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Red Rock Watershed
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last edited
by Christina Staten 3 years ago
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TMDL Development Project Outreach
Page Contents
Project Overview
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) conducted water quality monitoring in the Red Rock River watershed from 2015 to 2018, has made impairment determinations, and has developed total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for metals, Escherichia coli (E. coli), and sediment impairments. This page provides basic information on the project. Information on TMDL development, as well project announcements and meeting information can be found using the links at the top of this page.
Project Area Location and Description
The Red Rock River watershed (fourth-code HUC: 10020001) is located almost entirely in Beaverhead County, with a small portion in Madison County (Figure 1 below). The Red Rock River begins in the Centennial Mountains in southeastern Beaverhead County. It flows northwest through the upper and lower Red Rock Lakes and Lima Reservoir before draining into the Clark Canyon Reservoir. The Red Rock watershed also includes the drainages entering Clark Canyon Reservoir from the Beaverhead Mountains in the west. The Clark Canyon Reservoir ultimately drains into the Beaverhead River, a tributary of the Jefferson River.
The Red Rock watershed is in a sparsely-populated area of Montana, with approximately 62% of the area in public ownership by the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This includes the Red Rock National Wildlife Refuge Wildlife Refuge. The watershed is characterized by a variety of vegetation types, including extensive grasslands and wetlands at low elevations, sagebrush steppe at mid elevation, and Douglas fir, Engelmann spruce, and lodgepole pine at higher elevations. Marsh areas and pothole lakes also occur on gentle slopes at high elevations.
Figure 1. Red Rock Project Location
(Click on image to enlarge)
Long Creek
Red Rock River
Red Rock Monitoring and Assessment
Monitoring to support beneficial use assessments occurred primarily from 2015 to 2018 by Montana DEQ, with sampling assistance from the Centennial Valley Association. Based on this monitoring, Montana DEQ identified stream segments in the Red Rock watershed as being impaired for multiple pollutants including metals, sediment, nutrients, and E. coli (a pathogen associated with livestock and human waste). Table 1 and Figure 2 below shows these impairments.
Figure 2. Impairments in the Red Rock Watershed (click on map to enlarge)
Click on waterbody names/assessment units in the table below to view summaries of their water quality assessments; full assessment details can be accessed from the top of the linked summary page by clicking on “Detailed Assessment Report.” Note that TMDL development is not occurring for all impairments and waterbodies shown in the table. See the Red Rock TMDL Development page for details.
Table 1. Water Quality Impairments in the Red Rock Watershed
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Waterbody (Assessment Unit)
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Assessment Unit ID
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Probable Impairment Causes (2020)1
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Bean Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A004_140
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Big Sheep Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A003_150
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Algae,
Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Bloody Dick Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Horse Prairie Creek)
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MT41A003_100
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Aluminum,
Lead,
Total Phosphorus
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Cabin Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Big Sheep Creek)
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MT41A003_030
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Total Phosphorus
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Corral Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock Creek)
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MT41A004_040
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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East Fork Clover Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Clover Creek)
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MT41A004_050
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Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Fish Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Metzel Creek)
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MT41A004_030
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Aluminum,
Chlorophyll-a,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Hell Roaring Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock Creek)
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MT41A004_060
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers
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Horse Prairie Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Clark Canyon Reservoir)
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MT41A003_090
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Flow Regime Modification,
E. coli,
Mercury,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Jones Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Winslow Creek)
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MT41A004_130
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Algae,
Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Little Sheep Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A003_160
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Habitat Alterations,
Iron,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus
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Long Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A004_070
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Lower Red Rock Lake
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MT41A005_020
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Flow Regime Modification,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Medicine Lodge Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Horse Prairie Creek)
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MT41A003_010
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
E.coli,
Flow Regime Modification,
Iron,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation,
Temperature
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Metzel Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A004_020
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Arsenic,
Total Phosphorus
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Muddy Creek,
Confluence Sourdough and Wilson Creek to mouth (Big Sheep Creek)
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MT41A003_020
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Arsenic,
Iron,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Nicholia Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Big Sheep Creek)
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MT41A003_040
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Aluminum,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus
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O’Dell Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Lower Red Rock Lake)
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MT41A004_080
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Peet Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A004_090
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Arsenic,
Cadmium,
Copper,
E. coli,
Flow Regime Modification,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation,
Selenium
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Price Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A004_010
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Flow Regime Modification,
Arsenic,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Red Rock Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Upper Red Rock Lake)
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MT41A004_110
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Sedimentation-Siltation
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Red Rock River,
Lower Red Rock Lake to Lima Dam
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MT41A001_020
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
E.coli,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation,
Temperature
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Red Rock River,
Lima Dam to Clark Canyon Reservoir
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MT41A001_010
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Physical Substrate Alteration,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation,
Temperature
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Sage Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Red Rock River)
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MT41A003_140
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Total Nitrogen,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Selway Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Bloody Dick Creek)
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MT41A003_110
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Tom Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Upper Red Rock Lake)
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MT41A004_100
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Flow Regime Modification,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Trail Creek,
Headwaters to mouth (Horse Prairie Creek)
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MT41A003_080
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Alteration in stream-side or littoral vegetative covers,
Aluminum,
Total Phosphorus,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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Upper Red Rock Lake
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MT41A005_030
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Flow Regime Modification,
Sedimentation-Siltation
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1 Impairment causes identified in Montana’s 2020 Water Quality Integrated Report
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Red Rock Project Contacts
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Page Created: 3/26/21
Last Updated: 11/19/21
Red Rock Watershed
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