Project Description

Big Hole River Incentive Program

Project Update:

The Big Hole River Incentive Program is a collaborative project with the Big Hole Watershed Committee to accelerate and expand conservation stewardship through a voluntary incentive-based program. To advance the program we worked with MT DNRC Forestry division on a re-design grant to launch the cooperative as a pilot. This project which is now managed by the Big Hole Watershed Committee has supported several successful Big Hole river and riparian restoration projects.

Goal:

Lead a landowner driven process to accelerate and expand conservation stewardship through a voluntary incentive-based program aimed at improving floodplain function, resiliency, and protection.

Objective:

Create an incentive program that rewards management that supports fish and wildlife habitat, river corridor functions, and water quality.
Establishing a payment for ecosystem services programs is a growing approach to conservation. These market-based programs provide a structure for transactions between landowners providing public benefits from their land management (i.e. clean water) and those benefiting from the services (i.e. municipal water supply). Our collaborative committee has spent the last several years learning about these programs, developing a strategic plan for a Big Hole program and investigating funding sources to fuel the transactions.

Outcomes:

A river corridor that is managed to maintain its functions and adapt to climate change. A river corridor that sustains water quality and quantity, agriculture, fish and wildlife habitat, and the health and safety of property, residents, and visitors.

Partners:

Beaverhead, Madison, Butte-Silverbow, Anaconda-Deerlodge Counties, DEQ, DNRC, BHWC, WCS, Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Resources

Big Hole Watershed Committee Floodplain Maps
2013 Land Study