Wildlife & outdoors

Trout Unlimited receives $40 million in federal funds for watershed restoration efforts

Montana Public Radio | By John Hooks

Published November 21, 2022 at 12:12 PM MST

The Ninemile Restoration Initiative in the Lolo National Forest, where work is being done to restore Ninemile Creek after decades of placer mining had fragmented the stream. Trout Unlimited received $40 million from the US Forest Service to continue work on Ninemile and initiate similar projects around the country.

Conservation group Trout Unlimited is getting $40 million from the federal government to fund watershed restoration efforts in national forests across the country, including in Montana.

The U.S. Forest Service and Trout Unlimited announced the five-year National Watershed and Aquatic Restoration initiative, which is funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in November 2021.

The initiative aims to improve the pace and scale of restoration efforts in national forests and grasslands. In Montana, the funding will go to projects in the Custer-Gallatin, Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Lolo, Bitterroot, Helena-Lewis and Clark national forests, and focus on building road-stream crossings, abandoned mine reclamation, and habitat restoration.

Project development and design is expected to run through 2023, with implementation going through 2024 and 2025.