Loading …
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Inc. leverages a combination of strong science, community action, and the law to defend fishable, swimmable, drinkable water throughout the 25,000 square miles of Montana’s Upper Missouri River Basin.
We actively engage with citizens, stakeholders and decisionmakers, utilize best-available science and, when necessary to protect waterways and communities, insist on compliance with the law.
Fishable, swimmable, drinkable water – your right, our mission.
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper defends clean water throughout the 25,000 square miles of Montana's Upper Missouri River Basin.
Join us today!
Here is the letter we will send: Dear DEQ Director Nowakowski, We are concerned that, with the elimination of numeric nutrient standards, the Department only has a single narrative rule, located under Administrative Rule 17.30.637, to protect water quality from…
DNRC Letter Explaining Waterkeeper’s Horse Creek Hills Water Rights Victory Exposes Department’s Continued Approval of Exempt Wells Contrary to the Law Recent letters issued by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to subdivision landowners across the state…
1. What just happened? The 2025 Montana Legislature passed and Governor Gianforte signed HB 664, a piece of legislation that rolls back numeric nutrient water quality standards for all water pollution control and water restoration purposes across the State. 2….
1. Science-based numeric nutrient standards are far more effective mechanisms for controlling pollution and measuring river health than narrative nutrient standards. Numeric criteria allow detecting and reducing pollution before harm occurs, and judging waterway health with a high degree of…
The US Department of Agriculture is proposing to repeal the Roadless Rule, which has protected nearly 58 million acres of national forest lands in the country since 2001. Roadless public lands are critical for providing clean drinking water, healthy fish…
The long-debated Madison Food Park proposal – what was poised to be the largest industrial slaughterhouses in the United States – is officially dead. The 3,000 acre parcel just outside Great Falls, where the mega-slaughterhouse was proposed to be developed,…
Following EPA’s Approval of Montana’s Water Quality Rollback, Groups Act to Protect from Pollution Today, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper launched a new petition for Montanans to sign demanding the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) pause any new or renewed pollution…
Gutting Water Protections by Repealing Numeric Nutrient Standards Contrary to Science and Federal Law Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a letter to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) approving the state’s repeal of scientific numeric nutrient…
Macroinvertebrate Sampling to Follow Water Quality Monitoring Efforts This week, Save Wild Trout’s Program Director Brian Wheeler is logging more than 500 miles across the Jefferson Basin, maintaining continuous water-quality monitoring devices on the Ruby, Beaverhead, Boulder, Jefferson, and Big…
