Upper Missouri Waterkeeper

Waterkeeper's education, science, and advocacy programs accomplished several notable victories in 2023. First, the science program launched the Save Wild Trout campaign, a public-private partnership formed in response to disclosure that SW Montana wild trout fisheries were at unprecedented, 40-year lows. This campaign aims to characterize leading river quality parameters known to affect trout populations: dissolved oxygen and temperature, and to advocate for improved management and restoration tactics to build population resiliency. Waterkeeper's advocacy program secured a precedent setting victory that reduced the amount of nutrient pollution allowed to waterways and reinforced the legal requirement of government review of cumulative impacts of point-source pollution discharges.