stakeholder input, designing low-tech,...

The Bureau of Reclamation, through its Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554), awarded a $298,300 Project Grant to the Bitterroot Water Partnership in Hamilton, MT. The grant will support the Partnership's efforts to develop a comprehensive, prioritized restoration action plan for the Bitterroot Subbasin in western Montana. Key activities include expanding data collection, identifying practical solutions to address critical watershed needs, and finalizing actionable strategies...

The Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $345,500.52 Project Grant under the Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554) to the Sun River Watershed Group (SRWG), a non-profit organization based in Great Falls, Montana. This 3-year award, with an anticipated completion date of September 30, 2027, aims to expand SRWG's ability to support watershed stakeholders by enhancing programs and identifying projects that benefit natural resources and communities in the Sun River watershed. Key...

This $300,000 Project Grant award from the Bureau of Reclamation's Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554) supports the Headwaters of the Colorado (HOC) Initiative, a multi-stakeholder collaboration focused on building resilient and functioning forested headwaters within the Little Snake and Yampa watersheds in Wyoming and Colorado. The funding will enable the HOC partnership, which includes federal and state land management agencies, private landowners, and local community...

This $250,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the USGS Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808) will support two major water projects in the Harney Basin of Oregon: 1) a beaver survey and analysis of stream water storage potential, and 2) flood flow distribution modeling of the Harney Valley under different flow regimes. The funding will also support the Community Based Water Planning Collaborative's development of an Integrated Water...

This Cooperative Agreement award from the Bureau of Reclamation under the Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program (CFDA 15.078) provides $1,224,810.85 to Montana State University to address deficiencies in current snow monitoring through the deployment of emerging snow observation technologies. The project aims to enhance spatial characterization of snow cover using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) gamma-ray and LiDAR measurements, coupled with ground-based cosmic ray and gamma-ray snow water...

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the National Fish Passage program (CFDA 15.685) provides $600,000 in funding to the Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited (BBCTU) and its partners to restore habitat for sensitive fish species in Montana's Blackfoot River watershed. Key project activities include removing one aging agricultural dam, replacing two culverts with aquatic organism passage structures, and eliminating fish...

This $129,997 Cooperative Agreement, awarded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under its Research and Data Collection program (CFDA 15.808), supports two primary objectives: Providing tools and assisting with data collection and management of snowpack data for water resource planning for the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. This includes deploying a hydroclimatic automated weather station and using uncrewed aerial systems to collect high-resolution snowpack data, which will be integrated and...

The Clarks Fork Yellowstone Partnership will receive $147,620 under a Project Grant award from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation's Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CFDA 15.554) to complete outreach, river assessments, and restoration planning for the lower and middle reaches of the Clarks Fork Yellowstone River in Montana. Specifically, the Partnership will diversify its membership through outreach, conduct assessments of river conditions in the lower and middle...