The Flathead Basin Commission: Its Origins, History and Accomplishments
Before the FBC: Water Quality Concerns Sparked by Mine Proposal
In the mid–1970s, the specter of an open pit coal mine at Cabin Creek in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Flathead River in the southeast corner of British Columbia produced a groundswell of public concern about protecting the water quality of Flathead Lake and other water bodies in the Flathead Basin. Citizens in northwest Montana responded by forming the Flathead Coalition, a non–profit advocacy group that worked to raise public consciousness of the mine issue and to organize opposition to it. However, these concerned citizens soon realized that the mine was not an isolated issue and that a variety of other problems also demanded attention. Timber management practices, the operation of Hungry Horse and Kerr dams, and rapid population growth and development also posed a variety of threats to the region’s generally pristine water quality.
In response to this diffuse but growing set of concerns, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated in 1974 a study under Section 208 of the federal Clean Water Act to evaluate water quality in the Flathead Basin. The act enables states to establish regulatory programs to control nonpoint source pollution, the basin’s number one water quality concern. Following six years of study, the Flathead 208 Project report recommended greater coordination among agencies with regulatory authority regarding water quality. The report also called for voluntary adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce nonpoint source, nutrient runoff pollution.
The Flathead Coalition persisted in its requests to the Montana congressional delegation to go a big step beyond the 208 Study and gather even more science–based information on the basin. The EPA was convinced to authorize and fund the Flathead River Basin Environmental Impact Study (FRBEIS), a five–year project that was managed by a regional steering committee comprised of acknowledged technical experts. Serving on the committee were representatives of the federal government (EPA, National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service), the state of Montana (Office of the Governor and several executive agencies), the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Burlington Northern, local governments and area residents. The study represented the first time that a federally funded study was successfully managed by a local citizen’s group.
Launched in 1978, the FRBEIS sought to examine the underlying causes of diminished water quality in the basin. The FRBEIS steering committee addressed a wide range of subjects, including population growth; economic development; governmental, climatic and recreational influences; and fish and wildlife characteristics. The information gathered was to serve as a baseline of resource conditions against which future changes would be measured.
Largely as a result of the FRBEIS process, the Montana Legislature passed a measure in 1983 to create the Flathead Basin Commission. The FBC was perceived as a permanent entity to address the issues documented in the 208 Study through a concerted, highly coordinated and collaborative effort to “protect the existing high quality of the Flathead Lake aquatic environment; the waters that flow into, out of, or are tributary to the lake, and the natural resources and environment of the Flathead Basin (see MCA 75–7–302).”
The FBC’s Early Years: Building an Organization, Tackling Challenges
For the first decade of its existence, the FBC benefited from the ongoing involvement of a member of the governor’s executive staff as its executive director. When it was established, the FBC had 15 members, including citizens appointed by the governor as well as representatives of land–managing and regulatory local, tribal, state and federal agencies serving in both voting and ex–officio roles. British Columbia has always been represented by a liaison appointed by the premier of the province. Today, the organization has grown to a total of 23 members. In 1986, the FBC added its first staff member, designated as a public information officer (PIO). The organization launched an ambitious effort to increase the knowledge and understanding of water quality issues among Flathead area residents through an ongoing series of presentations to schools, civic and professional organizations, the media and other groups.
Monitoring water quality quickly became an FBC priority. Working closely with the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS), the FBC drafted a basin–wide water quality master–monitoring plan, based on priorities established by the FRBEIS. The plan identified the several types of monitoring required – hydrological, physical, chemical and biological – as well as the sites on the Flathead River and its tributaries and the allocation of monitoring activities to member agencies. This basic approach to monitoring has been maintained to varying degrees over the years, with periodic review and revision based on funding availability and agency capabilities.
Shortly after it came into existence, the FBC was a key player in achieving public support for two important initiatives designed to improve water quality in the basin by reducing phosphorus loading to Flathead Lake and some of its tributaries. The “Phosphorus Strategy,” designed by FBC member agency the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences Water Quality Bureau (now Montana Department of Environmental Quality), the plan focused on limiting phosphorus loading by upgrading Flathead County’s four municipal wastewater treatment facilities. In 1985, the FBC was a leading advocate for the passage of HB 711, a bill that gave Montana counties with natural lakes the option of adopting model phosphorus cleaning compound rules. Flathead and Lake counties were the first in the state to pass local ordinances that prohibited the sale of commercial cleaning products with more than trace amounts of phosphorus. At the time, it was estimated that approximately 100 tons of biologically active phosphorus was introduced into Flathead Lake every year. The implementation of the “Phosphorus Strategy” and removal of phosphorus–laden cleaning products from local stores had an immediate effect on the basin’s water quality.
More Water Quality Connections: Forest Practices and Land Use Planning
The late 1980s and early 1990s found the FBC looking closely how population growth and industrial activities can lead to impaired water quality, and how Best Management Practices can be designed and implemented to minimize the effect of land disturbance activities on water quality.
In 1988, a precedent–setting series of studies was undertaken to determine the influence on water quality and fisheries of such timber management–related activities as road building and timber harvesting. Titled the “Flathead Basin Forest Practices Water Quality and Fisheries Cooperative Program,” the two year, $230,000 effort was undertaken through the cooperative involvement of the FBC and a number of state and federal agencies, the University of Montana and Plum Creek Timber Company. It is believed that the study represented the first such effort in the U.S. funded jointly by government agencies and private industry. The outcome was a 215 page final report, 10 stand–alone study modules, and a conference where the scientists presented their findings. (The reports are available on request from the FBC office.)
1988 also saw the staging by the FBC of the two–day conference “Our Clean Water – The Flathead’s Resource of the Future,” which was attended by over 200 people and produced a report based in part on the recommendations of the attendees. Two years later, another multi–day workshop, “Today’s Decisions – Tomorrow’s Results,” involved over 100 area residents who studied the links between population growth, land development, and water quality. Participants helped identify commonly held community values (the present high quality of the environment, etc.), obstacles to proper growth (conflict between personal interests and public good, etc.), opportunities to help remedy problems (pro–active planning, etc.), and specific action items (basin–wide land use planning and permitting, etc.) The late FLBS researcher, Dr. Jessie Bierman, was quoted as saying, “There is so little of it left! And it will become ever more precious as time goes on. Flathead Lake and all of the basin’s waters can bring a degree of prosperity to the area that no amount of short term exploitation can achieve.”
New FBC Initiatives: Citizens Roll up Their Sleeves and Get Involved
Issues in the North Fork of the Flathead have been an important focus of the FBC since its inception. In 1991, Governor Stan Stephens asked the FBC to initiate a process that would define appropriate levels of development and management in the North Fork. The FBC organized a steering committee of representatives of citizen groups, agencies and industry and began a yearlong process to “define and implement compatible, equitable and sustainable activities and management strategies in the upper Flathead River Basin of Montana and British Columbia.” The resulting “North Fork of the Flathead Conceptual Strategy” identified goals and suggestions for agencies and private property owners to help achieve them. Although non–binding, the strategy is still cited as a baseline policy reference in ongoing land development issues in the North Fork.
In 1992, the FBC established a program for citizen volunteers to monitor water quality on area lakes. In the years since, the Volunteer Monitor Program (VMP) has trained close to 200 area residents in techniques to monitor the water quality and environmental health of lakes, streams and wetlands. The program continues to this day, with an ongoing series of workshops to train participants and disseminate the collected data. Over the years, almost 50 sites on over three–dozen lakes have been monitored for a variety of physical and chemical parameters, producing thousands of data entries from lakes that lack any other kind of science–based water quality monitoring information. The results of the volunteers’ efforts are made available on request, and have been used, for instance, to determine whether or not a lake should be listed as an impaired water body. Efforts are made every year to expand and strengthen the program, involve more citizens, and monitor more water bodies.
In 1994, with technical assistance from the Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program of the National Park Service, the FBC worked with local citizens to establish The Flathead River Partnership. The Partnership, with FBC support, conducted a survey of property owners on the 42–mile main stem of the Flathead River and organized a series of public scoping meetings to obtain public input on issues affecting the river. Working with such NGOs as The Flathead Lakers and a variety of partner agencies, the FBC produced “The Flathead River Map,” now in its second, updated edition, to provide basic information on stewardship and best management techniques, focusing on the Flathead River corridor.
The FBC organized and conducted in the “Crown of the Continent Eco–region Workshop,” a two–day gathering of public policy, social science, economic and scientific experts who made presentations to an audience of invited representatives of non–profit organizations and foundations. The purpose of the workshop was to acquaint funding organizations with critical needs in the Flathead Basin and to encourage their financial support of projects to address those needs. The FBC produced a summary of the conference presentations.
The FBC also initiated the “Scientific Roundtable,” engaging scientists from several universities in Montana and Idaho to assist land managers in the implementation of a process that integrates eco–system management principles into basin–wide planning.
In an effort to engage a wider range of public participation in watershed issues, the FBC collaborated with other agencies and non–profit organizations (NGOs) in a six month–long planning process to organize and conduct an interactive workshop on watershed issues. “The Power, Promise and Prospect of Water in the Flathead: What’s The Role of Local Watersheds?” involved close to 100 area residents and helped lay the foundation for the creation of several local, citizen–based watershed groups in coming years. The workshop was the first of several similar events conducted in coordination with the Montana Watercourse’s “Know Your Watershed” program.
In its ongoing role of monitoring land use trends in the North Fork of the Flathead River, representatives of the FBC, at the invitation of British Columbia, attended, observed and participated in a series of public forums in southeast BC conducted to create new land use guidelines through the Commission on Resources and Environment (CORE) process.
Watershed Planning and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
In the mid 1990s, the FBC used a $10,000 EPA grant and worked with the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, MDHES and MDNRC to lay the groundwork for a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan for Flathead Lake. A coordinator for the project was hired and a 16–month long process began in 1995 to define protection targets for key nutrients identified as TMDL loads and establish target loads for Flathead. In 1996, using a $150,000 EPA grant, the FBC enlisted a number of partners, including the FLBS, CSKT, Flathead County, MDEQ and student volunteers from area high schools, and conducted a series of basin–wide data gathering exercises – the synoptic analysis phase – to collect water quality and flow data at over 100 sites on rivers and streams throughout the Flathead Basin. Based on information gathered during this process, the FBC established an interim target of 80 grams of carbon at the mid–lake deep site in Flathead Lake, in addition to other quantifiable benchmarks. A monitoring plan was also developed to determine the whether or not the loading targets are being met.
Voluntary Nutrient Reduction and Local Watershed Groups: The Next Step
In 1999, the FBC initiated the Voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy (VNRS) program, a coordinated, basin–wide effort to reduce nonpoint sources of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution at upstream sources from Flathead Lake and on the lake’s perimeter. Several VNRS demonstration projects, funded by a 319 grant, were installed at sites on Flathead Lake to test the effectiveness of buffer zones and other bio–engineering techniques designed to reduce shoreline erosion and inhibit the transport of nutrients from managed landscapes into the lake. The FBC engaged Kirk Environmental, a consulting firm, to coordinate the VNRS program, prepare grant submissions to acquire funds, and manage VNRS projects.
To more effectively involve local residents in identifying nonpoint source pollution sources and identifying strategies to mitigate them, the FBC worked in 1999 to establish the Ashley Creek Watershed Group in one of the Flathead Basin’s fastest growing and historically most polluted local watersheds. A watershed–wide invitation for residents to participate and a series of public meetings resulted in the creation of a group that conducted monthly meetings and the drafting of a “working protocol” to provide the new organization with a formal structure and an outline of responsibilities for individual members and the group as a whole. Utilizing the findings of an MDEQ–funded assessment of Ashley Creek and its tributaries conducted by Watershed Consulting, the ACWG prioritized sites for restoration activities. To date, five projects on Ashley, Mount and Truman creeks, utilizing a variety of federal, state and foundation funding, have been completed to address a variety of stream impairment conditions and improve water quality. Close to $1 million to date has been invested in water quality improvement projects in the Ashley Creek watershed.
The FBC, with a grant from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, also coordinated a watershed assessment of Stoner Creek on the west shore of Flathead Lake at Lakeside and worked with the local town council to initiate a similar locally–directed watershed effort on this small but important tributary to Flathead Lake.
In an effort to strengthen relations with the province of British Columbia and encourage closer cooperation among agencies with similar functions on both sides of the border, the FBC in the late 1990s organized an ongoing series of “information exchange” annual meetings. Conducted in alternating years in Montana and BC, these sessions included presentations by agency representatives and field trips to allow participants to see on–the–ground examples of water quality problems and solutions.
Into The New Century: Building Partnerships, On-the-Ground Gains
The FBC continues to seek innovative ways to engage area residents in its effort to monitor, protect and improve water quality in the basin. Working in partnership with other watershed groups in western Montana and Idaho, the FBC submitted a million dollar grant proposal to the EPA’s “Watershed Initiative” program, winning the number one ranking in the country. The largest portion of the FBC’s funds was used for an innovatively engineered project to reduce sediment runoff into Mount Creek from the nearby Mount Creek Road. Workshops for landowner BMPs were conducted, and the FBC produced and distributed a DVD video, Healthy Lakes through Living Shores, designed to encourage the practice of BMPs. The FBC also organized the “Water Summit” workshop for agencies and educational institutions that conduct water quality monitoring in the basin to document the basin’s inventory of Meta data.
Bi–lateral relations with British Columbia became a central focus once again. Montana Governor Martz and BC Premier Campbell signed the “Montana–BC Environmental Cooperative Agreement” to achieve a higher level of cooperation between the two governments. Working with the FBC, Governor Schweitzer has continued efforts to improve relations with BC, authoring a series of letters to the BC premier and personally meeting with the leader and his top environmental advisors.
When Canadian firms announced plans for coal and methane gas extraction in the upper Flathead Basin and adjoining areas in 2004, the FBC organized a one–day forum of scientific and public policy presentations on the issue. It also passed a resolution requesting assistance of the U.S. congressional delegation to work through the U.S. Secretary of State to address the issue through the Boundary Waters Treaty. In another effort to improve communication with agencies in neighboring Canadian provinces, the FBC maintains a long–running involvement in the Crown Managers Partnership (CMP). The effort is designed to improve information sharing, coordination and cooperation among natural resource agencies in the “Crown of the Continent” region shared by Montana, Alberta and British Columbia.
To strengthen its organizational effectiveness, manage project contracts and develop new initiatives, the FBC in 2004 hired an Executive Director. The FBC also continues its efforts to engage basin residents and partner organizations and agencies in identifying and implementing solutions to water quality problems through a variety of outreach efforts, including: conducting regularly scheduled meetings in communities throughout the basin; collaborating with other agencies and NGOs to address a wide variety of water quality issues; maintaining a website; and, among other education–based outreach efforts, identifying area residents and organizations for receipt of its “Stewardship Award.”
Since its inception in 1992, the “Stewardship Award” has been presented to former Flathead Lakers president Richard Wollin, William Edelman and the Lower Flathead Valley Community Foundation, Peter LeDonne and the Crossroads Golf Club, and Coldwell Banker Wachholz & Company Real Estate.
As a matter of routine, the FBC makes in its biennial reports formal recommendations related to advancing FBC priorities to the state legislature, the state’s congressional delegation, and federal, state, tribal and local agencies.
In 2003, after two decades of administrative attachment to the Office of the Governor, the Montana Legislature passed SB 138, which permanently attached the FBC to MDNRC. It is administratively attached to the MDNRC’s Water Resources Division.
