Completed TMDLs in the Bitterroot River Watershed


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