Welcome to the newsletter about all things water in Montana!

MONTANA WATER NEWS will come your way via email every month with fresh news about meetings and water topics that we hope is of interest to you. If you do not want to receive this newsletter, please scroll down and follow the directions to unsubscribe. If you are seeing only text in this email, or if it's not easy to read, please make sure your email program is set to view "HTML" messages, or view the newsletter online in the newsletter archives.

• Dr. Steve Parker, Montana Tech, $14,646 for the project, “Carbon cycling and the temporal variability in the concentration and stable carbon isotope composition of dissolved inorganic and organic carbon in streams.”


• Dr. Chris Gammons, Montana Tech, $14,600 for “Temporal and spatial changes in the concentration and isotopic composition of nitrate in the upper Silver Bow Creek drainage, Montana.”


• Dr. Lisa Eby, University of Montana, $15,000 for her study “Impacts of beaver on invasion ecology of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).”

• Kenneth Bates, undergraduate student, Chemistry Department, Montana Tech


• Teresa Cohn, graduate student, Department of Earth Science, Montana State University


• Sunni Heikes-Knapton, graduate student, Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department, Montana State University


• Margie Kinnersley, graduate student, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana


• Erin Thais Riley, graduate student, Animal and Range Science, Montana State Univeristy


• Leo Rosenthal, graduate student, Department of Ecology, Montana State University


• Mark Schaffer, graduate student, Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University


• Christa Torrens, graduate student, Environmental Studies Department, University of Montana.

These students will follow in the footsteps of other fellowship recipients who are now reporting research findings. Last year Motishi Honda, University of Montana, received an award to study the relationships among flood frequency, microhabitat variability, and riparian vegetation in the mountain streams in the Western Montana. He is examining whether effects of flood processes can be detected by composition and abundance of vegetation in the floodplain. He reports progress at his three study sites: Bear Creek, Kootenai Creek, and Mission Creek. His final fellowship report will come to us next year.

Kiza Gates rinsing waders.

Levia Shoutis, Montana State University, began her work last year to study the distribution of riparian vegetation and associated environmental conditions in the Upper Gallatin and Yellowstone River Watersheds. Her study sites were divided into reach segments and stratified by valley type and drainage basin size and data has been collected throughout the year. She and her advisor have decided to expand the study beyond the West Fork watershed, into the upper portions of both the Gallatin and Yellowstone River watershed. This will allow for further study of the environmental controls on riparian vegetation in two of the major watersheds in the northern portion of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Kiza K. Gates, Montana State University, has progressed in her study of the distribution of the whirling disease parasite by anglers. She has moved forward to:

• detect the parasite through PCR analyses in benthic sediment,


• identify movement patterns of resident and non-resident anglers,


• determine the amount of benthic sediment on waders, boats, and boat trailers from anglers, and


• test the accumulation of benthic sediment and the presence of the parasite on various wader and boot types.

Brian Bellgraph, Montana State University, completed his second and final field season to study the ecology and similarities of sauger and walleye in the Missouri River. He has learned that both species undergo an extensive spawning migration in excess of 200 miles to downstream spawning areas. Sauger are known to make extensive migrations in the Yellowstone River, but the downstream migration of walleye is not known to occur anywhere else within their range. Sauger and walleye also share similar habitats when they are together and eat similar foods, an indicator for high competition potential. Further, changes in Missouri River habitat within the last 100 years (construction of dams and the change of flow regime and turbidity) may allow nonnative walleye to outcompete sauger because walleye are better adapted to the new conditions of the Missouri River. This may have implications for native sauger in the river, so he and his advisor hope to devise management recommendations that will help to preserve sauger in the Missouri River.

New Montana Natural Heritage Report

Those with an interest in fisheries and aquatic insects will get lots of use from a new Montana Natural Heritage Report entitled "Aquatic Community Classification and Ecosystem Diversity in Montana's Missouri River Watershed." It is now accessible on the web at http://mtnhp.org/reports.asp#ecology, and contains a mix of science and natural history. The Aquatic Ecosystem Descriptions and Communities section contains links to indicator species lists, maps and illustrations of representative species found in Montana Natural History Project and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks field guides.

Go to http://watercenter.montana.edu/lending_library to find these new acquisitions and donated documents now available at the Montana Water Center online library!

• Grassroots Advocacy Handbook. Media Strategy Training Center, Inc.
  
  
• The Water Report: Water Rights, Water Quality & Water Solutions in the West. Envirotech, 2005.
  
  
• Montana’s Basin Closures and Controlled Groundwater Areas. DRNC, Water Resources Division, Water Rights Bureau, 2000.
  
  
• University Based Water Research: Relevant to Society. Robert Ward, University of Colorado.
  
  
• The Montana Watershed Symposium. MWCC, 1997.
  
  
• Your Source for Small Community Drinking Water Information. National Drinking Water Clearinghouse, 2004. Packet includes: Drinking Water Products Catalog, On tap: Drinking water news for America’s small communities, On Tap Magazine. Reference material for small community drinking water information.
  
  
• Urbanization and Water Quality: A Guide to Protecting the Urban Environment. Terrene Institute, 1994. This guide is intended to help decisionmakers, such as local government officials and planners, understand the causes of nonpoint source pollution and design and implement a program to control this pollution.


• Proceedings for Montana’s Water Outlook: Current and Future Challenges. AWRA, 1994.


• Fiscal Year 2004 Montana Water Center Annual Report. MWC, 2005. This is a short summary of how the Montana Water Center did its job during Fiscal Year 2004, July 2003 - June 2004.


• Threats to the West: The Invasion of Western Waters by Non-Native Species. Western National Panel of Aquatic Nuisance Species, 2001. Brief overview of invasive aquatic plants and invasive aquatic animals.

So many meetings, so little time. Take special note of upcoming national and local water meetings on the Events Calendar at MONTANA WATER.

MWCC Outreach and Education Committee Meeting, Helena, January 5, 2006 [INFO]

Global Water Policy and Peace: Learning from the Middle East Conference, Jonesboro, AR, January 12 - 14, 2006 [INFO]

MWCC Quarterly Meeting, Helena, January 24, 2006 [INFO]

MWCC Monitoring Working Group, Helena, January 26, 2006 [INFO]

National Dam Safety Program, Las Vegas, NV, January 31 - February 2, 2006 [INFO]

MWCC Outreach and Education Committee Meeting, Helena, January 5, 2006 [INFO]

Whirling Disease Symposium 2006, Denver, CO, February 9 - 10, 2006 [INFO]

7th Specialised Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems, City of Merida, Mexico, March 7 - 10, 2006 [INFO]

World Water Forum, Mexico City, Mexico, March 16 - 22, 2006 [INFO]

American Society of Mining and Reclamation 2006 Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO, March 27 - 29, 2006 [INFO]