Partnerships
Partnerships are vitally important to the success of many of the Bitterroot National Forest's resource programs. Partnerships can take many forms, from formal agreements with multiple year commitments to a single volunteer event. We value the contributions partners bring, including traditional ecological knowledge, creativity and innovation, experience in managing work projects, and subject matter expertise.
A partial list of some of our Partners is shown below.
- Ravalli County Weed District
- Darby and Victor School Districts in conjunction with Ravalli County Weed District; Biocontrol projects.
- Bitterroot Backcountry Horsemen;
- Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation;
- Montana State University - Western Agricultural Research Center; Invasive weed biocontrol research and rearing, primarily focused on spotted knapweed.
- Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Through the Future Fisheries programs we have worked together to implement fish habitat improvement project such as eliminating culvert barriers to fish passage, building of riparian exclosure fences, and placing wood in streams to improve fish hiding cover. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks also contributes several hours to an extensive fish population monitoring program along with aquatic and terrestrial invasive species monitoring.
- Montana Conservation Corps - Invasive Species Strike Team; Trail and Bridge construction / reconstruction work.
- Ravalli County Off-Road Users Association; Voluntary weed wash stations, education of members on weed prevention and identification, trails work.
- Selway Bitterroot Foundation; Wilderness monitoring.
- University of Montana, Wilderness Institute; Wilderness monitoring,invasive weed detection and mapping
- Trout Unlimited; Sponsored a summer-long student employee to work on fisheries issues in the Bitterroot Drainage while under the supervision of the Forest's two fisheries biologists.
- Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge (USFWS); Together with the Forest we continue to work on fisheries and aquatic ecology issues which include the Threemile and Burnt Fork drainages. Encouraging and mentoring student projects is one aspect of this partnership.
- Corvallis, Stevensville, Darby and Sentinel High School science programs have participated in field-oriented aquatic research studies in the mid-Bitterroot Drainage. Studies have been on Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge, private lands and on the Bitterroot National Forest.
- Clark Fork Coalition; Work is done cooperatively with Rankin Holmes to highlight areas and provide information as to where water conservation strategies would promote aquatic community resilience and potential restoration of the connections between the Forest's streams and the Bitterroot River.
- Ravalli County Road and Bridge Department; A partnership was developed to work on the West Fork Highway riparian management area project as well as a dispersed campsite improvement project.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Along with a private landowner, a partnership was developed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Fisheries Restoration and Mitigation Act (FRIMA) program to screen the headgate for the Hawkes diversion on Chicken Creek, and to reconstruct the diversion structure which had previously been a barrier to upstream fish movement.
- Ravalli County Resource Advisory Committee; The RAC has helped fund several fish habitat improvement projects, including replacing fish barrier culverts with bridges, placing wood in streams to improve habitat, and fencing riparian areas to protect them from livestock impacts.
- Triple Creek Ranch; Fisheries biologist worked with the ranch to eliminate fish barrier culverts on Pierce Creek on their private property, and to relocate the lower 1/2 mile of forest service road (FSR 363) which travels to the Baker Lake Trailhead.
- Trapper Creek Job Corps Civilian Conservation; The mission of Forest Service Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (JCCCCs) is to train eligible youth, ages 16 to 24 with educational, social and vocational skills, while assisting in the conservation of the Nation's public natural resources.