Flint Creek Water Project (FCWP) History

• Infrastructure completed in 1939, owned by DNRC
• Services Flint Creek Water Users, 44 ranches
• Project consists of 16,000 acre reservoir and five canals, at 46.6 miles in length
• Reservoir & portion of canal built on federal lands, operate by means of special use permit
• Primary purpose: Irrigation, recreation, fishing
• Primary Diversion Point: East Fork Rock Creek

Project History

The construction of a fish screen at the canal intake on the East Fork of Rock Creek was a requirement of the US Forest Service as a condition of the original Special User Permit, which was issued in 1936. However, no fish screen was ever built at the site, and no documentation exists indicating why the structure was never built.  Since then, the listing of Bull Trout as a threatened species has increased the urgency of the installation of a screen, as the USFS and USFWS have told the DNRC that they must comply with the special use permit.  In 2003, the DNRC was again told of its obligation to provide a fish screen, which the DNRC agreed to. This siphon project was completed in 2009. Since completion, DNRC focused on taking action on the incorporation of the fish screen on the system, with preliminary engineering and alternatives analysis beginning in 2010.

The purposes of the project are as follows:

• Prevent fish entrainment in canals
• Increase flows to de-watered section of East Fork of Rock Creek by ensuring minimum of 5 cfs of flow
• Develop more angling opportunities (by keeping fish in the system)
• Fulfill the obligation to the USFS (and consequently, ensure the special use permit stays validated)

Work Breakdown

• Construction of new concrete diversion
• New vertical panel fish screen
• Flow measuring device

Project Funding

The total cost of the project was $1,482,947. To finance the project, the DNRC used the following sources:

• DNR RRGL Grant: $100,000
• DNRC –CRDD Grant: $15,000
• DNRC In-Kind: $91,447
  • DNRC staff salaries & benefits
  • DNRC contracted professional Services
  • FWP Future Fisheries: $100,000
    • Provided funding assistance because project reduces fish entrainment, provides in-stream flow and better fishing opportunities
  • MT DOJ NRDP Grants (1-2): $587,500
    • NRDP funding is only available for projects in “injured areas” within the Upper Clark Fork River Basin. No grant program currently exists, though funding assistance is still available.

• USFWS Fisheries Restoration and Irrigation Mitigation Act (FRIMA) Grants (1-2): $589,000
  • Provides funding for fish screen installation and diversion dam projects located in the Columbia Basin. Funding is no longer allocated through the grant program

Project Status & Results

• Project began in September of 2013 and was substantially complete in 2014

Project Partners

Owner: DNRC

Engineer: GHD, Inc.

Contractor: Patterson Enterprises, Inc.