On a chilly fall morning, Jed Whiteley points out trout at a site on Lost Horse Creek. It’s an important fish spawning tributary for the Bitterroot.
"Yeah if you can get on that rock, there’s just schools of trout you’ll see sitting underneath it."
He runs stream restoration projects for the Clark Fork Coalition. He’s here today with teams of construction crews to install protections for trout, and other fish in this stream.
"The screen almost acts like a big steel colander," he says.
Water from Lost Horse Creek is used for agriculture across most of the east side of the Bitterroot Valley. Fish in the creek can get swept out into irrigation ditches. When irrigation season ends, the ditches dry out, and stranded fish die. The screen prevents that.
"So, the irrigation water falls through, continues down the ditch fish free, and the fish actually go up over the screen into a box that then flows back to the river and it returns them," Whiteley explains.
This project also includes replacing the head gate for the diversion; the old one leaked almost a third of the creek's water during low flow periods.
"We actually will have more water in the creek for fish and for downstream irrigators in the summer months, especially in August, September, when, historically, this creek's been quite low."
The Coalition was awarded federal funding from the Forest Service to start this work a couple years ago. But when President Trump took office and froze federal funding in January, the future of that money became uncertain.
Ultimately, when the freeze ended, they learned $900,000 for a suite of restoration projects at Lost Horse had been permanently cancelled.
"That was something we didn't even realize was a possibility, because it had been awarded several years before," Whiteley says. "We had started construction and design on many of these projects."
Whiteley says they were able to make up some of the money from private funders and state agencies but it’s still a hole they’re digging out of.
"And so, we have been trying to recover from that ever since."
The funding cuts are a jarring shift for conservation groups from the influx of federal dollars that have flowed to these projects in the past. The Trump administration has cut tens of millions of dollars for this kind of work, mostly across the Intermountain West.
But it’s not just environmental restoration that’s at stake. Improving stream health is key to Montana’s over $900 million fishing tourism economy.
Restoration projects happen through collaborations between nonprofits, state, and federal agencies. These projects also employ local contractors, explains Megan Lawson with Headwaters Economics.
"These are skilled jobs. They're good paying, and it also provides some continuity with some folks who maybe used to work in the timber industry, who are working in the forest in a different capacity."
The projects also benefit local communities by improving water quality, stream health and fishing opportunities. But restoration is time consuming and expensive, and relies on federal dollars, Lawson says.
"These projects can take many years, and to have that commitment of federal dollars over time really makes a difference for whether these projects happen or they don't."
The future for these kinds of projects looks less certain now. The Trump administration continues to prioritize activities like logging and oil and gas extraction on public lands over work like restoration. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz addressed the Congressional Western Caucus at a meeting in the Flathead earlier this year.
"America should mine, mill and manufacture more of what it needs right here at home," he said.
Back at Lost Horse Creek, Whiteley says losing federal dollars forced the Clark Fork Coalition to delay collecting contractors’ bids and starting construction.
Whiteley says they’ve also faced challenges with federal layoffs, shrinking staff they collaborate with at the Forest Service, and the federal shutdown.
But the bigger issue is the uncertainty of federal funding.
"We may have to pivot and try to look at smaller projects on private land with alternative funding sources so we can continue to fulfill our mission."
That’s true for other conservation efforts across Montana and the country.
