UM professors call for collaboration to build drought resilience
courtesy photo
UM faculty member Andrew Whiteley uses a viewing bucket to look at a rainbow trout while surveying Rattlesnake Creek with a class.
UM photo by Tommy Martino
A sign near a fishing access point on the Blackfoot River warns users of low flows. The river is experiencing record-setting low streamflow conditions due to low snowpack in the Blackfoot River watershed.
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By Skylar Rispens, UM News Service
MISSOULA — The University of Montana sounded an alarm for “record-setting low streamflow conditions” on the Blackfoot River this summer at a press conference last week in collaboration with the Blackfoot Challenge, a local volunteer conservation group.
“In fact, Montana is the epicenter of drought in the western U.S. right now,” said Kelsey Jencso, a UM hydrology professor and director of the state’s Climate Office based at UM. “The conditions that we’re experiencing right now are a function of the snowpack that we did not see this past winter.”
Jencso explained that El Nino weather conditions, which brought warmer weather and less precipitation to Montana, were to blame for the low snowpack across the Blackfoot River watershed. This year, the state’s drought water supply advisory committee placed the Blackfoot watershed in D-4 drought conditions, which are conditions so exceptional they have not been seen in the area since 2004.
These conditions impact anglers, farmers, ranchers and water recreationists alike. Warmer water temperatures prompt “hoot-owl” fishing restrictions that can sideline fishing plans or guided trips. Blackfoot Valley ranchers like Denny Iverson may consider destocking their herds or backstocking their hay rather than selling it.
Historic weather conditions as a result of a changing climate can prompt climate anxiety, which is an overwhelming sense of fear, sadness and dread about climate change and its effects. In fact, a 2020 survey from the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of young adults between the ages of 18 to 34 felt stress over climate change in their daily lives.
“This year was a crazy year from a snowpack standpoint, and the low snowpack translated to a water flow problem that I’ve never seen the likes of,” said Chris Dombrowski, director of Creative Writing at UM and a fishing guide of 25 years. “It’s dire; it worries the heck out of me. And there’s way more that can be done to protect the resource.”
Dombrowski, the author of five books, explores his love of fishing and relationship with nature through his writing. The Wall Street Journal recently named his book “Body of Water: A Sage, A Seeker and the World’s Most Alluring Fish” one of the five best books on angling. In 2019, Dombrowski published his third book of poetry called “Ragged Anthem,” in which he describes feelings of loss, grief and wonder while coming to terms with the reality of humanity’s impact on the natural world.
Despite living in a world ripe with polarization, nature reminds us that “we are completely one,” Dombrowski said. Navigating these changing conditions and the stress they bring requires collaborative problem-solving that includes all stakeholders.
Fortunately for the Blackfoot River, groups like Blackfoot Challenge have more than two decades of experience with building partnerships with the goal of alleviated the burden of drought and more evenly distribute its impacts. This year, the group has so far sent communications to water users to educate them about the drought conditions and actions they can take to alleiviate those challenges. In July, the Blackfoot Challenge implemented mandatory water conservation measures for only the second time in its history.
Students and faculty at UM are also hard at work seeking solutions to climate change and conservation efforts through the Climate Change Studies program and recently expanded the wildlife biology program with the creation of a new chair position for fisheries science. In 2023 a graduate student conducted a groundbreaking study that could reshape the current understanding of water resource management in the western United States, and in 2022 UM entered into a new program that provides science-based climate information and services to Native American ranchers and farmers.
“We can learn from the natural world on resilience,” Dombrowski said. “Despite the challenges thrown at the Blackfoot (River), it’s still a resilient and incredibly robust fishery.”
