The Southwestern Crown encompasses countless tributaries that flow into the Blackfoot, Clearwater, and Swan Rivers. These rivers are held in great esteem by the people who play in them, the agricultural producers who draw from them and the fish and wildlife that depend on them. Pristine lakes, streams and wetlands are found throughout the landscape, providing for the region’s remarkably diverse collection of native flora and fauna. Despite the relatively good health of much of the region’s water resources, a number of historic uses, ongoing trends, and emerging threats offer an opportunity to come together and invest in the long-term health of our most precious resource.

A variety of land uses have impaired water quality, including past and present mining, excessive timber harvest or grazing, excessive irrigation diversions, poorly designed roads, reduced ground cover following noxious weed invasion, and haphazard residential development. The impacts of diminished water quality are most often reflected in the poor health of fisheries, which makes fishery health a good measure of overall watershed health.

Our growing understanding of the complexity of human-influenced and naturally occurring climatic cycles are reinforcing the need to ensure that ecosystems are functioning well. Recent research with bull trout, for example, suggests that populations will likely contract into the largest and highest and coldest stream networks, making the conservation of larger core areas particularly important. Misplaced culverts can close off whole systems for native fish. Intact riparian areas provide an important cooling effect during warmer summers, and they can also help mitigate shifts in snowmelt and flooding patterns.

The members of the SWCC are building a plan that will improve watershed health by reestablishing natural stream channels and riparian environments, removing barriers to fish migration, and replacing inadequate culverts and bridges.