Montana Department of Environmental Quality seeks applicants for the 2025 Nonpoint Source Pollution Reduction Projects Call for Applications. ON-THE-GROUND PROJECT EXAMPLES Reducing and Preventing Nonpoint Source Pollution Good Examples • Installing livestock exclusion fencing to create a riparian buffer along 3,000 feet streambank. • Restoring natural hydrology to a formerly channelized and drained floodplain. • Relocating a frequently flooded farmstead up and out of the floodplain. Poor Examples • Installing doggy poo-bag dispensers and signage along a popular upland hiking trail in a watershed where land use is dominated by row crops and feedlots. • Building a rain garden in a watershed with 240,000 acres of irrigated cropland. • Armoring a streambank to reduce erosion caused by historic stream straightening. Restoring and Protecting Natural Stream, Lake, and Wetland Processes Good Examples • Relocating an unpaved road up and out of a narrow stream corridor. • Removing an abandoned railroad grade and restoring floodplain connectivity. • Planting native riparian species and installing livestock exclusion fencing to restore and protect native vegetation communities. Poor Examples • Armoring a streambank with rock or a log matrix to prevent a natural channel avulsion. • Realigning a stream and hardening the channel to prevent it from migrating through a hay field. • Using a log weir, J-hook, or rock barb to divert the energy of a stream away from a road grade.
