36.11.424    WATERSHED MANAGEMENT - MONITORING

(1) The department shall develop and maintain a monitoring strategy to assess watershed impacts of land use activities and the effectiveness of mitigation measures.  The monitoring strategy shall include:

(a) qualitative assessments, such as BMP audits, on most projects with a substantial amount of soil disturbance.  For future applications, the department shall revise BMP's that fail to provide adequate protection;

(b) site-specific monitoring projects using quantitative assessment methods on selected sites to determine the effectiveness of BMP's and other commonly applied mitigation measures;

(c) assessments of habitat conditions on selected streams identified as supporting the fish species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. Sections 1531 through 1544, and sensitive fish species;

(d) evaluations of the effects of forest management activities on soils at selected sites; and

(e) an inventory and analysis of watershed impacts on state trust lands as funding allows.

(i) If conducted, the analysis shall be sufficient to identify causes of watershed degradation and set priorities for watershed restoration.  The department shall emphasize mitigation of existing water quality impacts in order to provide greater opportunities to produce trust income while maintaining beneficial uses.

(2) If watershed, soil, or fisheries monitoring indicate unacceptable impacts resulting from forest management activities, the department shall attempt to verify the problem, and correct or mitigate it to an acceptable level. When necessary, the department shall use the information collected to revise mitigation measures and/or modify future activities to avoid similar problems.

(3) The department shall participate in cooperative watershed monitoring effort with other agencies, public entities and private parties, where practical, when funding is available, and when the cooperative monitoring objectives are consistent with department monitoring objectives.

History: 77-1-202, 77-1-209, 77-5-201, 77-5-204, MCA; IMP, 77-5-116, 77-5-204, 77-5-206, 77-5-207, MCA; NEW, 2003 MAR p. 397, Eff. 3/14/03.