HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-10-19 City Commission Packet Materials - C8. Res 5042, Support for the USGS-NIWR National Competitive Grants Program
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Bozeman City Commission
FROM: Cyndy Andrus, Mayor
SUBJECT: Resolution 5042, Relating to the Application by the Montana State University Mayor Mentee’s project for the US Geological Survey –
104g Water Resources Research Grant
MEETING DATE: Monday June 10, 2019
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Consent
RECOMMENDATION: Adopt Resolution 5042, and authorize the approval of support for
the USGS – 104g Water Resources Research Grant to develop natural storage in the Sourdough
watershed and identify a $25,000 match to be allocated from the water impact fee project WIF37
Sourdough Canyon Natural Storage – Planning and Design in FY2024.
SUGGESTED MOTION: I move to adopt Resolution 5042 in support of the USGS – 104g grant
application submitted by Montana State University and to authorize use of $25,000 in water impact
fee project funds from WIF37 to provide a match for the grant.
BACKGROUND: The research project will study an innovative system for water supply management that has the potential to provide water supply and control, as well as enhance aquatic and riparian ecosystems. We plan to evaluate the use of small impoundments for water storage in
a municipal watershed and investigate how the alteration of water storage using beaver dam
analogs (BDAs) affects the ecology, water right, and public perception of a municipal watershed
in the Rocky Mountain West. The team of faculty from Montana State University (MSU) and USGS scientists will link the disciplines of engineering, ecology, and social science while working collaboratively with city officials.
FISCAL EFFECTS: The grant, if awarded to MSU, will require a $25,000 match that has been
identified to appropriately come from the City of Bozeman water impact fee project WIF37
Sourdough Canyon Natural Storage – Planning and Design in FY2024
Attachment: Resolution 5042
Letter of Support
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RESOLUTION NO. 5042
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN,
MONTANA, RELATING TO THE APPLICATION BY MONTANA STATE
UNIVERSITY FOR THE US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY – 104G WATER RESOURCES
RESEARCH GRANT.
WHEREAS, the Bozeman City Commission is committed to facilitating collaboration
with Montana State University on research project in the City and the region; and
WHEREAS, the Bozeman City Commission is committed to facilitating partnerships in
the community, thus positively impacting the environment of the entire region; and
WHEREAS, Montana State University civil engineering faculty desires to apply for a
grant to the USGS – 104g Water Resources Research Grant to develop natural storage in the
Sourdough watershed and has requested a $25,000 match to be allocated from the City of Bozeman
water impact fee project WIF37 Sourdough Canyon Natural Storage – Planning and Design in
FY2024.; and
WHEREAS, the City Commission has determined that the project is going to study an
innovative system for water supply management that has the potential to provide water supply
and control, as well as enhance aquatic and riparian ecosystems; and
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman Mayor has hosted a student from MSU in the Mentored
by the Mayor program and this grant is a furtherance of her work, the City Commission hereby
authorizes Montana State University to submit application in partnership with the City of
Bozeman.
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Commission of the City of
Bozeman, Montana, the City agrees to allow MSU to submit an application with the City of
Bozeman listed as a grant match contribution source, and MSU will manage all aspects of the grant
administration as determined by the US Geological Survey grant requirements.
PASSED, ADOPTED, AND APPROVED by the City Commission of the City of
Bozeman, Montana, at a regular session thereof held on the 10th day of June, 2019.
CYNTHIA L. ANDRUS Mayor
ATTEST:
ROBIN CROUGH
City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM:
GREG SULLIVAN City Attorney
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National Competitive Grant (104g) Preproposal Form – RFP G19ASXXXXX Number assigned by USGS:
TITLE: Evaluating the use of small impoundments to enhance water storage and ecosystem function for
municipal watersheds in the Rocky Mountain West
PROPOSED INITIATION DATE: September 1, 2019
PROPOSED COMPLETION DATE: August 31, 2022
FUNDING LEVEL (A) FEDERAL FUNDS REQUESTED: $250,000
(B) PROPOSED COST SHARING: $250,000
STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE AND IMPORTANCE: Climate change and an increasing population are having profound impacts on the ability of municipalities to meet water demands in the
Rocky Mountain West where the dependence on snowmelt for domestic supply is significant. Utah,
Montana, Idaho, and Colorado’s State Water Plans all include plans to continue to develop surface-water storage infrastructure to meet future demand (Colorado WCD, 2015; Montana DNRC, 2014; Utah DNR, 2008; Idaho Water Resource Board, 2012). Small impoundments, such as beaver dam analogs (BDAs), are being proposed as an alternative to traditional dams in cities that increasingly require the storage of
surface runoff to meet domestic water needs while addressing residents’ sensitivities to the
environmental impacts of large, permanent, in-stream structures. BDAs mimic natural beaver dam structures and are currently used as a restoration tool throughout the U.S. to repair instream incision, reduce streambank erosion, improve riparian zones, and reconnect channels to their floodplains. Despite progress toward understanding the physical response of river systems to BDAs, there is still a paucity of
information that synthesizes how BDAs influence hydraulics and hydrology, which ultimately affects
aquatic and riparian ecology. Additionally, the increasing use of these structures in Western US states that use the prior appropriation doctrine to establish water rights and allocate water has raised questions about permitting, water rights, and public perception. We will collaborate with a USGS hydrologist and surface water specialist at the Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center to evaluate an innovative
approach to infrastructure design and water supply management. Traditional water resource engineering has focused primarily on designs for human benefit. However, water resource infrastructure is increasingly retrofitted with accommodations or protections for ecological functions (e.g. fish ladders, screens). It is important that engineers begin to design infrastructure systems that benefit humans and their environment (Dunham et al, 2018). We propose to study an innovative system for water supply
management that has the potential to provide water supply and control, as well as enhance aquatic and riparian ecosystems. We plan to evaluate the use of small impoundments for water storage in a municipal watershed and investigate how the alteration of water storage using BDAs affects the ecology, water right, and public perception of a municipal watershed in the Rocky Mountain West.
Part of the challenge in designing an ecologically beneficial water storage system made up of several small, semi-permanent impoundments lies in 1) understanding complicated hydro-ecological links, 2) creating manageable operation and maintenance requirements, and 3) navigating complicated water rights and permitting systems in prior appropriation states. There have been few efforts beyond qualitative descriptions to evaluate and monitor how the use of BDA structures contributes to physical
habitat improvements and productive ecosystems that support species of concern such as salmonids (Bernhardt et al. 2005; Magee and McCullough 2008; Castro et al. 2015). The ad hoc usage of BDAs, and the unknown benefits of anticipated but unverified instream water dynamics versus biologically relevant ecosystem productivity, necessitate a formal holistic evaluation of current practices to make
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recommendations that inform management. Linking the implementation of BDAs to changes in watershed hydrology/hydraulics and then ecosystem function will allow us to relate water quantity and
quality to abundance, diversity, and behaviors of freshwater organisms that are important to the
economy of the West, to develop and refine hydrologic and hydraulic models, and to provide insight into water storage practices (Nelson et al. 2016). Practical considerations regarding the operation and maintenance of BDA structures are also unknown. A careful evaluation of several designs is imperative in creating an impoundment system that will be sustainable from a public works perspective. Finally,
without the ability to permit and secure water rights associated with small, semi-permanent
impoundments, communities will be unable to consider this approach as an alternative to the traditional water storage solutions that often negatively affect ecosystems. Furthermore, negative public perceptions may impede the construction of traditional reservoirs, making alternative water storage techniques an imperative in the context of climate change and changing precipitation and runoff
patterns. The basic science, outreach opportunities, and public good associated with a better
understanding of BDAs are a top priority because they are intrinsically coupled to important community, agency, and non-profit stakeholder groups.
RESEARCH GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: Our team of faculty from Montana State University (MSU) and USGS scientists will link the disciplines of engineering, ecology, and social science while working collaboratively with city officials to design and evaluate a system of BDAs to provide surface water storage for the public water supply of Bozeman, Montana. We will leverage our existing capabilities and relationships (including former public works director Woolard as a Co-PI) to develop a
design framework consisting of three integrated branches: engineering design, ecological monitoring, and social science research that meets operational needs. Our first objective is to develop an engineering design to provide 6,000 acre-feet of storage for year round use in the Sourdough drainage. This design will be optimized to provide a year-round supply of water to the existing water treatment plant intake using BDA-type small impoundments. Our second
objective is to quantify the impact of the design on aquatic and riparian ecosystems with lab and/or field measurements of primary and secondary production. Our third objective is to evaluate the legal and social barriers to implementing an innovative small-impoundment storage infrastructure for public supply. Finally, our fourth objective is to develop an engineering design process that incorporates both ecological, social, and operation and maintenance considerations (Figure 1).
RESEARCH APPROACH: As an alternative to a traditional 6,000 acre-foot reservoir, the City of Bozeman’s Integrated Water Resources Plan Alternatives (Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., 2013) identifies the construction of small ponds to store water in multiple locations within
the Sourdough Drainage. The City holds a municipal share in the Bozeman Creek Reservoir Company and originally stored water in Mystic Lake Dam, which was breached in
the mid-1980s. Multiple, small impoundments were proposed because it was thought to be more cost effective to construct, have more public support, and have less environmental impact. However, the author of the report indicates that no
studies have been completed to verify this potential (Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., 2013).
Figure 1 - Engineering design for water resource infrastructure to incorporate
feedback mechanisms for social and ecological response.
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Plymesser, Woolard, and Chase will develop design alternatives for BDA-type structures to provide 6,000 acre-feet of water storage in small ponds for year round use. Potential small pond
construction sites will be identified and assessed for their storage potential. The designs will be
developed in close consultation with city engineers to ensure appropriate control structures and operating plans are considered. We will select three potential designs for the small impoundments and install them in representative reaches within the Sourdough drainage. The hydraulic and hydrologic characteristics of the installed designs will be quantified. Additionally, the operation and maintenance
requirements will be documented.
Our proposed work will take a novel and important step toward quantifying the impact of BDA-type small impoundments on aquatic and riparian ecosystem function and services (Wilson and Carpenter 1999; Dodds et al. 2013) that can maintain city water supply quality by limiting nutrient input to ground and surface waters (Osborne and Kovacic 1993;Mayer et al. 2007; Larson et al. 2019). The
effect of BDAs on ecosystem processes will be investigated using lab and/or field measurements of
biofilm, macroinvertebrate, and fish primary and secondary production. Albertson and Verhille will describe community structure and abundances of biofilm and macroinvertebrates, including bioindicator species for water quality. They will also characterize metabolic rates across ecologically realistic water temperatures and flow scenarios in both lab and field settings. They will quantify size class distributions
and drift rates of macroinvertebrates in the field and score potential availability as food to support fish
populations that provide important economic and recreational services. Fish abundance and community structure will be sampled using seine netting and electroshocking methods. To quantify aquatic-terrestrial resource subsidies and movement of a dominant carbon source from aquatic to terrestrial habitat, patterns of aquatic macroinvertebrate emergence phenology as they hatch into riparian habitat
will be quantified using emergence traps. Habitat surveys of riparian vegetation density and plant and
tree community structure will evaluate the potential for BDAs to alter terrestrial habitat for species of concern such as moose, birds, and bats. All of these proposed measurements are key features of functioning ecosystems known to be shifting with changes to hydrology and water temperature (Bott et. al., 1985; Benke 1984; Baxter et al. 2005; Anderson, Albertson, and Walters in review). Engineering
designs for water storage solutions often neglect the potential of functions and services carried out by aquatic and riparian communities because it is difficult and different from traditional design practice (Folke et al. 2007). There are two key social science questions related to the City’s proposal to store the municipal shares in small ponds:
• Q1: How would small ponds affect water that is currently utilized in the watershed (i.e., third party impacts and availability of water rights)?
• Q2: What is the public perception and acceptance of multiple small storage ponds as compared to a traditional reservoir?
To address Q1, McEvoy will review secondary documents (i.e. water rights files, relevant case law, state
guidelines for water storage, etc.) and conduct interviews with key personnel from the state’s water rights agency (MT Department of Natural Resources and Conservation), water lawyers, and water rights experts. Interviews will also be conducted with officials and experts in Colorado and Utah where similar questions about the effects of small impoundments (e.g. BDAs) on water rights are being examined. To
address Q2, McEvoy will conduct a recreation use and visitor survey in the parking lot of Sourdough
Trailhead. While this will not capture a representative sample of City residents, it will provide a sample of the demographic (i.e., recreationalists) that was most vocally opposed to the proposed construction of a traditional reservoir. This survey will assess visitors’ recreational use of the Sourdough Creek Basin (what activities and where), as well as their attitudes and perceptions towards small storage ponds, a
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traditional reservoir, and water planning in Bozeman. The survey instrument will be developed in coordination with officials from the City of Bozeman to ensure that their most important questions are
addressed in the survey.
EXPECTED RESULTS AND BENEFITS: Together, these lines of inquiry will provide novel and interdisciplinary insight into the potential for an innovative, small-impoundment based water storage
system to help provide a more drought resilient supply to the City of Bozeman as a test case for small-
impoundment-based municipal water storage. Drought resiliency is the focus of many state water plans in the arid west and small impoundments, like BDAs, may provide the watershed storage required to supply communities with water year-round without the environmental impacts of large reservoirs. Additionally, our results showing how BDAs influence aquatic and riparian habitat and freshwater
organism ecology will be of use not only for this type of project, but for the many stream restoration projects currently utilizing BDAs throughout the USA. Our findings will be utilized directly by the City of Bozeman, which currently collaborates with Plymesser and Woolard, and will be made available to other municipalities in the Rocky Mountain Region. These findings will also be used by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which currently collaborates with Albertson and McEvoy.
INFORMATION TRANSFER AND EDUCATION: Our project will make a significant contribution to education and outreach. We will collectively train three graduate students (one engineering student, one ecology student, and one social science student) who will all have the opportunity to work at the
interface of engineering, ecology, and social science and to collaborate on an interdisciplinary team. We will provide internship opportunities to at least three undergraduate students as research assistants during the project. These students may elect to include their projects as part of a Water Resource Minor at MSU. Students will spend two days each year visiting the USGS office in Helena, MT to participate in an annual group in-person meeting, which will provide an opportunity to observe and interact with
USGS scientists. Project findings will be presented to regional, national, and international audiences via avenues such as the American Geophysical Union conference, Society for Freshwater Science conference, the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, the Biennial Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem conference, American Association of Geographers, and the Montana American Water Resources Association conference. The project will be developed in coordination with Bozeman City
Officials to ensure that the results are actionable for use in their Integrated Water Resource Plan. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed literature with the aim of targeting top journals in our fields. The PIs will create a cross-course research module that builds off findings from this project that will be incorporated into four courses at MSU, including Fluid Dynamics (Plymesser), Freshwater Ecology (Albertson), Senior Fish and Wildlife Capstone (Verhille), and Water and Society (McEvoy), with guest
lectures by the USGS collaborator (Chase) when possible. Data from our project will be included in public outreach efforts via presentations to Morningstar and Irving Elementary Schools in Bozeman, MT (Plymesser), the Rock Pack Workshop on Ecosystem Engineers (Albertson), Expanding your Horizons (all PIs), and Greater Gallatin Watershed Council’s Annual Fall Tour (McEvoy).
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR: Kathryn Plymesser AFFILIATION: Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering, MSU
CO-INVESTIGATORS (in alphabetic order): Lindsey Albertson, Assistant Professor, Ecology Department, MSU; Katherine Chase, Hydrologist, USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, Helena, MT; Jamie McEvoy, Earth Sciences, MSU; Christine Verhille, Assistant Professor, Ecology Department, MSU, Craig Woolard, Civil Engineering, MSU
PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATOR SIGNATURE: DATE: PHONE NUMBER: 406-994-6115 EMAIL ADDRESS: kathryn.plymesser@montana.edu
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https://www.bozeman.net/home/showdocument?id=836 Anderson, H. E., L. K. Albertson, and D. Walters. In review. Temperature-driven range contraction and body size reduction of an iconic river macroinvertebrate. River Research and Applications.
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