whitefish area water resources report: a status of the whitefish lake watershed and surrounding area

367 Pages·2015·12.51 MB·English

WHITEFISH AREA WATER RESOURCES REPORT:
A STATUS OF THE WHITEFISH LAKE WATERSHED
AND SURROUNDING AREA
11/8/2015 9:49 AM

Prepared by:

Prepared for:
Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers
and
The City of Whitefish

In Fulfillment of:
Department of Natural Resources and Conservation
Watershed Assessment Grant No. RPG-14-0375

26 October 2015
Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area
Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Front Matter

Project History & Funding………...iv
Citation and Data Notification…….vi
Report User’s Guide…………..…viii
Acknowledgements………...………x
Peer Reviewers ……………..…….xii
List of Figures ………………..….xiv
List of Acronyms ……………….xvii
Table of Contents ………..……….xx

Watershed Defined

“..that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are
inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic
demanded that they become part of a community”

– John Wesley Powell
American geologist, ethnologist, explorer and government administrator

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Project History & Funding

Long-term watershed level conservation requires a baseline of scientific, cultural, and
historical knowledge of an area; an understanding of its physical, biological, and chemical
dynamics; and a program to monitor any changes over time from the baseline. With these
elements in place, adaptive management plans and education programs can be developed and
implemented. Through this DNRC-funded deliverable—the first ever Whitefish Area Water
Resources Report: A Status of the Whitefish Lake Watershed & Surrounding Area—the
Whitefish Lake Institute (WLI) has processed and analyzed the data and information
collected since 2007 through its core monitoring program and has assimilated historical data
from project partners. The result is a complete water quality status report, a Watershed
Restoration Plan, and a scientifically comprehensive foundation for long-term water quality
management of the Whitefish Lake Watershed & Surrounding Area.

First established in 1971 as a result of the Executive Reorganization Act of 1971, the
Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) has the mission of
“Helping to ensure that Montana's land and water resources provide benefits for present
and future generations.” As part of their commitment to this mission, DNRC is responsible
for promoting the stewardship of Montana's water, soil, forest, and rangeland resources; for
regulating forest practices and oil and gas exploration and production (DNRC, 2015).
Recognizing the importance of conserving, developing, managing, and protecting
Montana’s resources, the DNRC awarded a planning grant to the City of Whitefish to
identify watershed resource restoration needs, particularly addressing nonpoint source
pollution.

Funding for DNRC planning grants was authorized by the 1999 Montana Legislature to
facilitate the development of renewable resource projects. These grants fund projects that
measurably conserve, develop, manage, or protect Montana’s renewable resources. The
resulting report of this project is imperative for the ecological health of the project area as it
provides baseline knowledge, identifies known and potential resource concerns, and offers
recommendations to the conservation management organizations responsible for the health of
the watershed. It therefore fits within the scope of projects fundable by this DNRC program.

The City of Whitefish—the project sponsor—contributed funding to this project and
engaged Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers, Inc. (AMCE) to manage the
contract work. AMCE has successfully supervised several infrastructure projects—from
planning through design and construction management—for the City of Whitefish. The
Whitefish Lake Institute (WLI) was a sub-contractor to AMCE, providing the project
deliverables. Funding for work on the historical sections of the report was contributed by
the Whitefish Community Foundation through their annual grant program. The Whitefish
County Water District contributed funds for the Graphical Information System (GIS) Maps.

Project funding enabled WLI to conduct research; provide data analysis; document cultural,
historical, and scientific knowledge; and assemble a Watershed Restoration Plan Task Table.
Through this report, WLI makes management recommendations to the City of Whitefish
regarding drinking water and recreation resources; provides actionable measures for state

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

resource managers to protect or restore habitat and resources; communicates historical,
cultural, and scientific information to the public to aid in their understanding of the resource;
and further contribute to the Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing Total Maximum
Daily Load (TMDL) process and Montana’s Circular 12A Base Numeric Nutrient Standards
development. The report received content contributions from and has been peer reviewed by
scientists, educators, resource managers and policy makers. It is being provided to all resource
management entities and the general public to increase our collective understanding of the
resource and to make more informed resource management decisions.

A report of this breadth and significance requires not only a dedicated effort and funding, but
also broad support from the community. WLI collaborated with numerous individuals,
organizations, groups, and agencies to complete this project. Collaborators and reviewers are
listed in the Acknowledgements section.

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Citation
Whitefish Lake Institute. 2015. Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of the
Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area. Prepared for the City of Whitefish and
Anderson-Montgomery Consulting Engineers, Inc. as a deliverable for the Montana
Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Grant Agreement No. RPG-14-0375.

Data Notification
Data for this report came from numerous sources. WLI will share the data it collected and
data sources upon request within a reasonable timeframe.

Data from the Whitefish Lake Institute may be requested in writing via email to
[email protected] or mail to Mike Koopal, Whitefish Lake Institute, 550 East 1st St.
#103, Whitefish, MT 59937.

Data from the Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS) which were provided through
reciprocal professional courtesy and incorporated into the narrative and figures in this report
are the property of the FLBS. These data cannot be reproduced, manipulated, or used in any
format without prior written approval of the FLBS and the Whitefish Lake Institute.

Chapters X-XII contain summary information of known data sources. The primary sources of
data include:

Biological
 Montana FWP- Montana Fisheries Information System (MFISH)
 Bollman (2003, 2014, 2015) - Aquatic Invertebrate Surveys
 Bahls (2004)- Periphyton Surveys
 Koopal (2004)- Fisheries Summary Report to DNRC NWLO
 Weaver (2014)- Bull trout information
 The University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station- Food Web
Habitat
 Bower (2015): R1/R4 Fisheries Habitat Information
 Koopal (2006): R1/R4 Fisheries Habitat Data Collector’s Field Notes
 Weaver (2014): McNeil Core and Substrate Scores
Water Chemistry
 Whitefish Lake Institute: Whitefish Lake and local streams
 The University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station: Whitefish Lake
 Montana DNRC: Swift Creek and select tributaries
 Montana DEQ: Local streams
GIS LANDSAT Images
The 7/5/2 band combination is used to represent the LANDSAT image data (RGB
channels) in a natural color scheme that enables a basic visualization of landscape features
for all readers. This scheme provides a common platform for simple change analysis by
visual inspection, such as the impact and recovery (re-vegetation) from timber harvest and
fire disturbances.

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Content Disclaimer
Content and data for the report were provided by many individuals and organizations, and/or
summarized from existing reports and documents. We have made every effort to include and
cite this information as accurately as possible. We apologize for any unintentional errors,
omissions, or misrepresentations, and will appreciate being notified accordingly at
[email protected] if any are discovered.

In developing our maps, we employed available GIS to create the most complete depiction of
the study area as possible. Our maps are, however, only a representation of the best available
data at the time. We are therefore not responsible for errors or omissions in this data.

One goal of this report was to assemble in one document a comprehensive and holistic
representation of available information on the study area. The report is meant to be a “living”
document in that new or historical data and information may be included in future revisions.
Please send suggestions for inclusion to [email protected].

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Report User’s Guide

KEY

Blue – Map References
Example: Septic Leachate Contamination & Risk Assessment Map (Chapter XXI, Addendum
B: GIS Maps

Green – Content References
Example: See Chapter XVI Current and Future Concerns for discussions concerning
mercury and PCBs

Burgundy – Data References
Example: Chapter XXII Addendum C Water Chemistry & Temperature Information.

CONTENT ORGANIZATION

Chapters I-IV
Provide background information about the project, WLI, and the natural and cultural history
of the project area.

Chapters V-VIII
Provide an introduction to lake ecosystem processes and discusses past studies related to
water quality in the project area. In addition, the current methodologies used by WLI to
collect water quality are presented, as well as a description of the organization’s programs.

Chapter IX
Provides a biological community overview to prepare the reader for the following chapters.

Chapters X-XIII
Provide technical information on the physical, chemical and biological attributes to project
area waterbodies.

Chapter XIV
Provides information about the City of Whitefish public infrastructure as related to water
quality.

Chapter XV
Provides a discussion and rationale for water quality criteria and standards in assessing the
health of local aquatic ecosystems.

Chapter XVI
Provides a discussion on some of the current and future concerns related to water quality in
the project area.

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Whitefish Area Water Resources Report: A Status of The Whitefish Lake Watershed and Surrounding Area

Chapter XVII
Provides Key Resource Findings and a discussion as determined from information contained
in the report.

Chapter XVIII
Provides information about a Watershed Restoration Plan (WRP) and how information in this
report is related to that plan.

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