The Bitterroot River Protection Association (BRPA) was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the Rapp Family Foundation to purchase additional water quality monitoring and stream flow measuring equipment.
“This couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Executive Director Michael Howell. He said the organization’s monitoring program, the Bitterroot River Health Check program, has been collecting nutrient data annually at six sites along the Mainstem of the Bitterroot River and at 11 sites on six tributaries along the Sapphire Front (the east side of the valley) for the last six years.
“So far we have been able to do it by juggling the same monitoring equipment between the volunteer team working on the river and the volunteer teams working on the streams, but it has made scheduling the whole thing very difficult and even conflicting at times,” said Howell. “Not only that, but we are currently working with the Bitterroot National Forest on a joint Sampling and Analysis Plan that would extend our monitoring program across the Bitterroot Front [the west side of the valley]. For that to go forward more equipment will be absolutely essential.”
“We realized in the very beginning that our dream of a systematic long term water quality monitoring program across the Bitterroot River watershed was not something we could do on our own,” said Howell. “It may have been our vision and our adopted mission, but it has taken the whole community to make it a reality.”
The “citizen science” based program is headquartered at the Bitterroot College and depends heavily on individual volunteers and partnering organizations such as Bitterroot Trout Unlimited, Bitterrooters for Planning, and Friends of the Bitterroot and on donations from individual community members and local businesses and grants.
Howell said the program works closely with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Flathead Lake Biological Laboratory to assure a high level of performance in the field and good quality data in the end.
“Besides our own projects, we participate in government agency sponsored water monitoring projects, in training and educational programs at the Bitterroot College and in university related research projects, as well as other independent water quality monitoring projects in the Bitterroot River watershed,” said Howell.
“We owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people, businesses and government agencies for our success to date,” he said. “But right now we owe a special thanks to the Rapp Family Foundation. We benefited significantly from a Rapp Family Foundation grant when we initially set out to get this community based watershed monitoring program started. We are very appreciative that they have stepped up once again to help us obtain the equipment necessary not only to continue our ongoing efforts, but also in dealing with the increased needs as we expand our operations into the Bitterroot Front.”
Donations to the Bitterroot River Health Check Program are spent only on equipment, supplies, laboratory/data analysis and professional services when required. To donate go to www.bitterrootriver.org, click on Bitterroot River Health Check and click the Donation Button. Be sure to add in the note option under the amount: “Health Check program” OR make your check out to: BRPA- Health Check and mail it to: BRPA- Health Check, P. O. Box 8, Stevensville MT 59870.