Riparian Restoration - Montana Tech of the University of Montana

Vol 2 Issue 1 

Clark Fork Watershed Education Program 

Made In Butte, Montana 

Riparian Restoration 

A Bird’s Eye View 

University of Montana’s 

Bird’s Eye View Education Programs 

Spring/Summer 2012 

Montana steward 

INSIDE: 

University of Montana 

Avian Science Center 

and Cfwep.Org 

Silver Bow Creek: 

Restoration 

“for the Birds!” 

Montana Waterfowl 

Foundation of Ronan 

NRD and BNRC 

Montana’s Superfund 

Ground Control 

Montana Tech’s 

Institute for Educational 

Opportunities 

Opens New Doors 

�e Montana Steward • Spring 2012 • Cfwep.Org (Clark Fork Watershed Education Program • The Insittute for Educational Opportunities • Montana Tech • Butte, Montana 

Free 

2012 

Butte’s Lou Parrett: 

Montana’s First 

Restoration Educator?

The Montana Steward Spring/Summer 2012 Cfwep.Org - Clark Fork Watershed Education Program Page 2 

Neversweat Stacks, 1900 

BUTTE CTEC 

WE TALK SUPERFUND ISSUES 

BUTTECTEC.ORG 

CTEC is a non-profit citizen 

volunteer organization 

Available to answer 

your Butte-area 

Superfund questions 

Citizens’ Technical Environmental Committee 

27 West Park Street, Butte, MT 59701 

Phone: 406-723-6247 

Providing Engineering Consulting Services for a Complex World 

Revegetation�Services� 

� 

Contaminant�� 

Characterization� 

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Environmental�Permitting� 

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Bank�Stabilization� 

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Irrigation�Structure�Analysis� 

BUTTE 

406.782.5220 

GREAT FALLS 

406-761-2290 

www.wet-llc.com 

Watershed�Assessment�&� 

Characterization� 

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Long�Term�Effectiveness� 

Monitoring� 

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Ground�Water�Surface�� 

Water�Interaction� 

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TMDL�Studies� 

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GIS/GPS�Mapping�and�� 

Custom�Software�� 

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The Montana Steward Spring/Summer 2012 Cfwep.Org - Clark Fork Watershed Education Program Page 2


NRDP & BNRC 

Superfund’s Ground Control 

The Butte Natural Resource 

Damage Restoration Council 

An interview with Elizabeth Erickson BNRC Chair 

The Butte Natural Resource Council (BNRC) – seated left to right: Steve Gallus, 

Larry Curran, Helen Joyce, Emmett Riordan, Pat Cunneen (State of Montana-NRDP staff), 

Elizabeth Erickson (Chair), Chad Okrusch, Ruth Lee, John McKee, and Mark Gollinger. 

The BNRC was chosen to be the “voice 

for Butte citizens” in developing a plan for 

the $28.1M Butte Area One Natural Resource 

Damage Restoration Fund. There 

was an outcry in this community that the 

NRD funds were received for damage to 

natural resources and Butte is“ground 

zero” for these damages. 

The community felt it did not have enough 

of a voice in the decisions being made on 

how to use these funds for restoration. 

Governor Schweitzer, the fund trustee, 

in his wisdom, decided to appoint, along 

with our Chief Executive Paul Babb, a nine 

member council to develop 

the plan for these funds and 

that it should be local community 

members. When 

the solicitation for council 

membership went out 60+ 

Butte citizens applied. 

With that said, this council 

takes seriously its obligation 

to represent this community.The 

workshops we 

organized in March are just one example of 

our duty to include the community in this 

decision. We feel strongly that this must 

be a community based decision. This is our 

one opportunity to decide the best use for 

these funds. 

The workshops were a great chance to 

speak directly to people interested in the issues 

we have in Butte. We collected many 

new and interesting ideas. 

The people of this community love this 

town and have great ideas for its restoration. 

My favorite idea came from a little girl 

named Trinity Berry. She lives in Butte 

Area One near the historic Silver Bow 

Creek Channel in an area where the channel 

is dry except during storm runoff. She 

really nailed in a simple way the desire of a 

lot of Butte residents in her Idea Submittal 

Form. It was very simple, “Fishin in Silver 

Bow Creek from Continental Drive all the 

way down. Take out contaminated tailings 

please! So I can fish behind my house” 

Under project benefits she lists “Butte children 

in perpetuity”. 

As far as my personal hope for these funds, 

I wish we had more money for restoration. 

The needs here are in the $100M’s. 

Whether the money is used to improve the 

capped mine waste areas to reduce metals 

contaminated sediment from getting into 

the creek, or provide clean high quality 

drinking water to our citizenry or remove 

mine waste in the flood plain, I hope we 

can develop a plan that furthers the goals 

we set out in our planning document: 

1. Restores injured resources. 

2. Has public support. 

3. Benefits Butte Area One. 

4. Improves Silver Bow Creek 

ecosystem health. 

5. Has long term effectiveness. 

6. Includes matching funds & 

cost sharing. 

7. Coordinates and integrates 

with ongoing projects and 

plans. 

8. Does not take the place of 

projects that would happen 

under normal government 

functions. 

NRDP Restoration Tally 

Information for this summary 

was provided by 

Carol Fox Restoration Program Chief 

In December 2011, Governor Schweitzer 

approved a plan for where the remaining 

$110M in the Upper Clark Fork Restoration 

Fund will be spent. This plan is called 

the Long Range Priorities and Fund Allocation 

Guidance Plan. The plan addresses 

the restoration of groundwater, aquatic, 

and terrestrial resources in the Upper Clark 

Fork River Basin (UCFRB). In February 

2012, the Natural Resource Damage 

Program (NRDP) responded to Gov. Schweitzer’s 

allocation of WHERE these remaining 

funds will be spent with a draft 

process plan on HOW the funds will be 

spent. This plan is called the UCFRB Interim 

Restoration Process Plan. Both of these 

documents are available online at https:// 

doj.mt.gov/lands, or upon request from the 

NRDP at (406) 444-0205. 

The Draft Process Plan is currently in the 

hands of Gov. Schweitzer and will be final 

upon his consideration and approval. The 

process plan describes: 

• How future water system projects will 

be funded in Anaconda-Deer Lodge and 

Butte-Silver Bow counties. 

• How “Early” or time-critical restoration 

projects will be funded for specific aquatic 

and terrestrial resource priorities in 2012. 

• How longer-term restoration plans for 

aquatic and terrestrial resources will be developed 

for funding. 

Again, this new restoration planning process 

is specific to the $110 million remain- 

ing from the State’s first natural resource 

damage assessment with ARCO in 1999. 

This process replaces the “old” restoration 

grants program. 

The $110M total is broken into the following 

estimates: 

• $37.6M to fund water system improvements; 

this includes $28.2 million for projects 

in Butte-Silver Bow and $9.4 million 

for projects in Anaconda-Deer Lodge City- 

Counties. 

• $43.3 million to fund improvement of 

aquatic resources and related recreational 

services 

• $18.4 million to fund improvement of terrestrial 

resources and related recreational 

services. 

• $10.7 million to set aside in “reserve“ for 

aquatic and terrestrial restoration. 

These funds increase with interest earnings. 

Also, excess funds from the Silver 

Bow Creek remediation effort will be 

available for aquatic and terrestrial restoration 

projects, but only within the Upper 

Clark Fork basin at and above (upstream 

of) Deer Lodge. The Silver Bow Creek 

project should be completed in 2014. 

Stay tuned for further details on this new 

funding process after the Governor’s decision, 

including on how the public can be 

involved in submitting ideas for restoration 

projects in priority areas! 



A VISTA’s View 

by Jenny Miller 

AmeriCorps*VISTA 

Early on a crisp and sunny April 

morning in Butte, I excitedly 

slipped into my rubber work 

boots and headed to Montana 

Tech to meet with a group of 

thirteen high school students 

for the annual Cfwep.Org 

Youth Court Branding/Ranching 

event. Filled with anticipation, 

the students loaded into 

the Digger bus and set out for 

the Kalsta Ranch, nestled upon 

the shining Big Hole River near Glen, 

MT. I arrived at the ranch corrals minutes 

before the bus full of students and helped 

a rancher named Lee sort the calves. The 

valley filled with grunts from heifers that 

were not fond of being separated from 

their babes. After the sorting had commenced, 

Lee and I met up with another 

rancher Erik, and our crew of students to 

learn the basics of branding and assign duties 

for each participant. There were two 

Chris Doyle 

Cfwep.Org’s Campus Corps Volunteer 

Note: Chris has a 

long history with 

Cfwep.Org, dating 

back to his days as 

a Montana State 

Science Fair grand 

award-winner at 

Butte High School. 

Now a junior in the 

biology program 

at Montana Tech, 

he has worked with 

our program for 

his entire college 

career. Hard-working, responsible and always 

a positive individual to work alongside, 

Chris was duly recognized in March 

by Montana Tech’s Campus Compact as 

the Outstanding Campus Corps Volunteer 

Member of the Year for his work with Cfwep.Org. 

Thanks, Chris, from us and from 

the thousands of students and invididuals 

you have impacted in a positive way! 

Cfwep.Org has some exciting events coming 

up in the next few months. We just 

finished with a cleanup on the Montana 

Tech campus in celebration of Earth day. 

Cfwep.org staff, AmeriCorps students, and 

students from around campus helped with 

It’s Good To Be a Volunteer 

Ranching and Branding in the Big Hole 

A hands-on education in beef! 

branding technique’s occurring simultaneously; 

the first involved pushing calves 

through smaller and smaller corrals until 

eventually pushing one calf into what I like 

the call the “pancake”, but more technically 

referred to as the chute. One of the two 

chute operators would restrain the calf’s 

head and then together they would the calf 

onto his/her side. Another helper roped the 

calf’s back leg while one of the chute’s 

operators retrieved the fiery hot branding 

Cfwep.Org’s Chris Doyle wins Award 

Cfwep.Org Super-student Chris Doyle at 

work...as always! 

the cleanup of trash 

as well as some noxious 

weeds. It was 

a great success. We 

will be doing some 

follow up work with 

this project in the 

upcoming months. 

Also, on Saturday 

May 5th the Big 

Hole Kids Day will 

be going on up in 

the Big Hole valley 

on the Meriwether Ranch. Cfwep.org will 

be running a macro-invertebrate station 

to teach kids about the importance of the 

life in the stream. Finally, the last week in 

August, Cfwep.org will be hosting the 4th 

annual Southwest Montana Kids Fly Fishing 

and Conservation Camp for kids aged 

12-17. This camp will teach kids about the 

sport of fly fishing as well as the conservation 

that goes along with it, in order to 

preserve our healthy streams for generations 

to come. We have a packed schedule 

of events coming up so please come see us 

and have some fun!!!! 

Chris Doyle 

iron. Others would 

check the sex of 

the calf and check 

if horns were present. 

Horns had to 

be burned and if 

the calf was an 

unfortunate steer, 

rubber bands were 

placed around the 

testis so that they 

would be lost in the 

next week or two. One of the “doctor” 

volunteers would give the calf 

his/her vaccination and then the brand was 

given, which filled the air with the lingering, 

smoky scent of burnt hair. This first 

technique required lots of helping hands: 

pushers, chute operators, branders, vaccinators, 

and someone to tally the number of 

heifers and steers, but the second branding 

technique provided even more excitement. 

It began with a rancher on horseback 

roping a calf and pulling him/her into the 

branding corral. Next, two and sometimes 

by Beverly Plumb 

Editors Note: 

After 2 years of faithful service Beverly 

is moving on to great opportunities. She 

was always there to help, without worrying 

about job description. We’ll definately 

miss her. 

Working with Cfwep.Org has been a pleasure! 

I have been lucky to have had the 

opportunity to work with great people to 

fulfill an important mission. Cfwep.Org’s 

mission is to foster environmental stewardship 

and scientific decision making 

through place-based learning. Cfwep.Org 

does amazing work with teachers, students 

and the public in the Clark Fork Watershed 

by bringing them the skills and knowledge 

they need to make informed science based 

decisions. 

Ranch owner-operator Erik Kalsta applies the hot branding iron 

three students would wrestle the calf to the 

ground, remove the rope, and hold the calf 

down for the branding. These fortunate 

steers were spared the rubber band treatment. 

At the end of the day we helped 

brand approximately 70 calves! All and 

all, it was a thrilling day and every Cfwep. 

Org crew member played a vital role in the 

branding process. Cfwep.Org expresses its 

gratitude to the wonderful Kalsta ranchers 

for providing this exciting and educational 

experience for its students! 

We’ll Miss Beverly 

I have gained so much by working with 

students and teachers in this area and hope 

I have given something back. The Upper 

Clark Fork Watershed is an amazing place 

to live and work and I have been fortunate 

to live and grow in this area. 

I have to say good-bye to Cfwep.Org as it 

pertains to my job as the Assistant Field 

Coordinator but not good-bye as citizen. I 

plan to be one of the first members when 

Cfwep.Org rolls out it new membership 

program.Thanks, Cfwep.Org, for all the 

opportunities you have given me to grow 

professionally and personally. 



Silver Bow Bird Montoring Update 2010 

Photos by John Jarvis 

When the remediation of Silver 

Bow Creek began around 1999, 

birds generally did not find the contaminated 

barrens of its floodplain 

inhabitable. Save for magpies and 

ravens, a handful of hearty songbirds 

and the ubiquitous mallard, 

very few avian species dared call the 

creek home. 

Since 2004, Nate Kohler 

of Deer Lodge has monitored 

bird observations 

in the upstream reaches 

of the Silver Bow Creek 

project, roughly from 

Butte to Ramsay. At the 

end of 2008, 73 species 

had been observed. The 

cumulative species list 

now, at the end of 2010, 

stands at 84 species. 

New additions from the 

2010 monitoring are the 

American goldfinch, 

black-capped chickadee, 

cedar waxwing, claycolored 

sparrow, greathorned 

owl, ring-necked duck, 

trumpeter swan, western kingbird, 

white-crowned sparrow, willow flycatcher, 

and yellow warbler. 

Bird sampling differs fundamentally 

from vegetation sampling due to the 

mobility of the organisms observed. 

Standardized methods are extremely 

important. Even so, the variance 

among observations is rather large 

in some cases. Areas are sampled 

seasonally one morning per month 

in less than four hours starting just 

Butte • Anaconda • Deer lodge • Drummond 

Bonner • Missoula • Lincoln • Phillipsburg 

Answers to 

SuperFund 

Remediation and Restoration 

What are they? 

Super Fund: 101 

What does it mean to you? 

What is happening now? 

What’s going to happen. 

How you can get involved. 

All You Want to Know About the Clark Fork 

Environmental Remedy From Butte to Missoula 

Clark Fork Watershed Education Program • Cfwep.Org 

after the pre-dawn chorus quiets 

down. The actual time of sampling 

at each station is five minutes. 

Birds observed while the investigator 

travels between points or at 

other times are added to the species 

list if actually using the restoration 

area (as opposed to merely flying 

over), but they do not contribute to 

the quantitative data. It is entirely 

possible for transitory use to go 

unrecorded, particularly migratory 

birds. 

“The restorative element of revegetation 

in the SSTOU is aimed largely, 

but not entirely, at establishing 

woody plants that provide physical 

structure for birds and other wildlife. 

Providing a greater array of native 

plant species than required of 

remediation is another goal.” 

Below is the list of bird species observed 

in Subarea 1 of Silver Bow 

Creek (roughly from Butte to Silver 

Bow): 

Great Blue Heron 

Northern Shrike 

Rock Dove (Rock Pigeon) 

Tree Swallow 

American Avocet 

American Dipper 

American goldfinch 

American Kestrel 

American Pipit 

American Robin 

American Tree Sparrow 

Bald Eagle 

Bank Swallow 

Barn Swallow 

Barrow’s Goldeneye 

Black-billed Magpie 

Black-capped Chickadee 

Brewer’s Blackbird 

Brown-headed Cowbird 

Bufflehead 

California Gull 

Canada Goose 

Canvasback 

Cedar waxwing 

Cinnamon Teal 

Clay-colored Sparrow 

Cliff Swallow 

Common Merganser 

Common Raven 

Common Redpoll 

Common Yellowthroat 

Cooper’s Hawk 

Dark-eyed Junco 

Eared Grebe 

European Starling 

Great Blue Heron 

Great Horned Owl 

Greater Yellowlegs 

Green-winged Teal 

Harlequin Duck 

House Sparrow 

Killdeer 

Lesser Scaup 

Lincoln’s Sparrow 

Long-billed Curlew 

Mallard 

Mountain Bluebird 

Mourning Dove 

Northern Flicker 

Northern Pintail 

N. Rough-winged Swallow 

Pine Siskin 

RedRed-tailed Hawk 

Red-winged Blackbird 

Ring-billed Gull 

Ring-necked Duck 

Rock Pigeon 

Rock Wren 

Ross’s Goose 

Rough-legged Hawk 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 

Ruddy Duck 

Sage Thrasher 

Sandhill Crane 

Savannah Sparrow 

Sharp-shinned Hawk 

Snow Goose 

Song Sparrow 

Spotted Sandpiper 

Townsend’s Solitaire 

Tree Swallow 

Trumpeter Swan 

Tundra Swan 

Vesper Sparrow 

Violet-green Swallow 

Western Kingbird 

Western Meadowlark 

White-crowned Sparrow 

Willow Flycatcher 

Wilson’s Phalarope 

Wilson’s Snipe 

Wilson’s Warbler 

Wood Duck 

Yellow Warbler 

Yellow-headed Blackbird 

Yellow-rumped Warbler 

Answers to SuperFund! 

All You Want to Know About the Clark Fork 

Environmental Clean Up From Butte to Missoula 

Remediation and Restoration: What are they? 

What does it mean to you? What is happening now? 

What’s going to happen and how can you get involved. 

If you are an educator please contact us for bulk issues for class study. 

Cfwep.Org @ Montana Tech • 1300 West Park Street • Butte, Montana 59701 

The publication is also avaialble as a PDF download @ Cfwep.Org 



Montana’s First Environmental Educator 

“The man assumes the role of the loner, the 

thinker and the searching spirit who calls 

the privileged and the powerful to task. The 

power of one was the courage to remain 

separate, think through the truth and not 

be beguiled by convention or the plausible 

arguments of those who 

expect to maintain power, 

whatever the cost.” Bryce 

Courtenay, The Power of 

One 

1970 marked the dawn of 

a new environmental era 

in American and global 

culture. Earth Day. The 

Environmental Protection 

Agency. Clean Air. 

Clean Water. Environmental 

Stewardship. Thinking 

globally, to consider the 

health of the entire planet, 

and taking action locally in 

our own communities and 

cities for the sake of the 

environment. More than 

40 years later, some people 

are just catching on, while 

others 

still 

need 

convincing. 

B u t t e 

school 

teacher 

Lou 

Parrett needed no convincing in 1970: The 

Mining City was a hard-used place that 

needed some environmental TLC. Parrett 

taught sixth grade at the former Webster 

Garfield Elementary, a stone’s throw from 

the confluence of Blacktail and Silver Bow 

Creeks. An old city dump was also located 

in the confluence area, filled “with filth of 

the worst kind,” according to Parrett in a 

1971 letter in The Montana Standard. 

“Children’s crusade on Little Blacktail” Montana Standard November 1970 

Letter from Mike Mansfield to Lou Parrett December 11, 1970 

Beginning in 

the fall of 1970, 

Parrett began a 

project with his 

students to clean 

up the filth and 

eventually to get 

the public behind 

establishing 

Butte’s first and 

only bird sanctuary and recreation area. 

The project included observations and 

monitoring of the pollution in Blacktail 

Creek, letter correspondence with then 

Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield 

in Washington D.C. and State of Montana 

Health Director Dr. John Anderson, and at 

least four truckloads of garbage hauled out 

of the stream in one day. 

Parrett, now retired and still living in Butte, 

summarized the successes of 

the project as follows in his 1971 

Montana Standard letter to the 

editor: 1) Closing the dump site 

along the creek and interstate; 2) 

steps taken to correct the oil and 

gasoline 

pollution; 

3) informinggovernment 

officials of the extreme damage of 

Butte’s dump site; and 4) most importantly, 

having the students become involved in 

solving such problems. “Their awareness 

of pollution problems has become acute 

and they are willing to become involved.” 

Today, the site of Parrett’s class project is 

now home to the first link of the Greenway 

trail and Ulrich-Schotte Nature Trail. The 

former city dump is now a wetland and 

garbage of the type and quantity described 

from Parrett’s earlier days are no longer 

seen. 

Quoting Parrett, the great Sen. Mansfield 

had the following to say in his last correspondence 

of January 1971: “I am delighted 

that Blacktail Creek is being cleaned up and 

I want to thank you and those associated 

with you for taking on this most worthwhile 

problem. I, too, hope that ‘the sparkle 

on Blacktail Creek will someday match the 

sparkle visible in the sixth grade students’ 

Montana Standard November 1970 

eyes.’” 

The sparkle is coming back, but we as a 

community can still do more. Thank you, 

Lou Parrett, for setting a shining example 

of civic environmental responsibility and 

education for Butte in 1970, that we should 

all be proud of today, and in years to come. 

Humbly, Parrett recalled in a recent conversation, 

“I guess it seemed kind of trivial 

at the time.” In retrospect, not hardly. 

Symposium on Riparian Restoration in 

a Contaminated Environment 

The Montana Department of Justice-Natural 

Resource Damage Program successfully 

hosted its first-ever conference April 

18-20 in Deer Lodge, Symposium on Riparian 

Restoration in a Contaminated Environment. 

The message driven home during 

the three-day symposium was clear: It’s 

about the resource. 

The idea for the conference was spawned 

by NRDP staffers Tom Mostad and Doug 

Martin in a series of conversations after 

their attendance at a couple of similar conferences. 

“Why not?” After all, the restoration 

and remediation ongoing in the Upper 

Clark Fork River Basin (UCFRB) is as 

big and challenging as it gets. And that’s 

on a global scale. The other aspect of the 

conference that participants and contributors 

found refreshing was the emphasis on 

learning from mistakes. 

“Success doesn’t teach nearly as much as 

we can learn from the lessons of failures,” 

DEQ’s Brian Bartowiak leads a tour of the Trestle remediation site 

on the Clark Fork River in Deer Lodge. 

commented Mostad, an environmental 

science specialist with NRDP working on 

the Clark Fork River 

restoration. 

The symposium featured 

a wide variety of 

professionals working 

on the numerous riparian 

restoration projects 

in the UCFRB, from 

Silver Bow Creek near 

Butte to the Milltown 

site just upstream of 

Missoula. In a nutshell, 

anything or anyone 

worth knowing or hearing as it relates to 

riparian restoration was on tap during the 

combination 

of 

lecture 

and field 

tour presentations. 

The 

conference 

drew 

in professionals 

from 

a wide 

spectrum 

of consultants, 

state and 

federal 

agencies 

and communities. 

Most participants were from Montana, 

but the list also included folks from Idaho, 

Washington, California and even Alabama. 

Content included plant ecology, river geomorphology, 

engineering, construction 

and hydrology/hydrogeology. 

The keynote speaker was Montana Department 

of Environmental Quality Director, 

Richard Opper. Opper, who has held his 

position for the past seven years, shared 

some encouraging stories from his career 

while participants enjoyed prime rib, 

shrimp and chicken delectably prepared by 

Doug Martin presents lessons learned on the Milltown restoration project. 

the Deer Lodge Elks Lodge. 

“From the feedback, we think it was a 

great success and provided lots of useful 

information,” stated NRDP Program 

Specialist Kathy Coleman in her followup 

thank you to participants. The presentations 

from the symposium as well as a 

list of attendees are posted on the NRDP 

website at https://doj.mt.gov/lands/nrdpconference 

. 

“Really it’s not about what any of us indi- 

A copper-laden bone on a Clark Fork slickens. 

vidually are accomplishing,” said Martin, 

Restoration Manager at the nearly completed 

Milltown restoration site. “It’s about 

improving the resource, because that’s our 

ultimate goal.” 



Environmental Educator for the Fort Peck Tribes 

Biography for Vina Smith 

I am the Environmental Educator for the 

Fort Peck Tribes and an enrolled member. 

I have been in this position for fifteen years 

now. I am the only full-time Environmental 

Educator of the seven tribes in Montana. 

I have a passion to clean up our water. 

I would like my grandchildren to be able to 

drink the water out of the river like I did 

as a child. I want my great grandchildren 

to remember me for my fight to save their 

water. 

I received the first Michael A. Frost Award 

in “Recognition of Outstanding Contributions 

to Environmental Protection” in 1999 

from the National Tribal Environmental 

Council. I received a Certificate of Appreciation 

from William Yellowtail and EPA 

in 1999 for “Significant Contributions to 

the Region 8 Tribal Training Program.” I 

received a Project WET recognition award 

in 2000-09 that reads, “Montana’s water 

will reflect the care and stewardship that 

you have promoted through your work 

with young people and water education.” I 

have also received a letter of appreciation 

from NOAA. I’ve received numerous letters 

of appreciationfrom organizations for 

my environmental work. 

I have tried to share my childhood experiences 

with students to get them excited 

about all the wonders that are just outside 

their doors in nature. I have taken them for 

nature walks where we looked for bugs, 

trees, flowers, leaves, plants, wetlands, and 

did some bird watching. I have taken them 

fishing, camping, swimming, exposed 

them to the stars through astronomy, and 

told ghost stories. I have encouraged 

them to make a career of the environment 

through forestry, water quaity, education, 

engineering, science, archeology, etc. I 

encourage them to vote when they turn 

18 and elect people who care about protecting 

the environment. I like to use the 

Enviroscape model to demonstrate surface 

water pollution, watersheds, wetlands, and 

the visual is extremely memorable I also 

like to use the ground water flow model to 

demonstrate the water pollution that they 

can’t see happening. I use my own creation 

of a watershed map of the reservation to 

show how water runs downhill. I have created 

the World League Kids Club, Reservation 

Preservation reward program, and the 

Adopt an Indian Highway project after the 

state project. I have five area radio stations 

airing Daily Environmental Hints to encourage 

alternative safe choices for saving 

our world. I like to make floats for parades 

to try to reach adults about the water pollution 

problems we have here. 

I am a Project WET facilitator, was a Region 

6 Montana Environmental Education 

Association director for five years, 

co-chairperson of the Poplar Clean Up 

Committee, Sec/Trea for the Indian Farmers 

and Ranchers of the Fort Peck Reservation 

for seven years, Roosevelt County 

Fair Board member, Public Works Board 

member. I assisted with the Missouri River 

Watershed and Natives Waters Projects 

for the Montana Water Course. I was a copresenter 

four times at the North American 

Association for Environmental Education 

conferences. 

I have the gift to be a teacher. People seem 

to listen to what I have to say. I have four 

Cfwep.Org Memberships Coming July1st! 

Join the Fastest Growing Watershed Education Program 

The First 100 members receive a 2012 Bill Ohrmann Calendar. 

Join one of the fastest growing 

education organizations and help our youth 

understand environmental stewardship for 

future generations. 

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Make check Cash or Money Order Payable to: Cfwep.Org @ Montana Tech - 1300 West Park Street - Butte, Montana 59701 

Cfwep.Org (Clark Fork Watershed Education Program Mission Statement; 

The Clark Fork Watershed Education Program (CFWEP) fosters environmental stewardship 

and scienti�c decision making through place-based learning. 

daughters and fourteen grandchildren & 

one great-grand daughter. I have a love 

for all children and the earth. I like to 

travel and have been to France, Spain, 

Germany, Belgium, Austria, 

Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Argentina, 

Mexico, and Puerto Rico. I have been 

in 33 of the United States, including Alaska 

& Hawaii. I have seen the New Orleans 

Mardi Gras, the White House, Yellowstone 

Park, the Swiss Alps, Buenos Aires-largest 

Vina Smith doing what she does best. 

cattle sale ring in the world, Glacier Park, 

Lake Tahoe, Mt. Rushmore, the castle at 

Tossa de Mar, Spain & the Eiffel Tower in 

Paris. I plan to see the rest of the world in 

time_ I have seen the worst and the best of 

all these places. People are the same in all 

the countries I’ve traveled to. They want 

clean water, a clean environment, and a 

safe place to live and raise their children. 

Volunteerism: 

Get your feet wet. 

Want to Volunteer with 

Cfwep.Org as a 

Campus Corps/AmeriCorps 

student? 

Call 496-4124 

for more information. 



Ask 

Dr.A 

From: Students from Kennedy 

School in Butte and Philipsburg 

School in Philipsburg 

Question: What is it like to work at 

Cfwep.Org? And related to that question: 

Do you like your job at Cfwep.Org? 

Thank you so much for these questions 

– they are interesting to think about and 

write about. So what is it like to work at 

Cfwep.Org? It’s crazy. It’s fun. It’s outdoors. 

It’s deadlines and phone calls and 

emails and schedules! It is hard for me 

to tell you what I like best because I like 

so many of the things I do for Cfwep.Org. 

I would have to say that for me, working 

for Cfwep is like going to school, traveling 

on the open road, being with friends, creating 

and inventing activities, sometimes 

disastrous ones, teaching science – basically, 

everything I love to do. I say it is 

like going to school because I am continuously 

learning new things at work. For 

example, just the other day, I had to learn 

about soil food webs so I read up on amoebas, 

nematodes, mycorrhizae, springtails, 

earthworms and more. I am traveling on 

the open road because the Clark Fork watershed 

is 120 river miles plus all the miles 

along its tributaries. As a Cfwep.Org 

staff member, I am lucky to travel up and 

down the Clark Fork watershed, visiting 

middle schools, attending meetings, providing 

teacher workshops, taking tours, 

conducting fieldtrips – whew! Luckily, 

I have always loved being on the road, 

driving in the mountains, seeing wildlife 

and visiting towns big and small. I said 

it’s like being with friends because I am 

lucky to have co-workers who are also my 

friends – so when I go to work, I am hanging 

out with my friends. We work very 

hard and laugh even harder. I respect and 

love my co-workers, and am constantly 

amazed by their brilliance. Since Cfwep. 

Org supports learning through activities, a 

big part of my job is figuring out how to 

explain scientific concepts through activities. 

I have always loved art and working 

with color and shape – creating and expressing. 

Developing these activities and 

even writing the lessons and presentations 

involves so much creativity that the artist 

inside me is very happy. And lastly, I do 

what I love doing most – I teach science to 

young people. To me, science is interesting, 

funny, engaging, informative, quirky 

and dynamic. It is cool that I get to share 

my passion with young people who are just 

starting to explore their natural world. So 

to answer your second question – sure, I 

guess I like working for Cfwep.Org. Say 

hey to Dr. A! 

Cfwep.Org’s schedule pretty much runs all 

year, but our high activity time follows the 

school year – September to June. Starting 

in September, we visit local elementary 

schools and present our 5-day, base-level 

lesson. The base-level lessons cover topics 

in watershed science - history, geography, 

biology, chemistry, geology – and explains 

the current restoration efforts in the Clark 

Fork watershed. The base-level program 

also includes fieldtrips to impacted sites 

to collect data on the health of the riparian 

habitat. These visits and fieldtrips are done 

by about early November. We also have 

hundreds of students visit us on Montana 

Tech campus for watershed-related activities 

between September and November. 

February through March, we visit schools 

in the Blackfoot watershed to conduct trout 

dissections. We travel west to visit our 

Blackfoot River schools since the Blackfoot 

River is a major tributary of the Clark 

Fork River. 

Cfwep.Org Coming Up 

Upcoming Events 

• May 1st: Lesson 3 (Restoring Our Watershed) with Fred 

Moodry 7th graders 

• May 2nd: Lesson 4 (Water Quality and Riparian Area 

Activity) with Fred Moodry 7th graders 

• May 4th: Bird House Competition at the Grizzly Hackle 

in Missoula,MT 

• May 4th: Fieldtrip with Fred Moodry 7th graders 

• May 5th: Kid’s Day on the Big Hole (A program put on 

by the Big Hole River Foundation) 

• May 7th : Hands-on-the-Ranch (A program sponsored 

by the Clark Fork Coalition) 

• May 8th: Lesson 1 (Our Watershed) with Phillipsburg 

7th graders 

• May 9th: Lesson 2 (History of Our Watershed) with 

Phillipsburg 7th graders 

• May 10th: Lesson 3 (Restoring Our Watershed) with 

Phillipsburg 7th graders 

• May 11th: Lesson 4 (Water Quality and Riparian Area 

Activity) with Phillipsburg 7th graders 

• May 14th: Fieldtrip with Phillipsburg 7th graders 

• May 16th: Lesson 1 (Our Watershed) with Butte Central 

5th graders 

• May 17th: Lesson 2 (History of Our Watershed) with 

Butte Central 5th graders 

• May 18th: Lesson 3 (Restoring Our Watershed) with 

Butte Central 5th graders 

• May 19th: SMSP Teacher Workshop on Macroinverte 

-brates 

• May 21st: Lesson 4 (Water Quality and Riparian Area 

Activity) with Butte Central 5th graders 

• May 22nd: Fieldtrip with Butte Central 5th graders 

• May 24th: Lesson 1 (Our Watershed) with E F Duvall 

Middle School 7th graders 

• May 25th: Lesson 2 (History of Our Watershed) with E F 

Duvall Middle School 7th graders 

• May 29th: Lesson 3 (Restoring Our Watershed) with E F 

Duvall Middle School 7th graders 

• May 30th: Lesson 4 (Water Quality and Riparian Area 

Activity) with E F Duvall Middle School 7th graders 

• June, July and August: Kids College (A program put on 

by the Institute for Educational Opportunities) 

• June 1st : Fieldtrip with E F Duvall Middle School 

• June 7th: SMSP Teacher Workshop Capstone Project 

• July 13th – July 15th : Montana Folk Festival in Butte, 

MT 

Cfwep.Org’s EcoJazz Radio Program 

Every Wednesday from 11am to 2 pm on 

Montana Tech’s KMSM 103.9 Cfwep.Org 

produces a program called “EcoJazz”. The 

show has been running since March of 

2011 and it’s been a great success. Interviews 

have ranged from Govenor Schewitzer 

to AmeriCorps volunteers to middle 

school science fair contestants. The station 

ID’s and interviewsinclude 

state 

wide organizations 

such as the 

Clark Fork 

Coalition, 

Travis Immonen 

Natural 

Resource 

Damage Program, Butte Natural Resource 

Council , Fish, Wildlife and Parks and a 

wide spectrum of community leaders and 

principle players of restoration and education 

in the Upper Clark Fork Basin and 

beyond. 

The idea for Jazz music as the foundation 

of the program was a purposeful choice. 

Having a meditative selection after an “environmental 

interview” gives the listener 

time to reflect on the information just presented. 

We approached KMSM last year with our 

“idea” and we were fortunate that Travis 

Immonen was the station’s production 

manager. He jumped on board immediately 

and helped produce Cfwep.Org’s first 

audio PSA. He did such a great job that 

we’ve run the recording for the past year. 

Travis continues to support our efforts 

by helping us create professional quality 

“sound bites” and promotions. 

Jenny Miller 

All of our staff have “learned” how to run 

the sound board and talk on the mic. Jenny 

Miller (Cfwep.Org’s AmeriCorps Vista) 

has learned the ropes and grabbed the 

helm. If you have a chance, listen to her 

show. Jenny has a very pleasant and entertaining 

voice that carries her through the 

show with ease. 

All of the Cfwep.Org staff have had their 

turn at broadcasting Cfwep.Org’s misson 

statement to a Butte audience, not to men- 

Dr. Arlene Alvarado (l) and (r) Jenny Miller 

tion via the Web at www,kmsmfm103.9.org 

The “EcoJazz” program will soon be available 

as podcasts on our website. Hopefully, 

the program will eventually become part 

of the Montana National Public Radio system. 

Cfwep.Org is hoping that you will tune in 

on Wednesday’s at 11am and enjoy some 

lunch time music and hear a similar variety 

of interesting information on restoration, 

education and what’s happening to 

the environment around us. Listeners can 

call in during the show with feedback and 

questions at 496-1039. 

Or, if you are a professional dealing with 

environmental issues and solutions in our 

watershed or happen to be visiting and 

would like to come on the show as a guest 

-- you’re welcome! Get in touch us at Cfwep.Org 

or email fponikvar@mtech.edu. 



Vol 2 Issue 1 

Matt Vincent -Editor 

Frank Ponikvar - Layout/Design 

Montana Steward Contributors 

Matt Vincent 

Arlene Alvarado 

Jenny Miller 

Chris Doyle 

Jon Grant 

Janene Lichtemberg 

Carol Fox 

Beverly Plumb 

John Jarvis 

Kristina Smucker 

Elizabeth Erickson 

Stephanie McGinnis 

Vina Smith 

On Our Cover 

““Fall Reflections” 

John Jarvis 

“I was digging a fence post 

hole and I noticed the light 

was perfect. I ran in got my 

camera and took many shots. 

This one worked as it was an 

image I didn’t have change”. 

Spring/Summer 2012 

Montana steward 

Next Issue: 

Native Plants 

Free 

The Cfwep.Org has been a leading provider of 

environmental and restoration education programs 

and services in western Montana since 

2005. Cfwep.Org offers multi-disciplinary science 

and history programs for schools, teachers, 

and students in the Upper Clark Fork Basin. 

We also offer public education and outreach 

services such as tours, events, and publications 

that connect the public with the science and 

history of the amazing landscape of western 

Montana. Cfwep.Org is physically located in 

the Health Sciences building on the campus of 

Montana Tech in Butte, Montana. Our Mailing 

address is Cfwep.Org @ Montana Tech 1300 

West Park Street Butte, Montana 59701. Cfwep.Org 

is our web address. Please direct your 

comments and suggestions to info@cfwep.org 

or Matt Vincent at MVincent@mtech.edu. The 

Montana Steward is a quarterly publication of 

the Clark Fork Watershed Program. The 

Montana Steward reserves the right to control 

its own publication schedule.Cfwep.Org is part 

of the Institute for Educational Opportinities at 

Montana Tech of the University of Montana, a 

501c3 non-profit educational institution. 

The Director’s Letter 

Matt Vincent Cfwep.Org Director 

The Institute of Educational Opportunities Opens New Doors 

Grand Opening 

of the Health Science Building 

Cfwep. 

Org took 

part in 

the grand 

opening of 

the Health 

Science 

Building 

on Montana 

Tech Campus on March 29, 2012. 

It was a great event and many community 

members took tours of the building 

and learned about the programs the 

Nursing department the Institute for 

Education Opportunities have. 

Anna Mwaniki a 5 year old had fun 

learning about how copper mining is 

done with the help of Jennifer Miller a 

VISTA with Cfwep.Org. She was also 

able to participate in other hands on 

science activities that Cfwep.Org lead 

during the grand opening. 

“Riparian” is the word to define 

anything living or located on a 

stream or river’s banks. Montana 

is known for its vast number of 

blue-ribbon trout streams and 

rivers. 

Therefore, many people assume 

that we must have a vast amount 

of healthy riparian areas. Right? 

WRONG. 

A very small amount of our Big Sky 

Country is actually classified as riparian 

– less than 5%! Did you know that 

two-thirds of Montana’s animal species 

depend upon riparian areas during a 

portion of their lifetime? And almost 

three-quarters of our endangered or 

threatened species depend upon or 

are found almost exclusively in these 

streamside areas? You could say that ri- 

Pictured left to right: 

1st row: Arlene Alvarado, Zach Hawkins, Amy Verlanic, 

Emily White, Jackie Smitham, Theresa Seccomb 

2nd row: Theresa Rader, Amanda Shroyer, Bernie Phelps, 

Michelle Christianson, Jenny Miller, Brandon McLean 

3rd row: Annette Kankelborg, Tammy Gordon, Kehli Kan 

kelborg, RuthAnne Shope, Rayelynn Connole 

4th row: Frank Ponikvar, Matt Vincent, Chris Stetzner, 

Beverly Plumb, Sean Cochrane 

parian areas are the last best places in 

the Last Best Place. 

Cfwep.Org uses place-based science 

and history to help teach our next generations 

the importance of properly 

managing and caring for our riparian 

areas. Spread the word: RIPARIAN 

AREAS ARE IMPORTANT TO ALL 

OF US! 

The Institute for Educational Opportunities 

offers a comprehensive array 

of programs for students and teachers. 

The Institute’s efforts are designed 

to build on strengths in mathematics, 

engineering, sciences, technology and 

environment restoration while making 

use of existing resources. Institute 

staff are committed to student success. 

As such, students are matched with 

programs that meet their individual 

needs. There is no “one-size-fits-all” 

approach to student support. 

Teachers interested in challenging 

their students by integrating more 

inquiry and rigor can also turn to 

the Institute for support. There are 

a number of professional development 

resources available to help those 

teachers who wish to empower their 

students with the tools they need to 

succeed in college. 



U of M Avian Science Center 

Spring is here 

and our songbirds 

are on 

their way back to 

Montana, ready for 

another summer of 

singing to defend 

their territories, 

building nests, and 

raising young! This 

summer, the Avian 

Science Center and 

partners will once 

again be offering 

the Bird’s-eye View 

Education Program. 

The program (funded by the State 

of Montana-Natural Resource 

Damage Program) provides a window 

through which children and 

citizens gain a bird’s perspective of 

the Clark Fork Superfund area. You 

are invited to join us at songbird 

banding stations and Osprey nest 

sites, where we conduct research 

designed to evaluate watershed 

health throughout 

the Clark Fork Basin. 

Through our Osprey 

research we monitor 

the health of aquatic 

systems within the 

basin. By taking 

blood samples from 

Osprey chicks we 

can measure the levels 

of mercury and 

other heavy metals 

and identify places 

with high levels of 

contamination. Our research at Osprey 

nest sites takes place primarily 

during the month of June, but because 

nest visits depend on the age 

of the Osprey chicks we can’t schedule 

events more than 1 – 2 weeks 

in advance. So to participate in an 

Osprey nest visit, please contact us 

at 243-2035. 

At our 

banding 

s t a t i o n s 

we capture 

songbirds 

and collect 

a wealth 

of information 

on 

health and 

breeding 

condition. 

With this 

information 

we can 

estimate 

whether birds are successfully raising 

young, thus birds can help us 

evaluate habitat quality at a site. We 

will operate songbird banding stations 

at 3 sites: the MPG Ranch near 

Florence, Valley of the Moon Trail- 

head, on Rock Creek near Clinton, 

and Grant-Kohrs Historic Ranch 

near Deer Lodge. 

We may also operate 

a fourth site 

at Mt. Haggin, so 

please visit our 

website: http:// 

avianscience.dbs. 

umt.edu for updates, 

directions 

to banding stations, 

and more 

information. 

Songbird Banding 

Schedule 

2012. Be aware 

that banding 

dates are subject to change or cancellation 

due to rain; please check 

our website or call 243-2035 for up 

to date information. 

MPG Ranch Rock Creek Grant-Kohrs Ranch 

Tues, June 5 Fri, June 1 

Thurs, June 14 Wed, June 13 Tues, June 12 

Fri, June 22 Thurs, June 21 

Tues, July 3 Mon, July 2 Sun, July 1 

Wed, July 19 Wed, July 11 

Fri, July 27 Thurs, July 26 Wed, July 25 

Wed, Aug 8 Tues, Aug 7 Mon, Aug 6 

Celebrity BirdHouse Auction 

Join the Avian Science Center, 

Montana Natural History Center, 

Clark Fork Watershed Education Program, 

& the Clark Fork Coalition 

May 4th at 5:30 - 8:00 

On the First Friday in May for a silent auction of 

exclusive, hand-made birdhouses, all uniquely 

designed by local celebrities and artists including 

life-long artist and sculptor Bill Ohrmann, 

Dirk Lee, Mayor John Engen, and more. 

Proceeds from the auction will be used 

to build greater citizen involvement in bird 

monitoring throughout the Clark Fork 

watershed. 

Visit avianscience.dbs.umt.edu 

starting April 30 to view pictures 

of these exclusive birdhouses! 

Kristina Smucker - Avian Science Center - 406-243-2035 

The Montana Steward Spring/Summer 2012 Cfwep.Org - Clark Fork Watershed Join the Avian Science Education Center, Montana Natural Program History Center, Proceeds from the auction will be used to build Page greater citizen 6 

Clark Fork Watershed Education Program, & the Clark Fork 

Coalition on the FIRST FRIDAY in May for a silent auction of 

exclusive, hand-made birdhouses, all uniquely designed by local 

celebrities and artists including life-long artist and sculptor Bill 

Ohrmann, Dirk Lee, Mayor John Engen, and more. 

Bill Ohrmann 

Dirk Lee 

involvement in bird monitoring throughout the Clark Fork 

watershed. 

Visit avianscience.dbs.umt.edu starting April 30 to view pictures 

of these exclusive birdhouses!


Montana Waterfowl Foundation 

Photos by John Jarvis 

John Grant 

On a cold winter’s 

morning in Feburary 

I awoke to the honking 

of geese, the quack 

of ducks. I swear I 

could hear Trumpeter 

Swans. I realized 

through the morning 

fog that I was somewhere 

special. 

The Montana Waterfowl Foundation maintains 

an aviary compound and it’s Executive 

director, John Jarvis invited me to tour 

it’s facilities with an overnight stay. 

We spent the morning just watching and 

listening to the foundation’s array of birds 

from his kitchen window. John explained to 

me that the foundation was started 1988 by 

Cathy Miller and John as a way to have a 

respite for waterfowl. I was fortunate this 

morning as John Grant, Manager of the 

Ninepipe Bird Refuge and Janene Lichtenberg, 

Wildlife Biologist for the Confederated 

Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Wildlife 

Management Program stopped by and we 

had a conversation; 

Cfwep; When did MWF start it’s activities? 

John Grant; 

Cathy Miller and John Jarvis started the 

foundation in 1988. 

Cfwep; When did you start with the foundation? 

JG; I moved into the valley in 1990. I 

moved up from Missoula to manage the 

Ninepipe Wildlife Management Area and 

I met John and Kathy. I had been professionally 

managing waterfowl for FWP the 

previous four seasons and I met John and 

Kathy in Ronan during a lunch one day. 

We started talking and 

Cfwep; Is it Ninepipe or Ninepipes? 

JG; Ninepipe is the correct way of saying 

it. It’s the name of an Indian family. They 

lived on their alotment 

but were moved off ( at the turn of the century) 

when it was decided their land was 

appropriate for an irrigation reservor. It 

had several names over the years; Ninepipe 

Reservor, Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge, 

The Allentown restaurant across from the 

refuge was bought out 10 years ago and 

was renamed as Ninepipes. The actual 

name is Ninepipe. 

Cfwep; We’re north of Ronan about 5 miles 

are we on the reservation? 

JG; Yes, we’re ptetty much in the middle of 

the Flathead Reservation. 

The Indian allotment act of the late 1800’s 

divided land between individuals. 

Cfwep; You’ve been with the foundation 

since 1991, what is MWF’s mission statement? 

JG; Conservation of waterfowl habitat and 

waterfowl education is primarily our goal. 

No one can do this on their own. So we 

teach so others may carry on. 

Cfwep; You take care of Ninepipe. How 

big is it? 

JG; Ninepipes is 4,000 acres and the compound 

here is 30 acres with an 5 acre electric 

fence. We have 4 ponds within the 

fence area. Thirteen ponds altogether. All 

the species will land in within the 5 acres, 

but the ponds are excavated and are of the 

same depth. This property was formerly a 

fish hachery. 

The ponds that are here are more for the 

generalist species. The are mostly dabbler 

ducks and diving ducks. There are certain 

species you don’t see here. 

Dabbling ducks need shallow water where 

diving ducks swim deep underwater to 

chase after small fish, Cray Fish, insects 

small seeds 

Cfwep; Is the MWF looking for more 

classes to teach? 

JG; There are limits to how many people 

that can be here at any time. John is the 

only person here so our classes are limited. 

We can’t have too much disturbance 

because of the waterfowl. So scheduling 

is important. John will give a quick tour 

and then the instructor of the visiting class 

then leads the discussion.Visiting the compound 

is by appointment only. 

Most of the classes are from around here 

Polson, Ronan, Pablo as well but they’ve a 

always come from all corners of the world 

from the time we started. 

Cfwep; This research sounds complicated 

because of the so many different species 

and habitats that they use. 

JG; Well, it’s not rocket science...it’s more 

complicated because of those variables. 

Cfwep; 

Is there a reason so many large birds visit 

and live in this area? 

JG; 

The habitat, there’s lots of water. We’re 

close to the Misson mountain watershed. 

There lots of clay in the soil so the water 

stays on top of the soil. There are alot of 

marshes and ponds and there’s also alot of 

agriculture here. 

Cfwep; 

Was it always full of wildlife in this area? 

JG; 

This was always a perfect habitat for waterfowl. 

Flathead lake is the largest body 

of fresh water west of the Mississippi. 

During the homestead act they advertised 

that the ducks were plentiful unfortunately 

the Trumpeter swans were first to be over 

harvested. They take 3 to 6 years to reach 

sexual maturity, so reproducing is difficult 

and slow. 

Now one of the biggest issues for mortality 

are power lines. The swans don’t fly too 

high. They are large (30 lbs) so they can’t 

change direction or elevation fast enough. 

Draining of wetlands also contributes to a 

limited population. 

Cfwep; 

This has been 

a most interesting 

conversation. 

Thanks for taking 

the time to talk to 

me. 

Cfwep; 

Last question; 

What exactly do 

you do to manage 

Ninepipe? What 

does your job entail? 

JG; 

John Jarvis here feeds the captive birds but 

I do something similar but on a different 

scale. 

Most of the land has been tilled here in 

the valley. So we grow natural grasses and 

food plots. We can control the water levels 

to we make sure there’s enough water to 

keep things growing for the birds. 

Janene Lichtemberg, is a Wildlife Biologist 

for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes (CSKT) Wildlife Management Program. 

Cfwep; 

Thanks Jenene for talking with us today. 

Are you an instructor at SKC? 

JL; 

I don’t teach I’m mostly a field biologist 

but I do instruct from time to time. 

(John Jarvis in the back 

ground is saying 

“some teachers only request 

Jenene”) 

Cfwep; 

How are you funded? 

JL; 

I’m paid by the tribes to 

research non-game species 

and sometimes I do outreach. 

I’m mostly a wildlife field 

biologist. Most of the monies 

come from the Kerr 

Dam mitigation. Part of 

the CSKT Wildlife Management 

Program (including 

the 

Trumpeter reintroduction) 

is funded through 

mitigation funds. The 

CSKT Wildlife Management 

Program does have 

other funding sources. 

There are seven biologist 

working here. Education 

is a small part of 

what I do. 

Cfwep; Your sphere of influence is the 

whole reservation? Is your program expanding? 

JL; The reservation is 1.5 million acres so 

we cover a lot of ground but our program 

is shrinking. Our program’s funds come 

mostly from the dam’s litigation 

JG; The Kerr dam is what expanded Flathead 

Lake. 

JL;Kerr Dam did not expand the size of the 

Lake much. The real issue was the alteration 

of shoreline habitat and water flows 

into the Flathead River. Although we do 

some research on the River it is not the fo- 

cus of our program. Some mitigation funds 

were used to purchase over 11,000 acres of 

mostly wetland habitats throughout the 

Reservation. Additional mitigation funds 

are being used for wetland restoration 

and enhancement, 

reintroduction projects 

(swans, northern 

leopard frogs) 

and monitoring of 

wildlife and wildlife 

habitats. 

JL; Yes, there is a 

lot of damage below 

the dam and that’s where we spend our research 

time. 

Cfwep; 

How long have you been affiliated with 

MWF? 

JL; 

I’ve been part of MWF for the last ten 

years since January 2002. We started 

working with Trumpeter Swans attempting 

to bring the birds back to this area. 

We started working to reintroduce cygnets 

and pairs. We released 32 birds that year. 

We actually brought one year old birds up 

from an program in Jackson,Wyoming and 

we realized then that it was important to 

have a local area for the swans recuperation 

and release. Having a local source 

of swans for the reintroduction project is 

helpful because it is more convenient and 

cost effective. We are also fortunate to have 

the MWF as a local site to bring injured 

swans for rehabilitation. 

Cfwep; 

What is the future of the 

birds on the Flathead 

reservation? 

JL; 

This is the first Trumpeter 

reintroduction in 

Montana (there is now 

a similar program in 

the Blackfoot Valley). 

We are close to reaching 

our goal of a selfsustaining 

population. 

The MWF has educated 

many students about 

swans and the com- 

Janene Lichtemberg 

munity has helped us 

track the marked swans 

we have released. The Reservation is the 

number one location for glaciated potholes 

west of the Continental Divide and is an 

amazing place for waterfowl. Much of this 

wetland complex is protected and managed 

by Tribal, Federal, and State biologist, 

like John Grant, who are working together 

for the greater cause. The wetlands are surrounded 

by grassland habitats that support 

rodent populations important for raptors 

like the snowy owls in the area this winter. 

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes are concerned about the preservation 

of all living creatures. 

Cfwep; 

Thanks for talking with me today Janene. 

Janene Lichtenberg is a Wildlife Biologist 

for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai 

Tribes (CSKT) Wildlife Management Program. 



Montana Watercourse 

By Stephanie McGinnis 

Montana Watercourse has provided 

unbiased information, resources, 

tools, and education to water users 

since 1989. Housed on the Montana 

State University campus, our 

grant-funded organization plays 

a key role in supporting water resource 

decision-making and stewardship 

across the state. However, 

our mission to reach water users 

in Montana would not be possible 

without the help of our partners, 

such as CFWEP.org, who provide 

multidisciplinary support, share 

their knowledge on local water issues, 

and spread the word about our 

organization and upcoming events. 

With the help of organizations like 

CFWEP.org, we provide: 

• Workshops, trainings, and tours 

on water issues 

• Teaching trunks filled with interactive 

water resource activities that 

are aligned with state standards 

• Publications and guides on water 

resource and watershed topics 

• Assistance with local water education 

program development 

The following are a few great events 

we have lined up for spring and 

summer! 

• 14th Annual Water Summit, May 

9th – 11th, Billings. The theme of 

Cfwep.Org would like to acknowledge the following members, volunteers and contributors. Their past and present support and assistance makes us 

who we are and our work possible: 

Brian Bender, Carolyn Sevier w/MEEA, 

Julie Seedhouse w/ MSUB, Brant Reif 

West High School (West Des Moines, IA, 

Eric Eckl, Greg Doyon, Great Fall, Dennis 

Lowney, Coby Lean, Chuck Morrell, 

Chris and many at Homestake Lodge, Terry 

O’Keefe, Jon Sesso, John Engen, Great 

Harvest Butte,Wayne Paffhausen, Bruce 

Hall, Jennifer Bardsley, Glen Bodish, Levi 

Queer, Nancy Siler, Bob Eccleston, Montana 

Trout Unlimited, Lance Olson, Chuck 

Jonkel and the crew at the Great Bear 

Foundation, Kurt Cunnigham at FWP; 

Rock Creek Cattle Company; Great Harvest 

Bread, The Hummingbird Cafe, Carters 

in Drummond; Patagonia Outlet in Dillon 

and Beth Sullivan; Chris Bradley and 

Mike Marcum at The Stonefly Fly Shop, 

Sam Ames, Tammy Gordon, Annette 

Kankleborg, Joe Naughton, Mariah Mayfield, 

Dave Hagengruber, Mark Sweeney, 

Jason Lindstrom, Montana FWP, Bill Callaghan, 

Chris Doyle, Lisa Sullivan, Kehli 

Kankleborg, Jessie Salix, Rebecca McNamara, 

U.S. Forest Service, Doug Buskirk, 

Colleen Elliott, Montana Bureau of Mines 

and Geology; Erik and Jami Kalsta; Deb- 

our Water Summit this year is wetlands 

and the oil spill on the Yellowstone 

River. The Water Summit 

is an opportunity for a select group 

of students to get hands-on experience 

and hear from state, federal, 

and private agency experts that are 

working with and around the selected 

water topic. 

New Bill Ohrmann Calendar! 

$20 

February 2013 

1 2 

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 

3 4 

10 11 

17 18 

24 25 

“All Dogs Go to Heaven” 

5 6 7 8 9 

12 13 14 15 16 

19 20 21 22 23 

26 27 28 

Make check Cash or Money Order Payable to: 

Cfwep.Org @ Montana Tech 

1300 West Park Street - Butte, Montana 59701 

Thanks! 

bie Kearns at the Hitchin’Post; George 

Goody, Montana Fly Company (Melrose); 

Dan Sheppherd, Grizzly Hackle; Kim 

Draper, Jeff LeProwse, Water & Environmental 

Technologies, Josh Lee, Hummingbird 

Café, Jason and Travis at KMSM 

FM 103.9; Uptown Café, Kathryn Watson 

and Montana Watercourse, Andrea and 

Don Stierle; Gerry O’Brien, Patti Arntson 

and Matt Jozovich at The Montana Standard; 

Don Blackketter, Doug Abbott, Paul 

Conrad, Kumar Ganesan, Rick Douglass, 

Amy Kuenzi, Pat Munday, Chad Okrusch, 

Jed Wilson, Joe Kujawa, Doug Coe, Maggie 

Peterson, Cathy Isakson, Joe Figueira, 

Amy Verlanic; Montana Tech Dining Services; 

Art Anderson, Mary Durkin and the 

crew at the Montana Tech Physical Plant; 

Courtney Greyn; Carol Fox, Kathy Coleman, 

Doug Martin, Tom Mostad, Greg 

Mullen, Pat Cunneen and Michelle Golden 

at the Natural Resource Damage Program; 

Pat Bannon, Rick Duncan, Jessica 

Anderson; Brian Bender and Peggy Kerr 

at Powell County Planning; Chris Laity; 

Jake Troyer, Montana Watershed Coordination 

Council; Butte-Silver Bow Public 

Notes 

• Dam Safety Workshop, May 31st, 

Harlowton. Rural dam owners will 

join us and DNRC to learn about 

the importance of maintaining and 

repairing dams to prevent failures, 

downstream damage, and loss of 

essential water storage. 

• Peaks & Potentials Camp, June 

18th – 22nd, Bozeman. This camp 

is designed to give high-ability/ 

Cfwep.Org 

presents 

2013 Bill 

Ohrmann 

Calendar 

Available 

July 1st! 

Order Yours 

Now! 

Works, Planning Departments; Greenfield 

Printers, Insty Prints; Glenn Granger, Jim 

Dupuis, Tom Billiteen and Jeremy Whitlock 

with Butte-Silver Bow Youth Court; 

CTEC; Paul Tash; Ryan Carlisle and Redneck 

Sprinkling; Butte-Silver Bow GIS; 

Tom Malloy;; Marko Lucich and Cheryl 

Ackerman at the Butte Chamber of Commerce/Visitors 

Center; George Grant TU; 

Doug Ardiana and Sean Kiffe at Bonner 

School; Rich Prodgers, Bighorn Environmental; 

Marisa Pedulla; Ben Quinones, 

Tim Reilly, Joel Chavez with Montana 

DEQ; Brian Christianson and Rabi Vandergon 

with Montana Campus Compact; 

Monte Dolack; Bill and Phyllis Ohrmann; 

Dave Taylor Roofing; Sam Milodragovich 

and Northwestern Energy; Heiko Langner, 

Erick Greene; Clark Fork Coalition; UM- 

Avian Science Center and students on the 

Milltown Dam Education Program; Chris 

Gammons; Karen Laitala with Powell 

County Weeds; Carleen Cassidy, Joanne 

Lee and Colleen Fink at Montana Tech; 

and Doug Buskirk and Becky Guay of 

Anaconda Laura Parr of the Montana Wil- 

high-potential students entering 

grades 5-7 in Fall 2012 the opportunity 

to explore exciting topics 

with experts in the area. This 

year we are offering the following 

course, Something is Fishy Here: 

Yellowstone Lake Ecology. Using 

hands-on activities and scientific 

tools we will learn about the plants 

and animals that call Yellowstone 

National Park home. 

• Yellowstone Lake Ecology Course, 

June 25th – 29th, Bozeman. Teachers 

earning their graduate degree 

through the Master of Science 

in Science Education program 

at Montana State University will 

earn 2 graduate level credits while 

learning about Yellowstone Lake, 

the amazing thermal system below, 

and about the unique food web the 

Lake supports, from tiny diatoms 

to grizzly bears. 

• Project WET Training, mid-August. 

Teachers from around the 

state will join us and the Flathead 

Lakers for a morning of training on 

the new Project WET curriculum 

and a field trip to local water restoration 

sites in the afternoon. 

Please visit our website at www.mtwatercourse.org 

or contact Stephanie 

McGinnis at 406-994-6425 or 

mcginnis@montana.edu for fur- 

Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! 

derness Association, Leslie Lula of the Big 

Hole National Battlefield; Montana Natural 

History Center; Bob Wards; Fish On!; 

Fran Johnson’s; Ted Dodge of the Watershed 

Restoration Coalition; Patti Bartlett 

of Seeley Lake School; Robin Anderson 

and Mike Mengon of Ramsay School; 

Mary Lague of Butte Central Elementary 

School; Darcy Schindler of Drummond 

School; Mary Anne Hansen of Duvall Jr. 

High School; Terry Hettick, Kathy Foley, 

and Jennifer Nardiello of East Middle 

School; Bob Orrino of Fred Moodry Jr. 

High School; Candice Miller of Garrison 

School; Logan Mannix of Philipsburg 

School; Megan Mulcaire-Jones of Montessori 

School; Kristina Davis of Potomac 

School; Terri Daily of Kennedy School; 

Tressa Graveley of Elliston School; Alyssa 

Daniels of Lincoln School; Sean Cochrane; 

Dennis Vander Meer – Rhithron 

Christine Brick & Will McDowell – Clark 

Fork Coalition Erick Greene & Heiko 

Langner – UM, Canyon River Golf Course, 

Emily White; and all of our 

highly valued volunteers!

Riparian Restoration - Montana Tech of the University of Montana

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