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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on the following environmental assessments (EA). For more information, including how to submit comments, click on the link provided or visit fwp.mt.gov/public-notices.
Meadow Lake Fishing Access Campground Improvements EA
Meadow Lake Fishing Access Site (FAS) is located 6 miles north of Ennis, along the north shore of Ennis Lake and is approximately 8 acres in size. This site has 10 camping spots with one vault latrine and is a popular spot for walk in boat access to the lake. Recreation use has significantly increased across FASes, particularly those that have camping available. Meadow Lake FAS is a popular FAS in the Madison River corridor due to the proximity of Ennis, Bozeman, Big Sky and West Yellowstone. FWP is proposing to expand existing camping and recreational opportunities at Meadow Lake FAS by adding five additional camping sites and a new rollout dock for hand launching personal watercraft. To help support this additional infrastructure, there will updates to the road including an expansion of the loop to accommodate more campsites along with a new ingress/egress to allow for one-way traffic access to the site, which will be safer for the visitors to use. The project also includes the development of a new day-use parking area to access the new boat launch and an additional ADA vault latrine to accommodate the new campsites.
Comment deadline: April 4
Lightning and Thunderbolts Inc. Private Pond License Review draft CEA
A landowner is applying for a private fish pond license and proposes to stock a combination of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, crappie and bluegill. The seasonal runoff fed pond is approximately 4.5 surface acres and located 5 miles south of Inverness. The pond was excavated with an earthen dam. An earthen spillway serves as the outlet for the pond. The pond is located near the headwaters of the East Fork of Black Coulee. The risks with stocking the pond with hatchery-reared bass and panfish are minimal. The pond is also referred to as Lightning Reservoir. The project is sponsored by the landowner, and the license would be active for a period of 10 years from the year of issuance (2025). The license can be renewed for additional 10-year intervals at the end of each term, and the license is transferable.
Comment deadline: April 5
Greviskes Private Pond Stocking License - Smith Lake EA checklist
A private landowner is applying for a Private Fish Pond License for a reservoir located at 2920 North Beaver Creek Road near Lincoln. The applicant is seeking authorization to stock weststlope cutthroat trout, brown trout and brook trout for personal use and enjoyment. The pond was licensed to the previous landowner for stocking with brown trout and westslope cutthroat and both species are currently present in the reservoir.
Comment deadline: April 9
North Fork Smith River Stream and Riparian Restoration draft EA checklist
The North Fork Smith River restoration project is located on the North Fork upstream of White Sulphur Springs. The North Fork supports an important trout fishery, but has been degraded through livestock grazing, agricultural encroachment, irrigation withdrawals, channel straightening, bank armoring and infrastructure development. The main water quality issues in the North Fork include elevated turbidity from streambank erosion and irrigation return flows; elevated water temperatures from decreased late-season flows; removal of woody riparian vegetation and channel widening; and elevated nutrients and E. coli from livestock grazing and agriculture. Restoration actions include installing off-site livestock water to reduce livestock use of the stream, creating a topographic buffer between the river and livestock corrals, replacing degraded riparian protection fence, installing windbreak fence in strategic locations to reduce livestock access to riparian areas, hardening six livestock access points and restoring 1,500 linear feet of eroding streambanks.
Comment deadline: April 11
South Fork Smith River Stream and Riparian Restoration draft EA checklist
The South Fork Smith River restoration project is located on the South Fork Smith River approximately 17 miles upstream of its confluence with the North Fork Smith River and the start of the mainstem Smith River. The South Fork has been degraded through livestock grazing, agricultural encroachment, irrigation withdrawals and infrastructure development resulting in channel straightening and channel incision. The South Fork Smith River floodplain has been extensively converted and dewatered for agriculture yet still provides important recharge to the Smith River late in the summer. The South Fork has elevated levels of fine sediment caused by extensive channel incision and erosion. Elevated nutrients and E. coli have also been observed in the South Fork from livestock grazing and agriculture. Restoration actions include installing off-site livestock water to reduce livestock use of the stream, installation of riparian fencing to allow recovery of native woody riparian vegetation, hardening two livestock access points and reconnecting 2,000 feet of abandoned meander bends channelized by the now obsolete White Sulphur Springs and Yellowstone Park Railway built in 1910.
Comment deadline: April 11
Nevada Creek Restoration phase 8 draft CEA
Nevada Creek is a tributary to the middle Blackfoot River near Helmville that supports populations of westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and brown trout. The project area had past channel manipulations and streamside vegetation removal that led to bank erosion issues. In 2010 and 2017-2024, nearby Future Fisheries channel restoration projects addressed extensive instream and riparian habitat and resulted in reduced sediment, increased stream complexity, improved riparian condition, and increased trout abundance. This project is phase 8 and would continue the restoration downstream. It intends to restore fish passage and natural stream and riparian function upgrading existing irrigation diversions, lowering channel width-to-depth ratios, increasing pool frequency and overhead cover, and implementing a grazing management plan. The goal is to improve fish passage while also improving instream, riparian and upland habitat within a working landscape. The end result would be a benefit to aquatic species, particularly westslope cutthroat trout.
Comment deadline: April 15
Poorman Creek Restoration phase 3 draft CEA
Poorman Creek is a tributary to the Blackfoot River that flows through a mix of USFS and private land. It supports populations of pure westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. Poorman Creek is a high priority tributary and listed as critical bull trout habitat. Several other Future Fisheries projects were completed in this stream, including fish passage, fish screening, stream restoration, placer mine restoration and water conservation. This project would address an area with entrenchment, lack of instream and riparian habitat, channel instability and bank erosion. Approximately 1,200 feet of channel would be restored using channel reconstruction, instream habitat (step pools, vegetated wood matrix, large woody debris structures). Tailings piles would be removed from the floodplain, opening channel access. The goal is to reestablish floodplain connectivity and function, improve instream and riparian habitat, correct chronic bank erosion, and restore a self-maintaining stream system.
Comment deadline: April 15
Mill Creek phase 2 – 5 Bar 6 draft CEA
Mill Creek (Park County) is a tributary to the Yellowstone River in the Paradise Valley. It is one of the remaining Yellowstone cutthroat trout strongholds outside of Yellowstone National Park. Past land management included channelization that pushed the channel to the westernmost edge of the valley. Lack of large wood and instream habitat complexity indicates that wood was removed, and the channel became simplified. Despite the limitations, the project area is an important spawning and rearing area for migratory Yellowstone cutthroat trout as it is upstream of dewatering in lower Mill Creek. This project is phase 2 and would continue the restoration on Mill Creek (1-mile section) by breaching a historical berm in strategic locations to restore floodplain connectivity, allow side channel formation and restore natural meadow and stream function. Log jams will be built to create habitat complexity. Reconnection is expected to encourage riparian plant growth. The goal is to improve in-stream and spawning habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout and other fish species and to enhance fishing opportunities.
Comment deadline: April 15
Wadsworth Pond ADA Dock draft CEA
Wadsworth Pond is a 42.7-acre pond in the Great Falls area. It is frequented by residents of Great Falls and surrounding areas for fishing and is the site of an annual Kids’ Fishing Day event. This site is the project of several restoration goals, including a 2022 Community Pond Grant to improve the control structure and increase capacity of the pond and a 2024 grant to improve degraded banks and improve access. This project would purchase and install an EZ dock system to create a safe, accessible fishing and recreation area, given changing water levels at Wadsworth Pond.
Comment deadline: April 15
Lolo Creek Tenant Meanders draft CEA
Lolo Creek is a tributary to the Bitterroot River, which contains brown trout, brook trout and rainbow trout, as well as known populations of westslope cutthroat trout and mountain whitefish. In the project area, which is adjacent to Highway 12 west of Lolo (Earl Tenant campground), the stream was channelized and rip-rapped due to the highway construction. This project would realign 0.5 mile of the creek in a wide segment of valley bottom and relic channel. Wetland and instream habitat restoration and revegetation would be used to reduce flood energy, increase off-channel water storage, and improve fisheries and aquatic habitat. The stream, floodplain and wetland areas would be reconnected, and a buffer would be created between the stream and the road to allow for channel adjustments. The restoration would be completed in a publicly accessible area and is intended to be a demonstration project.
Comment deadline: April 15
Harry’s Pond improvement draft CEA
Harry’s Pond (Blaine County) is a 3-surface-acre pond located in Chinook. It was the focus of a 2024 grant to enhance a public fishing opportunity in the town of Chinook, on private property. FWP worked with the landowner to establish a fishery at this location and had been overseeing day-to-day upkeep. This grant builds on past construction of angler amenities both by the landowner and the Community Pond Program. This grant request is for additional dredging near the dam and fishing areas to improve water depths, as well as increasing shoreline access and a kayak hand launch area through placed gravel. Recent sampling indicated that increased depth is needed for fish movement and winterkill concerns.
Comment deadline: April 15
Private Pond Stocking License -Tucker Pond draft EA checklist
A private landowner is applying for a Private Fish Pond License and proposes to stock westslope cutthroat trout into two ponds that were constructed as part of a larger restoration project on Gilbert Creek. The pond is filled using well water rights associated with the property. The pond is lined, and water loss is likely limited to evaporation. Due to the small size of the pond it is unlikely that evaporative losses will significantly impact ground water or surface water levels. Stocking fish in the pond will cause no additional losses over what is already occurring. There will be some impacts to any reptile or amphibian species using the pond. However, the pond is man made and lined and not a naturally existing habitat for these species. There will be limited to no impacts to terrestrial species from stocking the pond. The project is sponsored by the private landowner and the license would be active for a period of 10 years from the year of issuance (2025). The license can be renewed for additional 10-year intervals at the end of each term and the license is transferable.
Comment deadline: April 17
Logan Public Shooting Range Project
FWP proposes to acquire an approximately 86-acre easement (the 2 Dog Road Easement) from the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation (DNRC) as a preliminary step in the anticipated development of a formalized public shooting range on the following state-owned parcel: Section 36, Township 2 North, Range 2 East, P.M.M., Gallatin County, Montana. A completed easement application for the proposed 2 Dog Road Easement was submitted to the DNRC on Jan. 16, 2025. The proposed 2 Dog Road Easement would facilitate the development of a formal public shooting range to replace the existing informal shooting area at the affected site, which is located along the I-90 corridor, approximately 2 miles outside of Logan.
Comment deadline: April 23