Montana Trout Unlimited and the Custer Gallatin National Forest are partnering on stream restoration projects in the Beartooth Mountains beginning this summer.
The work will invest $3 million over five years to make waterways damaged by the 2022 flood more resilient to future flooding, according to David Brooks, Montana TU’s executive director. That could include everything from new culverts to fake beaver dams, reworking channels and rebuilding floodplains to reduce the velocity of high waters.
To guide the process of identifying projects, Trout Unlimited is hiring Katie Young as its first project manager in the south-central region of Montana and making the job permanent. Young will start out spending much of this summer examining possible project sites in the area, with an emphasis on the tributaries to Rock Creek outside of Red Lodge, her hometown.
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“We will be drawing on decades of Trout Unlimited work doing this all over the country,” Brooks said. “We have that experience. Montana probably has more TU project managers than any other state” that Young will be able to work with.
Historic flood
The June 2022 flood was a historic event that sent water gushing down streams across an 11,000-square-mile watershed. The runoff was generated by heavy rain falling on late snow in the Beartooth and Absaroka mountains. Some of Yellowstone National Park’s roads were so damaged that parts of the northern portion of the park were closed for the summer.
The Yellowstone River below Gardiner peaked at a record-setting crest of 13.88 feet, more than 2 feet higher than the previous record. As the water backed up at the narrows of Yankee Jim Canyon, 15 inches of sediment was deposited on adjacent fields, fishing access sites and roads.
Outside the park, high flows on the Yellowstone, Clarks Fork Yellowstone and Stillwater rivers and their tributaries inundated streamside residences — 300 just in the community of Bridger — sweeping a few into the raging waters.
Rock Creek’s peak flow hit 2,570 cubic feet per second before the gauge was washed out. Boulders 3 feet in diameter could be heard rolling down the town’s main street under the turbid water.
The Stillwater River climbed to 23,200 cfs and the Clarks Fork hit a peak flow of 21,900 cfs. All were considered 1,000-year floods. By the time the streams had joined in the Yellowstone River at Billings, the flow was up to 84,000 cfs, an increase of more than 58,000 cfs in just five days.
Rock Creek
The flood caused an estimated $38.5 million in damage at 150 sites on the Custer Gallatin National Forest, including 66 along roads, 26 road bridges, 13 recreation sites, 25 trail sites and 12 trail bridges.
Although some of the big flood repair projects were quickly completed, like repairing the Beartooth Highway, much still remains to be done.
Clint Sestrich, fisheries biologist for the Forest Service, said one of the key focuses will be on moving around woody debris in Rock Creek and its tributaries. In addition to providing fish habitat, trees and their root wads help reduce stream velocity. During the flood, many of the downed trees — and newly uprooted pines — were stacked in huge piles.
“I think there’s a need to reposition wood from those large log jams,” Sestrich said.
Bankfull bench
He also is considering the construction of small terraces next to the highway to help prevent erosion of the bank. In stream restoration these terraces are called bankfull benches, a flat or shallowly sloped area above bankfull, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The terraces can be built by anchoring trees into the bank, rather than utilizing riprap, he added.
Although much of the Rock Creek drainage, and its tributaries, are located in narrow canyons, Sestrich said the terraces have been successfully installed in other restricted areas.
In addition to Rock Creek, Sestrich said Soda Butte Creek near Cooke City was seriously ravaged by the flood and is in need of restoration.
“Some of the reaches were pretty gutted by flooding and the flood response,” he said.
The waterway has seen significant investments in the recent past to remove old mining tailings and nonnative brook trout to create a better habitat for native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Soda Butte Creek flows into Yellowstone National Park in the Lamar Valley.
“It will take time to survey and find where we can have the biggest impact,” Sestrich said.
So far, the Forest Service has been focused on replacing infrastructure like damaged bridges and roads, he added.
“Trout Unlimited really brings to the table some extra capability to focus on this work,” Sestrich said.
New hire
Young, the newly hired TU project manager, attended the University of Montana for her undergrad work. She will receive her master's degree in Environmental Management, with an emphasis in watershed-scale restoration, from Western Colorado University in May. Young also has about seven years experience in ecological restoration and community outreach with government agencies, private business and nonprofits, Brooks said.
“Local knowledge and the ability to build relationships are maybe as important as the tools we bring to the work,” he added.