Sediment and channel modification are the primary causes of low-to-moderate water quality integrity ratings in the GYA. This is reflective of grazing and roads as the primary causes of adverse GYA watershed impacts. Yellowstone National Park is different than the GYA national forests in that several stream segments have lowered moderate water quality integrity ratings due to biological causes—primarily, non-native fish invasion. The chemical cause shown for the Beartooth Ranger District of the Custer National Forest, the Gallatin National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park is historical mining impacts in the Cooke City area.
Crucial streams have especially high resource values, including outstanding fishery, instream flow water rights, public supply diversions, outstanding recreation, Research Natural Areas, or threatened and endangered species reaches. About 10% of the streams in the GYA were rated as crucial. The Bridger-Teton National Forest has the highest percentage of crucial streams, due primarily to a large number of stream segments with outstanding recreation values in the Bridger and Teton wilderness areas.
Strategic approach to watershed management in the GYA
Broad-level strategic direction for watershed management within the USFS and National Park Service (NPS) is both clear and direct. Documents such as the Clean Water Action Plan and the Unified Federal Policy for a Watershed Approach to Federal Land and Resource Management provide national direction to land managers to emphasize watershed protection and restoration in policy and decisionmaking. At the agency level, the Natural Resource Agenda (USFS) and the Natural Resource Initiative (NPS) provide further direction to emphasize the protection and restoration of watersheds.
The Government Performance Results Act directs that agency missions be carried out in a businesslike manner. In response to that act, the USFS revised its Strategic Plan (i.e., USDA Forest Service strategic plan, 2000 Revision) to outline long-term goals and objectives for future management. Under the broad goal of ecosystem health, Objective 1a of the strategic plan states, “Improve and protect watershed conditions to provide the water quality and quantity and soil productivity necessary to support ecological functions and intended beneficial water uses.” This objective further outlines eight strategies to achieve the desired results. One goal of the GYA watershed management strategy is to further define the national objective and its strategies to be specific to the GYA.
The information provided by the IWWI analysis is important in localizing the objective. This analysis provides a common-scale, GYA-wide assessment of watershed condition, and focuses on important areas for strategic planning. The following recommendations for addressing the eight strategies of the national objective are based on the IWWI analysis. The eight strategies and their associated recommendations are presented below in a priority ranking reflecting their importance to the GYA.