Streamflow

The Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center operates nearly 400 streamgages in Montana and Wyoming. Some streamgages are tucked away in high mountains or remote prairies, while some reside in locations visited by millions of people each year. Uses of data from these streamgages include managing water rights and diversion, informing recreationists, and monitoring flows for fisheries and wildlife...

This streamgage on the Snake River was installed in 1904 and is one of the first streamgages established in Wyoming. Information from this site is used to make decisions on how irrigation water is delivered downstream, as well as monitor conditions for fisheries and recreational activities all year long.

The Snake River flows from Jackson Lake Dam about 25 river miles downstream to this location. As it meanders through the valley it gains water from tributaries on both the eastern and western side of the valley. Streamflow data provides information for downstream water users, as well as monitoring flow for fisheries and recreationists.

The Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, in collaboration with the Assiniboine and Sioux Rural Water Supply System (ASRWSS), is monitoring water quality on a seasonal basis at three U.S. Geological Survey streamgages along the Milk River and Missouri River.

Selenium is an essential nutrient with a narrow gap between enough for life and too much for life. Mining operations have been linked to releasing selenium into rivers and streams, where it can accumulate in aquatic ecosystems and disrupt the development of egg-laying organisms like fish and birds. Recent research shows that selenium travels farther from the Elk River Valley than previously...

StreamStats is a digital, map-based tool designed to provide information about streamflow and the upstream watershed of any selected point on a stream. The tool can assist in water resources planning and management and support engineering and design projects. In Wyoming, the current capabilities of the application are basin delineations and basin-characteristics.

The Vermilion River is a major tributary to the Lower Clark Fork River in the northwest corner of Montana and is designated as critical habitat for migratory bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. Historic placer, hydraulic, and dredge mining and large-scale clearcutting (via commercial forestry) in the upper portion of the Vermilion River drainage have degraded the river habitat, increased the...

Lake Koocanusa (Koocanusa Reservoir) is a transboundary reservoir located in southeastern British Columbia and northwestern Montana.

The USGS WY-MT Water Science Center operates streamgages in the Snake River Basin in Wyoming that report streamflow in the mainstem of the Snake River and tributary streams. During the spring of 2022, in cooperation with the Teton Conservation District, thermistors were installed at six sites in the basin to record and report water temperature data. There are currently 12 sites in the basin that...

The Fort Peck Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes seek an increased scientific understanding of the water resources within the Fort Peck Reservation of northeastern Montana. Hydrologic information is needed to make informed water management decisions, including the monitoring of instream flows established in the Fort Peck Indian Reservation Water Rights Compact with the State of Montana. The Fort Peck...

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative is a long-term science-based effort to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale in southwest Wyoming, while facilitating responsible development through local collaboration and partnerships. The WLCI is an interagency working group of partners that is beginning the process of establishing a much larger coalition of...

Riparian and aquatic ecosystems in semiarid landscapes like Southwest Wyoming contribute substantially to regional biodiversity. Long-term monitoring data that describe streamflow, surface-water quality, and groundwater levels are needed for assessing possible effects of changes in land use on those ecosystems.