This column originally appeared in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on April, 26 2024. Kristin Gardner, PhD is Chief Executive and Science Officer at the Gallatin River Task Force. 

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hosted a meeting in Big Sky this week to provide updates on the Gallatin River’s impairment for excess algae. The intent of the meeting was to share information with the community and to allow questions and discussion around what exactly that impairment listing means, what’s next, and how the community’s involvement is paramount to a healthier Gallatin down the road. The meeting also came with a positive message: that with a designation that otherwise seems very unsettling, there is hope in the ability to provide necessary resources and attention to the problem, and find the right answers.

Understandably, the DEQ’s announcement last year that the EPA had approved the listing of the Gallatin River as impaired raised a host of concerns and questions. We walked away Monday evening with a better understanding that with impairment comes opportunities for improvement, including additional resources to study and solve the problem. These improvements will not happen overnight, however; it takes time, often years.

How did we get here?

In the case of the Gallatin, the path that led to listing the 39-mile middle section — from the Yellowstone National Park boundary to the confluence with Spanish Creek — as impaired for excess algae growth was the result of more than a decade’s-worth of monitoring by the Gallatin River Task Force (Task Force), and photos from the Task Force and Upper Missouri Waterkeeper. Now, the Task Force, along with state and local agencies, have significantly expanded and coordinated monitoring efforts to identify exactly what conditions are contributing to recurring algal blooms.

Understanding the causes

What we know, and what the DEQ reiterated at Monday’s meeting, is that there are a multitude of factors that influence algae growth; sunlight, snowpack and storms, water temperature, seasonal flows, geology, groundwater influences, and nutrient levels. Understanding how all of these factors work in tandem is critical to identifying how we can mitigate future algae blooms in the Gallatin.

Putting an improvement plan in motion

Once the conditions that drive algae blooms along the river are better understood, a TMDL or ‘total maximum daily load’ will be developed that outlines the “math” toward improvement. Pollution sources are identified and then the river is put on a ‘pollution diet’ to obtain good health. While the TMDL is finalized, the community can start working on a Watershed Restoration Plan, which lays out the path towards improvement. A plan of this magnitude generally takes 2-3 years and relies on broad stakeholder participation to identify projects and associated financial and technical needs.

Data, collaboration, and commitment are key 

Past experience with impairments in the Gallatin’s watershed (the West Fork, South Fork and Middle Forks were listed in 2010) demonstrate that data builds support for effective solutions, like river restoration projects led by the Task Force or more extensive community initiatives like a $50 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade that will produce some of the cleanest wastewater in the state. It’s proof that over the years, the Big Sky community has come together to significantly invest in improving the health of our waters through projects and investments that create change.

While the DEQ meeting focused very much on the data and the science behind the first year of expanded testing along the impaired section of the Gallatin, a clear path towards improvement was also outlined as reliant on a community-built and led restoration plan for the Gallatin River. This piece is critical, and will lead to defining effective solutions, building community buy-in, and establishing investments needed to move the needle in the right direction.

The good news is that we know from examples like the Deep Creek tributary of the Missouri River that impairment listings lead to improvements in watershed health. Listing a river as impaired brings it needed attention and resources. This current process in partnership with DEQ opens the door to guide better practices, and paves the way for a healthier future for the river. There is work ahead, and long-term changes to the health of the Gallatin won’t happen overnight; but with the right tools in motion, there is a better future for the river.