Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex Revegetation

Montana Dept. of Justice, Natural Resource Damage Program (NRDP)– Lincoln, MT
The UBMC is a DEQ-regulated Superfund facility located at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River, encompassing the now removed Mike Horse Dam and tailings impoundment, the Upper Blackfoot River and its tributaries. The area had legacy impacts from historic mining activities that seep from mine tailings, waste repositories, and dam failure.

Watershed Restoration Group was contracted with the State for multiple revegetation phases of the project. This is a notoriously difficult site with many challenges – environmentally, logistically, access issues, and with very tough soils and substrates for project installation. We successfully met the challenges, and as always, maintained high-quality implementation. There were many planting zones, a diverse species list with nearly 40 tree, shrub and herbaceous wetland species. We took great efforts to install plants with added consideration to plant composition and companioning, natural system mimicry, natural regeneration occurring, and hydrologic niches within zones. We maintained candid communications, offered observations and improvements from our field perspective and documented installation actuals and changes to the revegetation plan.

We installed various sizes of wetland, riparian, and upland plants; deep watered plants; built wildlife exclosure fencing; constructed browse control cages; collected native seed for plant propagation; broadcast seeded; collected and spread forest duff; and coordinated plant and material deliveries to the remote site.

Constructed 16,700 linear feet of exclosure fencing

Planted 16,000 10 cu. in. wetland plugs

Planted 8400 Tall one-gallon and 30,000 40 cu. in. trees and shrubs

Installed 600 individual browse protection cages

Harvested 11,750 willow cuttings

Collected forest duff and spread across 17 acres of steep slopes

Seeded 70 acres