One of the greatest ways to act now is to get involved volunteering. Reach out to a watershed organization in your area or read on about existing programs where you can get involved.
The annual Flathead Waters Cleanup is a volunteer event to clean up trash in and around the waterbodies of the Flathead Watershed. Trash can cause harm to aquatic ecosystems and can prevent us from enjoying our favorite places. Our goal is to keep our favorite natural areas clean—for us and for the fish!
The Watershed Support Program provides funding to landowners for projects that protect and improve water quality in the Flathead Watershed. Through this program, Flathead Conservation District (FCD) strives to create landowner champions and project success stories that inspire future projects and maximize impact within the watershed.
Through the Pollinator Initiative, Flathead Conservation District provides participants with free wildflower seeds to build pollinator gardens! Pollinator gardens provide habitat and food sources for native pollinators and beneficial insects, including bees, butterflies, and moths. We can thank pollinators for one out of every three bites of food we take!
The Flathead Rain Garden Initiative was established to inform residents of Flathead County about nonpoint source pollution, its effects on our local surface waterbodies, and how individuals can take action to help reduce this pollution and mitigate these effects. Specifically, the initiative seeks to reduce the volume of runoff created by impervious surfaces through the construction of rain gardens. Rain gardens are designed to capture a portion of this runoff and allow it to slowly infiltrate into the groundwater system, filtering out any pollutants in the process.
Do you love connecting with people and spending time at the river? Join the Flathead Rivers Alliance River Ambassador team and serve as a liaison with the public at a popular river access site along the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River. Volunteers help celebrate outstanding remarkable values of the river system; provide safety, ethics, and etiquette tips; offer information on river rules and regulations; reference maps to suggest floats; collect access site user related information; offer loaner life jackets through a partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks; and more!
The Septic Maintenance Reimbursement Program provides funding to eligible residents of Lake and Flathead counties to offset the costs of septic maintenance. The purpose of this reimbursement program is to prevent pollution of surface waters in the Flathead Basin from septic systems by encouraging and assisting residents to maintain their systems. Septic maintenance can be costly. To make this important task more affordable, 50% reimbursement (up to $200/septic system) is available for septic pumping.
A new program where Kalispell residents can help improve water quality and decrease localized flooding by being a steward of a storm drain.
Formed through a partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the Whitefish Lake Institute, NMLN’s mission is to recruit and train citizen science volunteers to monitor water quality, identify and report AIS and promote watershed stewardship in northwest Montana. NMLN volunteers collect lake data and report the results to management agencies and the public. The NMLN currently monitors a total of 50 locations on 41 lakes in Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Missoula counties.
The UCLN, funded by the Bureau of Reclamation and managed by Whitefish Lake Institute, supports the Upper Columbia Conservation Commission’s (UC3) AIS early detection effort. UCLN engages lake groups and citizens in proactive AIS monitoring and decontamination protocols. UCLN citizen scientists monitor for invasive mussels and plants using a plankton tow net and by visual inspection.
