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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-03-23 Public Comment - L. Gilliard - Save Lyman CreekFrom:City of Bozeman, MT To:Agenda Subject:[EXTERNAL]*NEW SUBMISSION* Public Comment Form Date:Friday, November 3, 2023 9:14:35 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Public Comment Form Submission #:2802624 IP Address:104.28.116.136 Submission Date:11/03/2023 9:14 Survey Time:4 minutes, 6 seconds You have a new online form submission. Note: all answers displaying "*****" are marked as sensitive and must be viewed after your login. Read-Only Content Full Name Lance Gilliland Email savelymancreek@gmail.com Phone Comments elect commissioners that prioritize environment over growth. See attached letter. If you would like to submit additional documents (.pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpg, .png, .rtf, .txt) along with your comment, you may alternately address agenda@bozeman.net directly to ensure receipt of all information. Lyman Creek Pre Election Update.pdf Thank you, City Of Bozeman This is an automated message generated by Granicus. Please do not reply directly to this email. Save Lyman Creek Election Update They said they didn’t want to dewater Lyman Creek. They said they didn’t want to destroy a world class fishery. They said they wouldn’t take more water out of the creek than they were legally entitled to. But, then, on January 13, 2023, the City of Bozeman filed a motion in water court to take all the water in Lyman Creek, well above their claimed right of 5.95 cubic feet per second (cfs). This is the same City Commission that told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that they need the water from Lyman Creek and intend to take it “at amounts that it is legally entitled to.” The City has a credibility problem. Action speaks louder than words. Why are we telling you this? There’s an election coming for selected Bozeman Commissioners, including the Mayor, and you can make your voice heard. We are not here to tell you how to vote. But we would like to remind you of our recent media campaign https://www.savelymancreek.org/ which pointed out that there is a big gap between what the City says—and what it does. Lyman Creek is a small tributary of Bridger Creek and one of the top spawning grounds for rainbow and brown trout in Gallatin Valley. The City wants all the water in Lyman Creek and they say they need it because of growth. What they won’t tell you is that dewatering Lyman Creek won’t meet their needs anyway. If the City continues with its misinformation campaign and dries up Lyman Creek, it will destroy spawning grounds for rainbows and browns, and destroy habitat for elk, deer, moose, bear, mountain lions and other wildlife. We can’t let this happen. One election won’t change everything. But it’s a start. We know you care. So, tell your friends. And then vote—and let your voice be heard. All the best, Lance and Siri Gilliland. PS. If you are a news junkie and have time on your hands, keep reading for additional background information. If you’re short of time, revisit our website https://www.savelymancreek.org/ for the basics. Either way, we are all in this together and appreciate your support. Montana’s famed fisheries may be dying … Maybe you saw these headlines: Montana’s Famed Trout Under Threat as Drought Intensifies, NY Times, 7/23/21 NWE works to fix Hebgen Dam while volunteers scour Madison River to save stranded fish, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 12/1/21 New study predicts dire future for Montana trout anglers, Hatch, 9/8/22 Expert: To protect trout from climate change, maintain diverse habitat, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 3/31/23 Experts search for answers as trout population declines in southwest MT, Montana Public Radio, 6/20/23 State focuses on research for answers to trout woes in southwest Montana, MT Standard, 8/7/23 ‘Zombie Trout’ Unsettle Montana, Long a Fly-Fishing Mecca, NY Times, 9/12/23 Billings fly shop owner discusses population, KBZK, 9/18/23 In the case of Lyman Creek, the fishery is about to be killed Lyman Creek is small tributary stream that flows into Bridger Creek near the mouth of Bridger Canyon. This creek is a vital tributary for the entire Gallatin Valley. Not only does it provide an important fish nursery for both brown and rainbow trout (Source: MT FWP and Trout Unlimited), but it also provides clean, consistently cool water into the Gallatin River system, a critical feature as our world continues to warm. But Lyman Creek is also the City of Bozeman’s oldest source of municipal water. Why does this matter? The creek is in danger. Despite their denials, as you may have noticed during our public awareness campaign, launched about this time last year, we raised awareness of the City’s stated intent to dewater Lyman Creek (Letter to City regarding Integrated Water Resource Plan and Lyman Creek; and Integrated Water Resources Plan). Denials. You can fool some of the people… The City responded to our campaign with defensive, and misleading, statements: “The City has no intention of diverting or using any more water than what was properly authorized at the time the Gillilands purchased the properties” City of Bozeman internal memo 2017 “The City has no plans to de-water Lyman Creek and hurt the fish population,” Takami Clark, spokesperson for the City of Bozeman to the Montana Free Press, October 12, 2022 The City says it needs the water from Lyman Creek and it intends to take water “at the amounts it is legally entitled to.” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 10/20/22 “Allegations that the Commission is dewatering Lyman Creek are not true”. Commission Meeting Minutes, November 15, 2022 page 1 The fact that these statements range from misleading to false is readily apparent to us. We’ve been fighting to protect this vital fish and wildlife habitat since 2015. But the City’s recent behavior makes it possible for everyone to see. On January 13, 2023, the last possible day to file a motion in water court and well after the close of discovery, the City filed a 43 page brief asking the court to amend its Lyman Creek water rights from its claimed right of 5.95 cubic foot per second (cfs) flow rate to all of the water in Lyman Creek, regardless of flow rate, volume, historic use, implications on downstream users, or the utter destruction of fish and wildlife habitat. Fortunately, the Water Court isn’t buying it—at least thus far. It concluded that this “motion to amend may adversely affect other water rights.” Further, the Court said that no one could possibly have foreseen Bozeman’s efforts in “expanding the flow rate to include all of the flow in the source, bettering its priority date by 13 years, expanding its place of use, or by implying claims to the same.” Finally, the Court said that “there has not been an analysis to determine the impact of the sought after changes on the many water users on the East Gallatin River, Bridger Creek, and Lyman Creek, especially those with priority dates senior to 1881. These water users could be adversely affected by Bozeman’s proposed changes to priority date, flow rate and place of use.” The court has made no determination on these issues, but is requiring Bozeman to publish notice of these proposed changes in order that other affected parties may now join the case. The City is illegally diverting water—and still trying to fool some people Here’s a fact. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) said that the City has an unpermitted diversion of water from Lyman Creek and is out of compliance. The way the DNRC put it in a letter to the City, dated August 26, 2020, “To comply with Montana Water Law, the City of Bozeman must file for a change authorization for the point of diversion” for its Lyman Creek water rights as a result of its unpermitted 2008 diversion (DNRC Letter). The City acknowledged this breach of compliance in October 2020 in a letter to the DNRC. What did the City do to come back into compliance? Nothing. They ignored DNRC. But the City went even further. When we called them out on their illegal diversion on Lyman Creek during a meeting of commissioners on the November 15, 2022, Deputy Mayor Terry Cunningham, prompted by our comments, asked the City Manager and City Attorney whether there was any truth to our statements. (November 15, 2022 Commission Meeting Video link 3:59:00 mark). They said no. Been a long time coming The City’s legal action to all the water in Lyman Creek is nothing new. The City has consistently looked for such opportunities. Two recent examples: The City installed the illegal groundwater diversion mentioned above in 2008 without obtaining the appropriate permits or performing an adverse impact study as required by law. Then, in 2015, the City released an RFP asking for a preliminary engineering report on the best ways “to maximize the amount of water captured from Lyman Creek and optimize overall infrastructure operations.” The net effect of these actions: the flow of water into Lyman Creek below the City’s diversions, including the illegal one, have been cut in half. Did the City fess up? Nope. They said things like this, “We have also consistently used this water to support our water system. We haven’t been fluctuating and we certainly haven’t been drawing for that more and more over the past several years. (sic) That is simply not true.” Just in case you forgot, you can make voice heard In summary, the City of Bozeman is illegally diverting water, planning to take more water, and “misleading” its citizens and the community about all of the above. In any other organization, the parties responsible for this behavior would have already lost their jobs. In this case, you get to hold them responsible. The election on November 7 is your chance to hold the Commission, and the City, accountable for their actions and intentions. If you care about saving trout streams and wildlife habitat, vote out the sitting commissioners and vote in others who also care about these precious resources.