Precipitation is beneficial to our groundwater in any form, and while we are grateful for any and all snowpack that we can accumulate over the winter months, we cannot assume that it will stay long enough to be reliable as a source for our community water year round. That’s where water conservation comes into play.
What do we actually know about how we are connected to our watershed? How does the connection between precipitation, absorption, runoff, evaporation and consumption play out through our daily use of water, whether for personal or commercial use, recreation, irrigation, or otherwise?
If you have spent time along the Gallatin, you have undoubtedly seen for yourself or heard the chatter about long, stringy green algae growing on rocks throughout the river. This is an algae called Cladophora glomerata (Cladophora). Cladophora is naturally occurring...
It’s hard to believe we have made our way this quickly through April, and are rounding the bend to May! We’ll be seeing fewer snowy days, warming temperatures, and a slow and steady shift into summer mode. With a farewell to ski season pending, we’ll soon be dusting...
Did you know leaks in your home could be wasting thousands of gallons of water each year? In fact, according to an accountability study through the EPA, the average family can waste 180 gallons per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually from household leaks;...
We care about snow for a lot of reasons. We need it to enjoy all of our winter sports; skiing, snowboarding, Nordic adventures, and even a good snowshoe. Nothing says cozy like curling up next to a fireplace on a cold, snowy evening, and Lone Mountain is arguably the...
The Upper Gallatin Watershed has been marked by severe drought conditions this summer but what does this mean for the people, plants, and animals that live in the watershed?
By David Tucker, Communications Manager In the last issue of EBS, this column started with dire numbers concerning our local snowpack and the equivalent amount of water held therein. Since then, it’s been dumping and we’ve moved into an above average winter—thanks,...
Recently, winter stormed back onto the southwest Montana landscape. A March 24 storm left almost a foot of snow on the slopes high above Big Sky, with a few inches dusting the meadows and canyons closer to the Gallatin River. On the morning of March 25, our...
This fall has turned out snowier than average, but it also came with several days of temperature highs over 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Mountain Village. Overall, October had a mean temperature of 34 degrees, 10 degrees cooler than the 44-degree average.