Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes
Demonstrating the Effects of Managed Grazing
Improved water quality is a major concern for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and
Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana's glaciated
plains, and nonpoint source program management is the method most likely to
serve their goal. Grazing is a major contributor to nonpoint source pollution
on the reservation. Most grazing units follow waterways because livestock are
dependent on the streams for their water supplies. More than that, however,
livestock grazing makes a dual contribution to the tribes' economic livelihood:
the tribes produce livestock and lease grazing lands to other ranchers.
The demonstration of a managed grazing system, a section 319 project, is
underway as a first phase of a full-scale water quality protection plan for the
reservation. The system will be demonstrated in the Little Porcupine Creek
watershed, which is used for grazing from summer through fall.
The creek itself, a Class 1 Warm Water, supports several beneficial uses:
aquatic life, secondary contact recreation, and agriculture. Three monitoring
locations will be used to help project managers gage the effectiveness of the
best management practices (BMPs). Approximately 80 percent of the watershed is
native rangeland which produces approximately 0.25 animal unit months per acre.
The normal management of the range is to graze cow/calf pairs for 5.5 months
between May 15 and November 1. Generally the livestock are unconfined and tend
to concentrate in the riparian areas in the heat of the summer.
At its upper end, Little Porcupine Creek has lost almost all integrity as
uncontrolled grazing stripped its banks of riparian vegetation. Though the
stream flows mostly underground, appearing only in isolated pools in the flat
valley, it still serves as the only livestock watering source for the range.
Grazing along the riparian corridor has been especially heavy. Woody species,
including trees and shrubs, have been reduced to almost nothing, degrading the
landscape and increasing stream temperatures, sedimentation, and
conductivities. Summertime water temperatures average 22 C. The stream channel
bottom is over 50 percent silt.
Short-term goals for this project include the restoration of a healthy riparian
zone and improving water quality at the long-term monitoring sites located in
this range unit. Indicators for grading water quality and riparian improvement
include increasing the biological condition category from severely impaired to
moderately impaired and increasing the habitat supportability ratings from
nonsupporting to partially supporting.
CONTACT: Deb Madison
Fort Peck Office of Environmental Protection
(406) 768-5155, ext. 399 |
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