Sun River

Over the years, the Sun River has suffered from chronic dewatering and sediment pollution from the aptly-named Muddy Creek. In an exemplary public-private partnership, the Sun River Watershed Group’s members worked with the Bureau of Reclamation, the Coca-Cola Company, and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to restore Sun River flows and reduce sediment. Key to the success of the public-private partnership was Reclamation’s Cooperative Watershed Management Act funding, which provided the Sun River Watershed Group with the capacity to help the Fort Shaw Irrigation District undertake ambitious infrastructure improvements with the goal of not only increasing the reliability of the District’s irrigation water delivery, but also to restore flows to the Sun River through the conserved water. Funded through Reclamation’s WaterSmart program, together with matching funds from the Coca-Cola Company and Montana’s DNRC, it was the partnership that brought together the diverse funding sources and led to a project with benefits to both irrigation and river flows.