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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/rural-montana-aquifer-agriculture-collaboration/>
"Jeff Wivholm isn’t partial to mountains. He likes to be able to see the
weather rolling in, something remarkably possible in the northeastern corner of
Montana.
On a cold January morning, Wivholm drives the dirt roads between farms in
Sheridan County, where he’s lived for all his 63 years, with practiced ease,
pointing out different plots of land by who owns them. And if he doesn’t know
the family name, Amy Yoder with the Sheridan County Conservation District or
Brooke Johns with the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge — both sitting in
the backseat of his truck — can supply it.
If you look to the right there, Wivholm says, you can see the valley created by
the aquifer. Maybe he can, his eyes accustomed to seeing dips and crevasses in,
to an unfamiliar eye, a starkly flat landscape. He laughs and says it takes
some getting used to.
That aquifer isn’t unique in Montana. There are 12 principal aquifers running
like underground rivers throughout the state. But the way Sheridan County uses
the water is.
Montana is in relatively good shape as far as its groundwater supply goes,
something uncommon across much of the country, geologist John LaFave with the
Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology says. State politicians initiated a
groundwater study over 30 years ago after years of intense drought and fires
and a lack of data.
But Sheridan County was ahead of the game: The county’s conservation district
started studying its groundwater in 1978, before state monitoring began.
In 1996, the district was granted a water reservation, or water allocated for
future uses, from the state, which meant it could take a certain share of water
from the Clear Lake Aquifer. Because of all the data it gathered through
studying its groundwater, the district developed a unique way of using and
distributing that water.
What’s unusual is how intentional the collaboration was and how extensive the
groundwater monitoring was and continues to be. The district does this by
working with farmers, tribes and the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to
ensure water can be used by those who need it — those who would be most
affected by any degradation to the water — without negatively impacting the
environment.
And it’s worked. The conservation district has been using its geologically
special aquifer — a gift granted to this area by the last Ice Age — to irrigate
crops, provide jobs for the region and keep agriculture dollars within the
community for almost 30 years while fielding few complaints.
“To me, this represents the way groundwater development should occur,” LaFave
says."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
