MADISON RIVER
Universally admired as one of the most scenic and productive rivers in the world, the Madison River in the Raynolds Pass area may be loved too much. Managing licenses sold or the number of boats on the rivers is not our charge. However, we can manage the refreshment and quality of the river via surface and groundwater impacts and prevent an explosion of commercial development such as the nearby Gallatin River has suffered.
Concerns for the Madison River
Commercial Development
Unmanaged development, as we see in Big Sky, MT, has resulted in creating multiple sources of pollution introduction to the Gallatin River.
Cottonwood Law filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the Big Sky Water and Sewer District and Boyne USA, Inc. (Big Sky Resort) in 2020. In May of 2023, as reported by the Bozeman Chronicle, the Environmental Protection Agency approved listing a stretch of the Gallatin River as impaired, prompting Montana to continue studying the river’s pollution sources and coming up with a cleanup plan.
High density development, which invites hundreds to a thousand visitors daily to a rural area on the Madison River, opens the door to increased congestion on the river, unmonitored septic systems resulting in algal blooms, and increased microplastics collecting in the river and aquatic life.
Overcrowding results in trampling of the Madison River’s banks causing erosion, weed dispersion, and conflict. Changing the banks and channels of a river creates loss of habit for invertebrates, aquatic life, and even mammals such as beavers. Without beaver dams, moose lose forage opportunities and go elsewhere. Every change has consequences.
Water is Connected
Waters in the west are no exception to physical laws of nature and the impacts on one water location ripples through all locations. How we manage available surface and groundwater in the Raynolds Pass area affects the Madison River. When the groundwater in surrounding areas is diminished due to drought or uncontrolled extraction, the river is affected.