A draft of Montana’s new drought management plan is out and state officials are asking the public for feedback.
The hefty 72-page draft took three years to come together. It bring’s the state’s decades-old drought plan into the 21st century where droughts are expected to last longer and be more severe. It includes input from hundreds of Montanans, water experts and regional stakeholders.
This update lays out how Montana monitors and responds to drought. It also includes a list of recommendations for how to prepare for future droughts.
The ideas range from offering legal protection for water users who voluntarily conserve water, to investing in statewide hydrologic modeling, to funding more water storage systems.
Nikki Sandve with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) said the recommendation section is where they could use the most feedback.
“And so we’re hoping the public will tell us which they would really like to see prioritized, and then the ones that you prioritize, how would you recommend that they be funded?” Sandve said.
The plan took $400,000 to get this far, with allocations from the Bureau of Reclamation, the 2019 Legislature, and the DNRC. But for Montana’s new drought plan to be more than just a document sitting on a shelf it will need buy-in, especially from state agencies and policymakers.
You can find the draft plan and submit your comments at mtdroughtinfo.org. The public comment period ends August 4.
