DEQ seeks comments on Yaak River
Public comments regarding the Yaak River Watershed will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 19 to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
A public meeting was held at the Troy Ranger Station on Dec. 4 to discuss the Yaak River Watershed Total Maximum Daily Load Plan. A total maximum daily load is a plan to attain and maintain water quality standards in waters that are not currently meeting the standards.
DEQ Watershed Planner Pete Schade addressed the concerned citizens who attended the meeting. Although not everything in the Yaak was fully assessed, there were three main areas that are sediment impaired, Schade said. The South Fork of the Yaak River, Lap Creek and 17 Mile Creek are all areas considered to be sediment impaired. Sediment impaired bodies of water are those that have sediment above the naturally occuring amount. To determine the naturally occuring amount of sediment a reference stream from a similar setting must be studied, Schade explained.
In order to assess the water quality and devise a solution for the sediment impaired water bodies, biologists must use Sufficient and Credible Data/Beneficial Use Determinations or SCDBUD. SCDBUD essentially means to collect data and see if the samples are meeting the standards devised by DEQ, Schade said.
The original list of impaired streams was released in 1996 and a revised stream list was issued in 2006. Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, DEQ, the U.S. Forest Service and other groups performed the field collection.
"There are a lot of streams on the 1996 list that aren't on the 2006 list and vice versa," Schade said. "A lot of the data was good, but lots wasn't."
Field collectors used several indicators to assess the water quality in the Yaak River Watershed. The indicators include: the width-to-depth ratio; fine sediment within stream substrates or the amount of rocks and pool areas; the biology of the water including the macroinvertebrate assessments; core samples from spawning areas; propagation of fish; the fry that come out of the eggs; oxygen in the water; and the season sediment conditions. Also factored into the study was the entrenchment ratio, the stream channel stability rating and landscape-scale indicators, such as: the percentage of equivalent clear-cut acreage, stream crossing density and the road density. Geology of the region, study and historical information also plays a role, Schade continued.
There were 82 sites studied throughout the Yaak. Residents may also petition to put streams on the impaired list, Schade said.
Sediment load may come from natural and man-made sources. Sediment can come from upland erosion, bank erosion, hillslope failure and forest roads, including culverts and crossings, Schade explained.
"We need to establish what an allowable load would be," Schade said. "It's not about land management. I'm not against roads or logging, I'm not against anything. I'm for water quality. There's a number of ways to skin this cat."
The Yaak River itself is not impaired, but "you protect the tributaries and you protect the main stream," he said.
Solutions may include decommissioning certain waters, repairing or making better culverts, adding relief culverts and armored overflows, Schade suggested.
Public comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Comments may be mailed to Montana Department of Environmental Quality, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901, or e-mailed to TMDLComments@mt.gov .