Arts & Entertainment
Water Wisdom: A wild and scenic gallatin
Published
5 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Mike Fiebig EBS CONTRIBUTOR
With the weather warming and the days growing longer, I recently drove up Gallatin Canyon dreaming not only of powder turns, but also of spring runoff.
As of mid-March, the Gallatin River watershed was at a whopping 124 percent of average snowpack, which was abundantly clear looking out my truck window. As the snowcapped peaks of the Gallatin and Madison ranges stood out against the deep blue sky, my thoughts drifted toward paddling or fishing after work, and hiking or climbing above the river on weekends.
For wild, free-flowing rivers in Montana, a big snowpack means higher flows or a longer paddling season, sometimes both. This also means clean, cold and copious water for fish, wildlife, recreationists and downstream irrigators.
I for one love that the Gallatin River is not only my backyard river, but that it’s a wild river. And there is a growing coalition of individuals, business owners, conservationists and recreation groups working to keep it that way by proposing it for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
The coalition, Montanans for Healthy Rivers, needs your help to make the Wild and Scenic Gallatin River a reality. This designation would keep the Gallatin clean and free-flowing, as well as protect the recreation, scenery and historic values that Montanans love about the river corridor. At the same time, the act protects public access and doesn’t impact private property rights.
Recently, Montanans celebrated the passage of the 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act, which protected the Yellowstone River from mining and permanently reauthorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It also designated over 600 miles of new Wild and Scenic rivers in seven states, from the coastal forests of Oregon to the redrock canyons of Utah.
The proposed Gallatin River Wild and Scenic designation is part of a larger, made-in-Montana bill called the Montana Headwater’s Security Act, which would designate 37 of Montana’s best headwaters streams as Wild and Scenic, primarily in Greater Yellowstone and the Crown of the Continent. Other rivers in the Act include public lands sections of the Madison, Yellowstone, Smith and Dearborn rivers, as well as Rock Creek outside of Missoula.
Montanans for Healthy Rivers needs your help to make the Montana Headwaters Security Act a reality. Now is the time to permanently protect our favorite backyard rivers like the Gallatin. Consider taking a minute to call Sens. Jon Tester or Steve Daines, or Congressman Greg Gianforte to ask them to introduce the Montana Headwaters Security Act.
To learn more about the act and which waterways it would protect, visit healthyriversmt.org.
Mike Fiebig is an avid paddler, member of Montanans for Healthy Rivers and serves as the Northern Rockies Conservation Director at American Rivers.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
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My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy
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My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy that tells the story of Toby and Melinda, two lonely people whose lives are forever changed the night they encounter a starving coyote at their apartment building. Over time they grow to expect him, leaving ritual offerings to entice the coyote every night. Toby and Melinda forge a connection over this visitor and share curiosity and concern about his presence in the city. The coyote expands their world–until, one night, their world is shattered. Their lives are pushed suddenly into uncharted territory, sending them on a surreal odyssey that changes their city–and the world–forever.
Directed by LX Miller. Starring Max Schneider and Denise Hergett
Verge Theater is continuing their mission to provide accessible theater to our community. Tickets for My Barking Dog are Pay What You Wish with a suggested price of $35. Audience members are offered the opportunity to select the price point that is comfortable for them when purchasing tickets.
My Barking Dog runs March 15-17, 22-24, 28-30
Performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays begin at 7:00 p.m., with Sunday matinees offered at 3:00 p.m.
Suitable for ages 16 . No animals are harmed in the staging of this production.
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