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Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Project Outreach

Page history last edited by Christina Staten 9 years, 8 months ago Saved with comment

Kootenai - Fisher TMDL Project Home Page

Project Contacts     Documents

 

Page Contents



 

 

Project Announcements & Updates

 

July 25, 2014 The "Kootenai-Fisher Project Area Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, and Temperature TMDLs and Water Quality Improvement Plan" was approved by EPA in May 2014 and is available on DEQ's Final TMDL Documents webpage. Copies are also available at the Libby and Troy public libraries and at the state library in Helena. Responses to public comments are contained in Appendix I of the document.
May 5, 2014 The Kootenai-Fisher TMDL document has been submitted to EPA Region 8 in Denver for approval. A notice will be posted on this page when the document has been approved and is available on the DEQ website, and TMDL advisory group members will be notified by email.
March 19, 2014 The public comment period closed on March 4. Many comments were received and staff from DEQ and the Montana Office of EPA in Helena are currently preparing responses to comments and making edits to the document. Once complete, the document will be submitted to EPA Region 8 in Denver for approval. A notice will be posted on this page when the document has been approved by EPA and the final version is available on DEQ's website.
February 18, 2014 The public meeting presentation and handout are available for download in the "Meetings & Presentations" table below.
February 3, 2014 The draft "Kootenai-Fisher Project Area Metals, Nutrients, Sediment, and Temperature TMDLs and Water Quality Improvement Plan" is available for public comment until 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 4. The document and information on submitting comments is available on our website at: http://deq.mt.gov/pubcom.mcpx. Copies can also be found in the Libby and Troy public libraries and at the state library in Helena. A public meeting will be held Thursday, February 13 at 6 p.m. at the Central Administration Building in Libby (724 Louisiana Avenue). See the public notice for additional details or contact Christina Staten at cstaten@mt.gov or 406-444-2836.
January 22, 2014 The presentation for the January 23 conference call with advisory group members is available in the "Meetings & Presentations" table below. Contact Christina Staten if you have difficulty downloading the presentation (406-444-2836).
January 3, 2014

All portions of the document containing the metals, nutrients, sediment, and temperature TMDLs and allocations are now available on the Documents page for advisory group review and comment. All remaining sections of the document will be posted in the next few weeks, including the restoration strategy. Once the full draft document is available, an end date for advisory group members to submit comments will be established, and an advisory group meeting will be scheduled.

December 4, 2013 The temperature modeling report for Wolf Creek is now available on the Documents page. Additional sections of the draft TMDL document will be available in the coming weeks.
November 21, 2013 Portions of the draft TMDL document are available on the Documents page for advisory group review and comment. A full draft of the document is expected to be complete before the end of the year, at which time an advisory group meeting will be scheduled to discuss the document and receive feedback. An announcement will be posted once a meeting date is scheduled.

October 30, 2013

Updated: Oct 31

The nutrient data collected on Raven Creek in July and August of this year has been posted on the Documents page. DEQ used the additional data to conduct another water quality assessment for nutrient impairment on Raven Creek. The reassessment determined that Raven Creek is not impaired for total nitrogen and nitrite +nitrate, but is impaired for total phosphorus (TP). A TP TMDL will be written for Raven Creek. Impairment information for Raven Creek is summarized in Table 3 on the project home page.
October 16, 2013 As this is a joint project with the EPA, the federal government shutdown has resulted in project delays. An update on document status will be posted in November. The Wolf Creek temperature modeling report will not be available for review until Lisa Kusnierz, the temperature project manager, is able to resume work on the project.
August 30, 2013

Due to project staff time commitments to field work and other TMDL projects, a draft of this document will not be complete by the end of September. An update on document status will be provided in October. A draft of the Wolf Creek temperature modeling report should be available for review by the beginning of October, however. Advisory group members will be notified when the modeling report is available.

July 8, 2013

Updated: July 18

Raven Creek Nutrient Impairment Update:

Two rounds of nutrient sampling are taking place on Raven Creek this summer in July and August. The additional data will be used to complete another nutrient assessment. Nutrient TMDLs are being drafted for Raven Creek, however if the reassessment determines Raven is not impaired for nutrients, the TMDLs will not be written.

 

Draft Document Status:

Sediment and temperature modeling is almost complete for the project, and sections of the document are beginning to be drafted. An advisory group meeting will be held in Libby once a draft of the document is complete. We are aiming to have a draft document available for stakeholder review and comment in September.

March 6, 2013 The presentations for tomorrow's conference call are available for download in the table below. Contact Christina Staten at cstaten@mt.gov or (406) 444-2836 if you have difficulty downloading the presentations.
February 27, 2013 An advisory group conference call will be held next Thursday, March 7 at 9:30 a.m. Meeting materials will be available for download next week. Another advisory group meeting will be held in Libby once a full draft of the document is available for advisory group review and comment. The draft is expected to be complete this summer.
January 9, 2013

New Data & Reports Available for Review:

The streambank erosion and upland sediment source assessment reports have been posted to the Project Documents page for advisory group review and comment. If you would like to submit comments, please send them to Lisa Kusnierz at kusnierz.lisa@epa.gov by January 31.

 

The nutrient and metals data collected last year has also been posted, along with information and links to Montana's numeric water quality standards. DEQ is currently conducting water quality assessments of the sampled streams to make impairment determinations. A link to the assessment methods is also available on the project documents page.

 

Next Advisory Group Meeting:

Once the water quality assessments are complete, a conference call will be held to provide advisory group members with a review of the sampling activities that were conducted in 2012 and information on the impairment determinations. Once the meeting date has been determined, advisory group members will be emailed additional information and a toll-free number for the call.

November 27, 2012

Project Updates:

Sediment source assessment reports are being drafted and will be posted to the Project Documents page in the next few weeks for advisory group review and comment. Advisory group members will be notified via email when the reports are available. These reports will summarize the sediment data collected and provide estimates of the amount of sediment being generated from eroding streambanks, unpaved roads in the watershed, and what is referred to as "upland sources," such as grazing lands and timber harvest areas. A temperature modeling report for Wolf Creek is expected to be complete early next year and will also be posted for review.

 

Once all sampling data is received from the laboratories, water quality assessments will be conducted by DEQ to determine nutrient and metals water quality impairments of the sampled streams. The assessment results will determine what TMDLs will be written. DEQ expects to complete the assessments in the next couple of months and an advisory group meeting to review the results is anticipated for early next year. A copy of DEQ's water quality assessment methods can be found on our website here: http://deq.mt.gov/wqinfo/qaprogram/sops.mcpx

October 22, 2012

Nutrients & Metals Monitoring:

All nutrients and metals sampling for this year was completed in September. Additional metals sampling locations were added to Bear, Fairway, and Stanley Creeks for the September sampling event. A table and map of these sites has been posted on the Project Documents page. All sampling data will undergo a thorough quality assessment review once it is received from the laboratory, and a spreadsheet of the results will be posted to this site.

 

Wolf Creek Temperature Data:

The temperature data loggers in Wolf Creek were retrieved the third week of September, and stream flow was recorded at each data logger location. Riparian shade data was also collected on Wolf Creek in September. Vegetation type, vegetation density, and the amount of shade covering the stream channel was recorded. These measurements will aid temperature modeling efforts.

August 22, 2012

Update on sampling activities: Nutrients and metals sampling took place in early July and August. Another round of nutrient sampling is scheduled for September. The sampling and analysis plan can be found on the Project Documents page.

July 19, 2012 A draft version of the sampling and analysis plan for temperature, shade, and flow monitoring on Wolf Creek has been posted on the Project Documents page. Temperature data loggers were deployed in Wolf Creek in late June and will remain in the stream until late September. The loggers record stream temperature every half hour; this data will be used in a water quality model to estimate thermal loads in Wolf Creek.
June 25, 2012 High-flow monitoring for metals was completed in late May. Another round of metals sampling will take place this summer. Additionally, two rounds of nutrient sampling will also take place this summer. The sampling and analysis plan, detailing sample locations and the parameters sampled at each site, can be found on the Project Documents page.
April 6, 2012 The presentation and handout from the April 4, 2012 advisory group meeting has been posted below. Another meeting will be held after this year's water quality sampling has been completed.
March 29, 2012 A watershed advisory group meeting will be held Wednesday, April 4, 2012 at 2 p.m. at the Kootenai National Forest Supervisors Office in Libby. Project staff will provide a brief overview of the TMDL process and the scope of the Kootenai-Fisher TMDL Project.  Sampling activities taking place for the metals, nutrients, sediment, and temperature TMDLs will also be discussed. Contact Christina Staten (406-444-2836) if you would like additional information about the meeting.

March 19, 2012 

This table will be used to post information on the project's status, meeting notices, and other related announcements. 

 

 

Meetings & Presentations

 

MEETING

PRESENTATIONS & HANDOUTS

April 4, 2012 Watershed Advisory Group Meeting

Christina StatenLou Volpe, and Lisa Kusnierz held the first advisory group meeting to discuss the current status of the project and project plans and next steps.

April 4, 2012 Presentation ( 7.67 MB)

This presentation provides a brief overview of the TMDL process, contains maps of impaired streams and monitoring locations from the 2011 sampling events, graphs of monitoring results, and outlines plans for 2012 sampling and the next project steps.

 

Handout: Project Overview and Timeline (~.05 MB)

March 7, 2013 

DEQ and EPA held a conference call with advisory group members to provide a project update. Lou Volpe provided updates on the metals TMDLs, and Lisa Kusnierz provided updates on the nutrients, sediment, & temperature TMDLs.

Metals TMDL Update (2.30 MB) 

Nutrients, Sediment, & Temperature Update (3.28 MB)

 

Each of these presentations provides a summary of the water quality monitoring that has taken place for the applicable pollutant groups, provides updated impairment status determinations for each stream, and lists what TMDLs will be written.

January 23, 2014 

DEQ and EPA held a teleconference with advisory gorup members to review the draft TMDLs.

January 23, 2014 Presentation (3.14 MB)

 

Presentation was given by Lisa Kusnierz (EPA) and Lou Volpe (DEQ)

February 13, 2014

DEQ held a public meeting to discuss and answer questions about the draft TMDL document.

February 13, 2014 Public Meeting Presentation (4.8 MB)

Presentation was given by Lisa Kusnierz (EPA), Lou Volpe (DEQ), & Christina Staten (DEQ)

 

Handout: Project Summary & Public Comment Information (~0.4 MB)

 

 

Click on the Adobe icon if you need to download the free Adobe Acrobat software in order to view the documents on this page.


 

Project Contacts

 

This project was a joint effort between the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

See the project contacts page for additional information about team member's roles, contacts for local watershed groups, and links to information on water quality improvement practices and projects.

 

PROJECT MEMBER

AGENCY

ROLE

EMAIL

PHONE

Christina Staten

DEQ

Project Coordinator 

CStaten@mt.gov

406-444-2836

Lou Volpe

DEQ

Project Manager for the Metals TMDLs 

LVolpe@mt.gov

406-444-6742

Lisa Kusnierz

EPA

Project Manager for the Nutrients, Sediment, and Temperature TMDLs 

Kusnierz.Lisa@epa.gov

406-457-5001

 

Please note: This project was not part of, or a result of, the superfund clean-up operations for the W.R. Grace vermiculite mine and asbestos contamination in Libby. For information regarding the superfund project, please see EPA’s Libby Asbestos webpage. This project was also not part of permitting or development of an environmental impact statement for the Montanore Mine.

 


Page Released: March 19, 2012

Last Updated: July 25, 2014