Watershed group running strong

About 140 people attended the Stillwater Valley Watershed Council’s picnic and auction at JO Hash’s ranch south of Roscoe on Aug. 8.
Highlights of the event included a pitchfork fondue and a live auction that included artwork by Rosina Hash and professional bull rider Clint Branger’s 1995 NFR rodeo jacket.
The next day, about 25 people boarded eight rafts to float down four sections of the Stillwater River, from Old Nye to Johnson Bridge, pulling weeds along the way. SVWC coordinator Lindsey Clark said the crews filled up about 25 large heavy-duty plastic bags.
In addition to money raised at the picnic, the group has obtained funds from a variety of grants, including $20,000 from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for weed control on large landholdings and $2,000 from the Sidney Frank Foundation for the group’s operations, Clark said.
The group’s small acreage weed control program received $500 from the Nye Community Foundation, $4,000 from the Absarokee Community Foundation and $11,600 from the Forest Service’s Resource Advisory Committee program.
The small acreage program is for properties with less than 20 acres, Clark said. Property owners pay $25 to join the group and $50 for the first hour of weed spraying. The program will focus on the upper Stillwater, East Rosebud, Fishtail, Dean and Absarokee areas.
A $6,500 multi-educational grant from the state has been used to purchase video equipment and to produce a video by Melissa Kramer. The video, which was shown at the picnic, is part of the nonprofit group’s general effort to educate the public about its work in controlling weeds, monitoring water quality and bank stability in area streams, and promoting “firewise” principles to residents near timberlands.
Warren Kellogg, a hydrologist who completed a baseline report on five streams in the upper Stillwater in 2014, was hired to do a follow-up report. He’s already walked Fishtail Creek and will return to walk the West and East Rosebud creeks in August and September.
The Stillwater Valley Watershed Council’s accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. Landowners in the Reed Point area recently asked the group for assistance in possibly setting up a cooperative weed management area. Clark said her group is lending the Reed Point residents their expertise.