Check out Resources on Nutrient Pollution and Best Practices. Click any link to view full resource.
Request to deny upzone proposals in Northern South Park pending comprehensive wastewater management planning
August 21, 2020
Comments submitted on behalf of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Wyoming Outdoor Council, and Protect Our Water Jackson Hole requesting a county-wide wastewater management plan to precede –and inform– any large and unplanned changes to the county’s development.
Septic tanks aren't keeping feces out of rivers, lakes
ScienceDaily – Michigan State University, August 3, 2015
The notion that septic tanks prevent fecal bacteria from seeping into rivers and lakes simply doesn’t hold water, says a 2015 study. A team of water detectives has discovered freshwater contamination stemming from septic systems.
Approved Waste Management Planning Cost Share Proposal
Revised proposal that lays out the funding request details in partnership with Teton Conservation District that was submitted to the Teton County Commissioners and approved on June 30, 2020.
Revised proposal that lays out the funding request details in partnership with Teton Conservation District that was submitted to the Teton County Commissioners and approved on June 30, 2020.
Great Gravel
Montana Outdoors, July-August 2017
New research shows how underground floodplains maintain healthy river “immune systems”.
Invisible Rivers Beneath our Feet with Dr. Ric Hauer
National Museum of Wildlife Art and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Dr. Ric Hauer’s presentation of “Invisible Rivers Beneath our Feet” about gravel-bed ecosystems with a special introduction by Dr. Harvey Locke.
Gravel-bed river floodplains are the ecological nexus of glaciated mountain landscapes
Science Advances Vol 2, No. 6 03 June 2016
In the glaciated regions of the Rocky Mountains, essentially from the Yellowstone area in northwestern Wyoming, United States, to Yukon, Canada, gravel-bed rivers are disproportionately important to regional biodiversity and to landscape-scale ecological integrity. Research conducted in this mountain region, across a wide variety of fields in ecology and diverse taxa, has highlighted the importance of these gravel-bed rivers to an unexpectedly high proportion of the region’s aquatic, avian, and terrestrial species. Although gravel-bed river floodplains play a disproportionately important role in sustaining native plant and animal biodiversity, they have also been disproportionately affected by human infrastructure and activities.
An Ecosystem’s Lifeblood, Flowing Through Gravel
The New York Times
“A river doesn’t just flow down the channel,” said F. Richard Hauer, a professor of stream ecology at the University of Montana and the lead author of the paper. “It flows over and through the entire flood plain system, from valley wall to valley wall, and supports an extraordinary diversity of life…A river is a huge, huge biodiversity engine with multiple parts. If you keep taking out parts, pretty soon the engine stops.”
Yale Environment 360: A New Way of Understanding What Makes a River Healthy
Published at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
A recent outbreak of a deadly fish parasite on the Yellowstone River may have seemed unremarkable. But a new wave of research shows the episode was likely linked to the cumulative impact of human activities that essentially weakened the Yellowstone’s “immune system.”
COMMENTS ON PROPOSED REVISIONS TO TETON COUNTY SMALL WASTEWATER FACILITY REGULATIONS
April 23, 2020
Comments submitted on behalf of Protect Our Water Jackson Hole, Wyoming Outdoor Council, and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance on the proposed revisions to Teton County’s small wastewater facility (SWF) regulations. The existing SWF regulations were adopted by the Teton County Board of County Commissioners on July 6, 2010. Amendments to WY Department of Environmental Quality regulations governing wastewater facilities necessitate revisions to the county’s regulations. Overall, although the proposed revisions contain a number of requirements likely to achieve environmental benefits, they lack many basic safeguards recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its Voluntary National Guidelines for Management of Onsite and Clustered (Decentralized) Wastewater Treatment Systems. The threat of significant impacts to both ground and surface water from a proliferation of residential septic systems in Teton County highlights a need for bold and decisive action to better protect public health and the environment in Teton County.
Original Proposal for Philanthropic Support for Comprehensive Wastewater Master Planning in Teton County, Wyoming
February 11, 2020
As our population and the number of visitors to our valley have grown the patchwork of wastewater treatment plants, independent sewer districts and septic systems has become responsible for treating larger and larger quantities of waste and, as a result, these systems are no longer sufficient for properly removing enough nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater before it is discharged into our surface or ground water. The lack of county-wide wastewater planning has led to a loss of efficiency and economies of scale while having adverse effects on the health of our residents and the health of our local waterways. In the absence of any coordinated wastewater planning, the economic, regulatory and environmental issues surrounding this issue will only increase – exponentially.