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Research about Park County, Montana

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Park County, Montana.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2003

Effects of channel modification on fish habitat in the upper Yellowstone River: Final report to the USACE, Omaha

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation model was coupled with a geographic information system (GIS) to produce a variety of habitat classification maps for three study reaches in the upper Yellowstone River basin in Montana. Data from these maps were used to examine potential effects of channel modification on shallow, slow current velocity (SSCV) habitats that are important refugia and nursery areas for young salmonids. At low flows, channel modifications were found to contribute additional SSCV habitat, but this contribution was negligible at higher discharges. During runoff, when young salmonids are most vulnerable to downstream displacement, the largest areas of SSCV habitat occurred in side channels, point bars, and overbank areas. Because of the diversity of elevations in the existing Yellowstone River, SSCV habitat tends to be available over a wide range of discharges. Based on simulations in modified and unmodified sub-reaches, channel simplification results in decreased availability of SSCV habitat, particularly during runoff. The combined results of the fish population and fish habitat studies present strong evidence that during runoff, SSCV habitat is most abundant in side channel and overbank areas and that juvenile salmonids use these habitats as refugia. Channel modifications that result in reduced availability of side channel and overbank habitats, particularly during runoff, will probably cause local reductions in juvenile abundances during the runoff period. Effects of reduced juvenile abundances during runoff on adult numbers later in the year will depend on (1) the extent of channel modification, (2) patterns of fish displacement and movement, (3) longitudinal connectivity between reaches that contain refugia and those that do not, and (4) the relative importance of other limiting factors.

Montana↗
USGS2002

Metal concentrations and sources in the Miller Creek watershed, Park County, Montana, August 2000

Miller Creek is a tributary of Soda Butte Creek in south-central Montana near the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park. Surface-water and streambed-sediment samples were collected from streams and seeps throughout the Miller Creek watershed during low-flow conditions on August 28-31, 2000, to characterize metal concentrations and identify possible sources contributing metal to Miller Creek. Most water in Miller Creek appears to be unaffected by mining disturbances or natural weathering of mineralized rocks, although such effects are common elsewhere in the New World Mining District. Values for pH were near neutral to basic. Total-recoverable copper, lead, and zinc concentrations were low, relative to State of Montana water-quality standards, with many concentrations less than the analytical minimum reporting levels. Metal concentrations in Miller Creek during this study ranged from 1 to 6 micrograms per liter (µg/L) for total-recoverable copper, <1 to 5 µg/L for total-recoverable lead, and <1 to 26 µg/L for total-recoverable zinc. Concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in all samples from Miller Creek were less than the chronic aquatic-life criteria, except for one total-recoverable lead value (5 µg/L) just downstream from the Black Warrior Mine inflow. Leachable lead and zinc concentrations in streambed-sediment samples collected during this study were highest at the Black Warrior Mine inflow. Leachable concentrations at this site were about 20 times greater for lead and 11 times greater for zinc than concentrations in the streambed-sediment sample collected from Miller Creek upstream from this inflow. However, these elevated concentrations had little effect on the leachable metal concentrations in the streambed-sediment sample collected downstream from the Black Warrior Mine inflow. Metal loading to Miller Creek during this low-flow study was relatively small. Three small left-bank inflows having elevated copper concentrations entered Miller Creek near the middle of the study reach and their combined total-recoverable copper load accounted for about 96 percent of the copper load in Miller Creek. Small loads of lead (about 2 micrograms per second) entered Miller Creek from the Black Warrior Mine inflow and a right bank inflow. None of the loads entering Miller Creek had an appreciable effect on mainstem metal concentrations. In addition, substantial differences between mining related areas and areas influenced by local geology could not be determined.

Montana↗
USGS2001

Quantification of metal loads by tracer injection and synoptic sampling in Daisy Creek and the Stillwater River, Park County, Montana, August 1999

A metal-loading study using tracer-injection and synoptic-sampling methods was conducted in Daisy Creek and a short reach of the Stillwater River during baseflow in August 1999 to quantify the metal inputs from acid rock drainage in the New World Mining District near Yellowstone National Park and to examine the downstream transport of these metals into the Stillwater River. Loads were calculated for many mainstem and inflow sites by combining streamflow determined using the tracer-injection method with concentrations of major ions and metals that were determined in synoptic water-quality samples. Water quality and aquatic habitat in Daisy Creek have been affected adversely by drainage derived from waste rock and adit discharge at the McLaren Mine as well as from natural weathering of pyrite-rich mineralized rock that comprises and surrounds the ore zones. However, the specific sources and transport pathways are not well understood. Knowledge of the main sources and transport pathways of metals and acid can aid resource managers in planning and conducting effective and cost-efficient remediation activities. The metals cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc occur at concentrations that are sufficiently elevated to be potentially lethal to aquatic life in Daisy Creek and to pose a toxicity risk in part of the Stillwater River. Copper is of most concern in Daisy Creek because it occurs at higher concentrations than the other metals. Acidic surface inflows had dissolved concentrations as high as 20.6 micrograms per liter (μg/L) cadmium, 26,900 μg/L copper, 76.4 μ g/L lead, and 3,000 μ g/L zinc. These inflows resulted in maximum dissolved concentrations in Daisy Creek of 5.8 μ g/L cadmium, 5,790 μ g/L copper, 3.8 μ g/L lead, and 848 μ g/L zinc. Significant copper loading to Daisy Creek occurred only in the upper half of the stream. Sources included subsurface inflow and right-bank (mined side) surface inflows. Copper loads in left-bank (unmined side) surface inflows were negligible. Most (71 percent) of the total copper loading in the study reach occurred along a 341-foot reach near the stream’s headwaters. About 53 percent of the total copper load was contributed by five surface inflows that drain a manganese bog and the southern part of the McLaren Mine. Copper loading from subsurface inflow was substantial, contributing 46 percent of the total dissolved copper load to Daisy Creek. More than half of this subsurface copper loading occurred downstream from the reaches that received significant surface loading. Flow through the shallow subsurface appears to be the main copper-transport pathway from the McLaren Mine and surrounding altered and mineralized bedrock to Daisy Creek during base-flow conditions. Little is known about the source of acid and copper in this subsurface flow. However, possible sources include the mineralized rocks of Fisher Mountain upgradient of the McLaren Mine area, the surficial waste rock at the mine, and the underlying pyritic bedrock.

Montana↗
USGS1999

Quantification of metal loading in Fisher Creek by tracer injection and synoptic sampling, Park County, Montana, August 1997

A cid mine drainage from abandoned and inactive mines affects the water quality of the upper reaches of Fisher Creek, Montana. A sodium chloride tracer was added to the stream for 29.5 hours to provide a hydrologic context for synoptic sampling of metal chemistry in the stream and its inflows. The detailed profile of stream discharge obtained from the sampling helped to indicate those areas of Fisher Creek where most of the metal loading occurred. Inflows to the stream can be divided between visible surface inflows, which were sampled, and subsurface inflows, which were not sampled, but the effects of both types of inflows on the stream load were quantified. Substantial loads were attributed to both sources. These results indicate that treatment of large visible inflows, particularly the Glengary adit, could still leave metal concentrations in Fisher Creek at levels that may adversely affect aquatic life.

Montana↗
USGS1976

Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resources Area, Park County, Montana

The Corwin Springs Known Geothermal Resources Area (KGRA) is contiguous to Yellowstone National Park along a part of the northern boundary of the park near Gardiner, Park County, Mont. The area contains two known sites of hot-spring activity--LaDuke Spring, 2.8 km southeast of the small resort community of Corwin Springs, and Bear Creek Spring, 2.6 km east of Gardiner. LaDuke Spring issues from brecciated quartzite and has a flow rate of 380 1/min, a surface water temperature of 65°C, a silica-geothermometer temperature of 68.7°C, and a Na-K-Ca geothermometer temperature of 76.8°C. Bear Creek Spring issues from limestone and has a flow rate of 4 1/min, a surface water temperature of 32°C, a silica temperature of 46.7°C, and a Na-K-Ca temperature of 87.2°C. The springs, which are actively depositing travertine, are on or near the trace of the Gardiner fault-a high-angle reverse fault which forms the southwestern boundary of the Beartooth uplift. Features that make the Corwin Springs KGRA potentially significant include: (1) Proximity of the Corwin Springs area to significant Pliocene and Pleistocene volcanism in Yellowstone National Park and related geothermal activity, (2) existence of a large potential geothermal reservoir in the northern extension of the Sepulcher Mountain graben, (3) localization of thermal activity along the Gardiner fault in the Corwin Springs area, (4) occurrence of negative gravity anomaly centered over the northern end of the Sepulcher Mountain graben, (5) existence of negative magnetic anomaly in the Corwin Springs area, (6) location of the area within the Intermountain seismic belt, (7) evidence of recent tectonism in the area, as demonstrated by Pleistocene and Holocene faulting, and (8) observed surface temperatures and estimated geochemical temperatures of the two known hot springs (features which do not indicate high subsurface temperatures).

Montana↗
USGS1960

A bacterial disease of yellow perch ( Peres flavescens )

On May 26, 1959, two of the authors' investigated a fish kill at Dailey Lake, Park County, Montana. They observed about a half-dozen live, weakly swimming yellow perch ( Perca flavescens ), in addition to thousand of dead perch along the shoreline. It was learned from local residents that mortalities had begun to appear some 2 weeks earlier. At that time the time the authorities had diagnosed the condition as a winterkill, since ice had only recently disappeared from the lake. Although a number of other species inhabit Dailey Lake, including rainbow trout (S almo gairdner i), brown trout ( S. trutta ), kokanee ( Oncorhynchus nerka ), black crappie ( Pomoxis nigromaculatus ), largemouth bass ( Micropterus salmoides ), longnose suckers ( Catostomus catostomus ), rainbow x cutthroat hybrids, only one other species was represented in the kill. This consisted of one black crappie. Examination of the freshly dead perch revealed the presence of multiple petechiae, which were visible externally as well as in the dorsal musculature. The peritoneal cavity showed evidence of inflammation and contained a bloody ascitic fluid. A number of the dead fish were placed on ice and shipped to the Western Fish Disease Laboratory in Seattle for bacteriological studies.

Montana↗