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Montana Landowners Use EQIP to Advance Conservation of Rare Wildlife

Posted: 18-Feb-2004; Updated: 26-Jul-2007

Montana Landowners Use EQIP to Advance Conservation of Rare Wildlife

Pallid sturgeon. (Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)

Protecting and restoring habitat for at-risk wildlife habitat is one of Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)'s four national priorities. In Montana, NRCS is leveraging the program to advance the conservation of a number of rare species while supporting farming and ranching. Brief profiles of two EQIP projects follow.

Rescuing pallid sturgeon and landowners

Saving the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) concerns several agencies, including NRCS's Montana state office. The issue became pressing for NRCS when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned periodic releases of large quantities of water from the Fort Peck Reservoir to help save the sturgeon. The rising water levels -- which are intended to mimic historic natural Missouri River flooding -- will occur each spring for three years, increasing to a higher level each year. The goal of the "spring rise" is to trigger the pallid sturgeon's spawning mechanism.

Over 100 farms downstream from the spring rise will be flooded, threatening the livelihood of those farmers. Last year Montana NRCS launched a special EQIP initiative to help agricultural producers retrofit and relocate their irrigation systems, reduce or eliminate the potential for negative water quality impacts (mostly from fuel tanks) and create wildlife habitat along the Missouri River. The state NRCS directed $328,000 of its 2003 EQIP funds to 11 agricultural producers and set aside an additional $300,000 in 2004 and 2005 to aid affected producers. The Montana NRCS allocation was designed, through the use of ranking criteria, to help producers who first need assistance at each flood stage level over the project's three-year course. Pump sites at lower elevations on the riverbank received the highest points to ensure that the most susceptible sites were given higher priority during the landowner application ranking process.

Improving grizzly and trout habitat

NRCS in Conrad, Montana has partnered with landowners Robert and Ali Newkirk and state and federal wildlife agencies to restore habitat for threatened grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and wild trout habitat along a three-quarter mile reach of Dupuyer Creek, an area that was cleared of riparian vegetation for farming and severely damaged during a 1964 flood. Subsequent uncontrolled grazing further contributed to serious streambank erosion. EQIP, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Future Fisheries Program funded in-stream trout habitat and streambank cover restoration and riparian area fencing. Some of the specific conservation practices implemented include bank shaping, tree revetment, root wad installation and willow transplanting. The project created a secure travel corridor for area grizzly bears, lessening the potential for conflict with people. Reduced sedimentation and streambank erosion is improving water quality for wild rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and other species.

Thanks to Dave White, NRCS State Conservationist in Montana, and his staff for supplying the details of these success stories.

Suzy Friedman
Scientist and Agricultural Policy Analyst
Environmental Defense

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