Bitterroot TMDLs Welcome Page
TMDL Project Overview TMDL Outreach
Bitterroot Nonpoint Source Focus Watershed Homepage
Total maximum daily load (TMDL) work was performed by Montana DEQ in the Bitterroot River watershed for a number of years. For TMDL planning purposes, DEQ divided the watershed into three separate TMDL planning areas: Bitterroot Headwaters, Bitterroot, and Upper Lolo (see map below). Individual TMDL documents were produced for these planning areas in 2003, 2005, and 2011. A fourth document was produced in 2014 that addressed impairments in all three planning areas; therefore this project was called the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL Project. Collectively, 56 TMDLs have been completed, a breakdown of which can be found below by TMDL document. A single table of all TMDLs completed in the watershed was compiled as Table A-1 in Appendix A of the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL document.
TMDL Planning Area:

[Click on map to enlarge]
Upper Lolo TMDL Planning Area
TMDL Document: Water Quality Restoration Plan and Total Maximum Daily Loads for the Upper Lolo Creek TMDL Planning Area (1.6 MB)
TMDL Document Completion Date: 2003
TMDL Implementation Evaluation: 2011 Upper Lolo Sediment TMDL Implementation Evaluation (0.54 MB)
Document Locations: DEQ's TMDL webpage
Table 1: TMDLs Contained in the Upper Lolo Document*
STREAM & LOCATION DESCRIPTION
|
COMPLETED SEDIMENT TMDL
|
East Fork Lolo Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Lolo Creek)
|
X
|
West Fork Lolo Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Lolo Creek)
|
X
|
Granite Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Lolo Creek)
|
X
|
Lee Creek
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Lolo Creek)
|
X
|
Lost Park Creek
Headwaters to mouth (East Fork Lolo Creek)
|
X
|
*To see a list of the non-pollutant impairments in the Upper Lolo planning area that have been addressed by TMDLs in this document, download Table A-1 of Appendix A of the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL document.
Bitterroot Headwaters TMDL Planning Area
TMDL Document: Water Quality Restoration Plan and TMDLs for the Bitterroot Headwaters TMDL Planning Area
TMDL Document Completion Date: 2005
Document Location: DEQ's TMDL webpage
TMDL Implementation Evaluation: Reimel Creek (2016)
Success Story: 2014 Meadow Creek sediment delisting (removal of sediment impairment from the impaired waters list)
Table 2: TMDLs Contained in the Bitterroot Headwaters Document*
STREAM & LOCATION DESCRIPTION
|
COMPLETED TMDL
|
SEDIMENT
|
TEMPERATURE
|
Buck Creek
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Ditch Creek
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
East Fork Bitterroot River
Anaconda-Pintlar Wilderness boundary to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
Gilbert Creek
Headwater to mouth (Laird Creek)
|
X
|
|
Hughes Creek
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
Laird Creek
Headwaters to mouth (East Fork Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Nez Perce Fork Bitterroot River
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Bitterroot River)
|
|
X
|
Overwhich Creek
Headwaters to mouth (West Fork Bitterroot River)
|
|
X
|
Reimel Creek
Headwaters to mouth (East Fork Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
West Fork Bitterroot River
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
*To see a list of the non-pollutant impairments in the Bitterroot Headwaters planning area that have been addressed by TMDLs in this document, download Table A-1 of Appendix A of the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL document.
Bitterroot TMDL Planning Area
Document: Bitterroot Temperature & Tributary Sediment Total Maximum Daily Loads and Framework Water Quality Improvement Plan
Document Completion Date: 2011
Document Locations: DEQ's TMDL webpage. Copies are also available at the Missoula, North Valley (Stevensville), Bitterroot (Hamilton), and Darby public libraries.
Project History Information:
A schedule for the temperature and tributary sediment TMDLs was created for stakeholders to track the progress of the project and is still available if you would like to view the project's history. A map of streams that were assessed for sediment (map size: 0.9 MB) as part of the Bitterroot TMDLs project, and the streams that were included in the 2007 sediment sampling field work, is also still available for viewing. Note that the map is not a reflection of the sediment TMDLs that were completed; streams with completed sediment TMDLs are shown in Table 3 below.
Presentations related to these TMDLs can be found on the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL Project Outreach page.
Table 3: TMDLs Contained in the Bitterroot Document*
STREAM & LOCATION DESCRIPTION
|
COMPLETED TMDL
|
SEDIMENT
|
TEMPERATURE
|
Ambrose Creek
Headwaters to the mouth (Threemile Creek)
|
X
|
|
Bass Creek
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Bitterroot River
Skalkaho Creek to Eightmile Creek
|
|
X
|
Bitterroot River
Eightmile Creek to the mouth (Clark Fork River)
|
|
X
|
Lick Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Lolo Creek
Headwaters to Sheldon Creek
|
X
|
|
Lolo Creek
Sheldon Creek to Mormon Creek
|
X
|
|
Lolo Creek
Mormon Creek to the mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
McClain Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Miller Creek
Headwaters to the mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
Muddy Spring Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Gold Creek) T7N, R19W, S2
|
X
|
|
North Burnt Fork Creek
Confluence with South Burnt Fork Creek to Mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Rye Creek
North Fork to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Sleeping Child Creek
Headwaters to the mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
Sweathouse Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Threemile Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
|
Willow Creek
Headwaters to the mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
X
|
X
|
*To see a list of the non-pollutant impairments in the Bitterroot planning area that have been addressed by TMDLs in this document, download Table A-1 of Appendix A of the Bitterroot Watershed document.
Bitterroot Watershed TMDL Project Area *
Document: Bitterroot Watershed Total Maximum Daily Loads and Water Quality Improvement Plan
Document Completion Date: December 2014
Document Location: DEQ’s TMDL webpage
Success Story: 2014 Meadow Creek sediment delisting (removal of sediment impairment from the impaired waters list)
* This document also addresses non-pollutant impairments in the Bitterroot Headwaters and Upper Lolo TMDL Planning Areas.
Table A-1 in Appendix A of this document provides a list of all TMDLs that have been written in the watershed, all non-pollutant impairments that have been addressed, and in what document they are contained in (i.e., 2003 Upper Lolo, 2005 Blackfoot Headwaters, 2011 Bitterroot, or 2014 Bitterroot Watershed).
Project History Information:
An overview of this project, as well as a map of the included streams, is contained on the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL Project Overview page. Presentations and the project updates related to these TMDLs can be found on the Bitterroot Watershed TMDL Project Outreach page.
Table 5: TMDLs Contained in the Bitterroot Watershed Document
TMDL Planning Area
|
STREAM & LOCATION DESCRIPTION
|
COMPLETED TMDLS
|
METALS
|
NUTRIENTS
|
TEMPERATURE
|
Bitterroot
|
Ambrose Creek
Headwaters to the mouth (Threemile Creek)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Bass Creek
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary to mouth (un-named channel of Bitterroot River)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Bitterroot River
Eightmile Creek to the mouth (Clark Fork River)
|
Lead
|
|
|
Lick Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
Aluminum
|
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Mill Creek
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness boundary to mouth (Fred Burr Creek)
|
|
|
Temperature
|
Muddy Spring Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Gold Creek)
|
|
Nitrate/Nitrite
(Nitrate + Nitrite as N)
|
|
North Burnt Fork Creek
Confluence with South Burnt Fork Creek to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
North Fork Rye Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Rye Creek – Bitterroot River, South of Darby)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Rye Creek
North Fork to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Sweathouse Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
|
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Threemile Creek
Headwaters to mouth (Bitterroot River)
|
|
Total Nitrogen
Total Phosphorus
|
|
Bitterroot River Watershed Contacts
DEQ Contact
|
Role
|
Email
|
Phone
|
Hannah Riedl
|
Nonpoint Source Program's Focus Watershed Coordinator for the Bitterroot
|
Hannah.Riedl@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-0549
|
Kristy Fortman
|
Bitterroot TMDL Planning Area Sediment TMDL writer, and Acting Supervisor of the Nonpoint Source and TMDL programs
|
Kristy.Fortman@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-7425
|
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Page Released: July 17, 2012
Last Updated: July 24, 2019