The initial draft of the Thompson River Watershed Restoration Plan was completed on November 31st, 2017, and Lower Clark Fork Watershed Group (LCFWG) staff sent the document to the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Montana (SWCDM) and to all other major stakeholders in the watershed to be reviewed and revised. LCFWG staff accepted comments on the draft document up until January 19th, with a total of 9 different organizations/agencies providing comments (some including comments from multiple people per organization), including: SWCDM, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Northwestern Energy, Eastern Sanders County Conservation District, Clark Fork Coalition, and Lower Clark Fork Watershed Group (board members). A concerted effort was made by LCFWG staff to incorporate everyone’s feedback, while keeping the document reflective of the development process and the decisions made in planning meetings throughout 2017. As a result of these edits, a few major revisions and document reorganizations were made, which helped make the plan more concise and effective.
The revised draft document was completed on January 31st, 2018 and submitted to DEQ for review. LCFWG staff expect to receive a response from DEQ with required and suggested revisions by the end of February. LCFWG staff will be taking any final comments and edits on the revised draft WRP from stakeholders in the Thompson River watershed until March 2nd, 2018. The final Thompson River WRP is expected to be finalized and officially approved no later than March 31st, 2018.
If you are interested in reviewing the revised draft WRP and providing any last minute input, please contact Sarah Bowman at sarah@lcfwg.org.