River to Lake project tackles shoreline erosion, habitat issues on river

The line between agriculture and the natural landscape is very stark along Egan Slough north of Bigfork.

A recently harvested wheat field shows a bright, tan line against the green grass that slopes down into the slough, a meandering oxbow off of the Flathead River. The River to Lake initiative is working to make that distinction less dramatic. Now, a 20-foot-wide swath of cattails, grass and newly planted trees winds along the slough, part of the River to Lake Initiative that seeks to preserve shoreline on the Flathead River. Aaron Clausen is a plant biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks who works with the River to Lake initiative and is helping get landowners along the Flathead River involved in preserving their shoreline habitat. The River to Lake project started about eight years ago as part of the Flathead Lakers’ conservation work. The Lakers in the 1990s became concerned that part of the declining water quality in Flathead Lake was due to agriculture and development along the Flathead River. The project stretches from Flathead Lake to Columbia Falls along the Flathead River.

Other partners on the project include the Flathead Audubon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Bird Conservancy, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Flathead Conservation District. Green, habitat-rich swaths like the one along Egan Slough help intercept surface water flow, which reduces erosion, and they trap chemicals from agriculture practices, Clausen said.

Clausen is working to get landowners on board with the River to Lake initiative. Already about 50 percent of the wetlands along the river are under conservation easement, and about 6,000 acres have been protected, he said. “That’s a great number. People have been really receptive to collaborating,” he said.

Now that the land is protected, though, Clausen said the next question is “what is the restoration aspect?”

On Egan Slough, restoration included planting new native trees and shrubs next to the farmer’s wheat field, and laying down weed mats to allow the new plants to get a good start.

Across the slough from this project, a lone Ponderosa pine tree stands in another farmer’s field. That’s a symbol of how early agriculture practices stripped native trees off the landscape to make room for farming. Clausen said it would take hundreds of years to reclaim a conifer forest that once stood here, but it is possible.

“This project has managed to do something pretty progressive that will do some really great things for the valley,” Clausen said.

The River to Lake work helps landowner values by improving views, reducing erosion and increasing wildlife habitat, Clausen said.

It gives landowners another option to fighting erosion. “You can put boulders or cement on your stream, or you can restore native habitat,” he said. “Biological mitigation is better.”

The project like the one at Egan Slough is a small scale, intensive habitat restoration. It’s a model that can be replicated easily, without great cost. While some 6,000 acres have been protected along the river from the lake to Columbia Falls, only about 20 acres have actually been restored. “But it’s 20 acres like this,” Clausen said, pointing to the success of the habitat restoration along Egan Slough.

Agriculture producers are becoming more in tune with conservation practices after seeing their land slump into the Flathead River. “It seems to be catching on that we need to take care of our land in more progressive ways,” he said.