Site work for a water / sewer project in Helena, Montana. Completed plans call for site work for a water / sewer project.

The Big Hole River has seen significant trout population declines over the past 6 years. Some of these declines can be attributed to poor juvenile recruitment. Additional sources of high-quality spawning and rearing habitat could help to reverse the declining trout population declines. A spring creek located on private property near the town of Wise River has high quality and quantity of water, however, the stream lacks suitable spawning habitat. The existing channel dimensions are not adequate to flush fine sediment from the system. Further, where suitable flows and depth are present for spawning, the substrates are too large for redd construction. A flow gage was placed in the stream in 2022 and suggests that in the non-irrigation season the stream flows between 2 and 5 cfs, but during the irrigation season the stream can flow up to 20 cfs. The stream originates from springs along the base of a terrace presumable formed by the glacial outwash of the Wise River where it hits the Big Hole River. There are 2 main sources of water for the creek. Ground water which influenced in part by irrigation in the spring feeds 2 ponds from which the stream originates. The creek is also influence directly through a diversion from the Wise River which also discharges partly into the ponds and is used for flood irrigation. The spring creek discharges from the surface of the lower pond. It is possible that a deep-water discharge from the pond could deliver colder water flows to Big Hole River. Question Submission Close Date 2/7/2024 4:00 PM MST