The second livestock watering project involves a solar pumping system that is used cooperatively by three landowners in the Lower Musselshell Conservation District. By creating an upland water source, the rangeland is being used more effectively through the implementation of grazing systems as well as protecting riparian areas. When streams within Carter County were found on the impaired streams list, a GLCI demonstration grant bought water quality monitoring kits for the Conservation District so they could assess and monitor the situation on their own in cooperation with the State Department of Environmental Quality. The project is in its fourth year. Conservation District Supervisors and area landowners gather for two days each year in mid-July to monitor the water quality on those streams.
Parameters measured include pH, conductivity and total dissolved solids.
Data from this study will allow landowners to assess their own water quality situation and to implement conservation practices if necessary. In April of 1998, three major reaches of Careless Creeks' riparian area became an outdoor classroom to approximately 100 fourth through eighth graders from Harlowton, Ryegate, Lavina, Melville, and Judith Gap. In addition to planting approximately 2,000 trees and shrubs, the students were given instruction on several aspects of riparian areas which included how to plant trees, how riparian areas function, how livestock and riparian areas can co-exist, and what the presence of insects can tell about the water quality of a stream. The effects of riparian area management on water quality is being studied by Robert Fink, Graduate student with Dr. Clayton Marlow at Montana State University. The research project will be conducted at three locations in central and western Montana.