TAG Documents
Rock TMDL Planning Area
Page Contents
Project Overview
Map 1: Location of the Rock TMDL Planning Area
(click on map to enlarge)
The majority of the Rock TMDL Planning Area (TPA) is located in Granite County, with a small portion in Missoula County. The total extent of this planning area is 569, 320 acres, or approximately 890 square miles, and it comprises the Rock Creek watershed. Waterbodies in this TPA flow through both publicly-owned (United States Forest Service, State of Montana and Bureau of Land Management) and privately-owned land. The streams in the Rock TPA are within the 4th code HUC 17010202, and they have been assigned a B-1 beneficial use classification (Administrative Rules of Montana: 17.30.623). Rock Creek is located in the Pend Oreille River Basin (Accounting Unit 170102) and drains from the Anaconda Range to the Clark Fork River near Clinton, MT. The watershed is located on the border between the Middle Rockies and Idaho Batholith Level III Ecoregions. Flow in Rock Creek is reduced by an inter-basin diversion from East Fork Rock Creek into Trout Creek, a tributary of Flint Creek.
Map 2: Streams Included in the Rock Creek TMDL Project
(click on map to enlarge)
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality identified 25 waterbody-pollutant impairments in the Rock TMDL Planning Area for sediment, temperature, nutrients, and metals. DEQ performed updated water quality assessments in 2013 and TMDLs were written for all waterbodies determined to be impaired. See Table 1 below for a list of streams that were included in this project and the TMDLs that were written.
The TMDL planning process for this project incorporated a combination of water quality sampling and hydrologic modeling to further identify and quantify sediment, temperature, nutrients, and metals contributions from all significant sources.
For detailed information on each stream's probable impairment causes and sources, see DEQ's Clean Water Act Information Center. Click on "Search," choose the "By Location" tab, and then select "Rock" in the TMDL Planning Area (TPA)drop-down list.
Nutrients, Metals, Sediment, & Temperature TMDLs
Sediment, temperature, nutrients, and metals TMDLs for the Rock Creek watershed were completed in September of 2013. The "Rock Creek Watershed Total Maximum Daily Loads and Water Quality Improvement Plans" document can be found on DEQ's Final TMDL Documents website. Sections 9, 10, and 11 of the document include recommended land management activities that may improve water quality in the Rock Creek watershed, and a monitoring strategy to evaluate progress toward attainment of water quality standards. For information on possible funding to implement water quality improvement projects and for technical help, see DEQ's Nonpoint Source Program webpage or contact Robert Ray (rray@mt.gov, 406-444-5319).
On June 13, 2012, DEQ gave a short presentation (0.7 MB) at the Granite Headwaters Watershed Group Meeting in Philipsburg that provided a project summary and status update. A one-page summary of the project status information is also available for download: Rock TPA Status Update. On August, 18, 2012, DEQ presented a summary and update of the Rock TPA TMDLs at a Rock Creek Protective Association meeting.
Table 1: Streams Included in This Project & TMDLs Written
|
Waterbody & Location Description
|
Waterbody ID
|
Metal
TMDL(s) 1
|
Nutrient
TMDL(s) 1
|
Sediment
TMDL
|
Temperature
TMDL
|
ANTELOPE CREEK,
headwaters to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_061
|
|
|
X
|
|
BASIN GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Eureka Gulch)
|
MT76E002_080
|
X
|
|
|
|
BREWSTER CREEK,
East Fork to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_050
|
No TMDLs written.
Brewster Creek was sampled for nutrients and sediment during this project and was determined not to be impaired for these pollutants.
|
EAST FORK ROCK CREEK,
East Fork Reservoir to mouth (Middle Fork Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_020
|
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
EUREKA GULCH,
confluence of Quartz Gulch and Basin Gulch to mouth (Un-Named Ditch)
|
MT76E002_090
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
FLAT GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_120
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
MINERS GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Upper Willow Creek), T8N R15W S23
|
MT76E002_160
|
|
|
X
|
|
QUARTZ GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Eureka Gulch)
|
MT76E002_070
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
SCOTCHMAN GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Upper Willow Creek)
|
MT76E002_100
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
SLUICE GULCH,
headwaters to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_110
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
SOUTH FORK ANTELOPE CREEK,
headwaters to mouth (Antelope Creek), T6N R15W S22
|
MT76E002_060
|
|
X
|
X
|
See Note 2
|
UPPER WILLOW CREEK,
headwaters to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_040
|
No TMDLs written.
Sections 9 & 10 of the TMDL document include information on Upper Willow Creek.
|
WEST FORK ROCK CREEK,
headwaters to mouth (Rock Creek)
|
MT76E002_030
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
1. Specific metals and nutrients TMDLs are not identified in this table. See Table DS-1 in the TMDL document for a list of the specific TMDLs written.
2. South Fork Antelope Creek was on Montana’s 2012 impaired waters list with an identified temperature impairment. An updated water quality assessment performed in 2013 determined South fork Antelope Creek was not impaired for temperature.
|
Rock Creek TMDL Project Contacts
Role
|
Contact
|
Email
|
Phone
|
Project Coordinator,
Project Manager for Sediment & Temperature TMDLs
|
Kristy Fortman
|
kfortman@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-7425
|
Project Manager for Metals TMDLs *
|
Lou Volpe
|
lvolpe@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-6742
|
Project Manager for Nutrients TMDLs
|
Lou Volpe
|
lvolpe@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-6742
|
DEQ Nonpoint Source Program
Contact for information & assistance on implementing water quality improvement projects
|
Robert Ray
|
rray@mt.gov
|
(406) 444-5319
|
* Tim Byron was the metals project manager; he retired from DEQ in November of 2012.
|
Page Released: June 14, 2011
Last Updated: March 27, 2014