Based on a review of best available science from the past 10 years, and data collected by the Gallatin River Task Force, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a preliminary determination that the middle segment Gallatin River is impaired.
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...
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...
As if we needed another reason to stop eating bacon cheeseburgers, it turns out that greasy foods are clogging more than just our arteries. According to the Big Sky Water and Sewer District, fats, oils and greases, or FOGs, are also clogging Big Sky’s sewer system,...
“If the water is not clear, nobody will want to play, raft, or fish the river…If nobody wants to play in the river, the economy will go down…because a lot of our money comes from sports in the river,” a fourth-grade student stated during a mock engineering summit at Ophir Elementary School. The Solutions Matter Summit was the culmination of a six-week unit of inquiry by the fourth-grade class exploring local and global environmental change.
In March, we predicted an early runoff, and below average peak flows, but now we’re not sure what to expect. What do you think peak flow in the Gallatin will be in 2017? When will the Gallatin peak? We’ll announce the best guess on our Facebook page.
True or False: 10 inches of new snowfall melts into 1 inch of water.
“The trout are hatching! But one of the eggs turned white, and it came out funny,” a second grade student informed me during Nordic practice at Lone Mountain Ranch. Three weeks ago, I drove to the Ennis National Fish Hatchery to pick up 100 rainbow trout eggs for a...
This fall, the threat of a “super” El Niño for the 2015/2016 winter made national headlines. Forecasters called for flooding in California, drought in the Rockies, and a frigid winter in the Southwest. Now that the snow has started to fall in Big Sky, let’s see how two long-range forecasts compared to the winter we’ve experienced thus far.