HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-08-25 Public Comment - C. Nixon - Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and Watercourse Regulations Version 7_29_25From:Chris Nixon <pres@sacajaweaaudubon.org>
To:Bozeman Public Comment; Terry Cunningham; Nicholas Ross; Jennifer Madgic; Douglas Fischer;morrison.joseph.w@gmail.com
Cc:Christopher Nixon; John Edwards; Loreene Reid; Frank M. Marchak; Bill Simkins
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and Watercourse Regulations Version 7/29/25
Date:Monday, September 8, 2025 11:51:16 AM
Attachments:Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and Watercourse Regulations Version 7-29-25.pdf
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Please see attached comment letter: Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and
Watercourse Regulations Version 7/29/25
PO Box 1711 Bozeman, Montana 59771-1711
Sacajaweaaudubon.org
Sacajawea Audubon Society
Board Members: Chris Nixon Doug McSpadden Mikaela Howie Loreene Reid John Edwards Emma Narotzky Aaron Clausen
Vicki Saab Frank Marchak Ken Sinay Ben Goodheart Hallie Nienhaus Bret Davis
To: City Commission and Community Development Board
From: Sacajawea Audubon Society
Date: September 8, 2025
Re: Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and Watercourse Regulations Version 7/29/25
Dear Members of the Commission and Community Development Board,
We recognize that In 2023 the Bozeman City Commission stepped up to the plate and established
protection of Wetlands and Watercourses as a Commission Priority. Regulation of those resources fall under Article 6 of the UDC - Natural Resource Protection, Division 38.610 - Wetland Regulations, which are now under review.
We are asking that our Commissioners demonstrate a commitment to further value our local Natural Economy just as much as you value our built out economy, by insisting our naturally occurring support
systems are kept intact for the future. These naturally occurring support systems include our various wetlands and watercourses. The citizens of Bozeman have long demonstrated they value our natural economy and natural functioning support systems. Most people came to Bozeman because it is a place where one can still experience the great outdoors, a place where nature seems abundant in an increasingly built out world. Remove those NATURAL VALUES and you ultimately remove the goose that laid the golden egg. As Bozeman grows, we must insist it grows in a manner that preserves the natural
features and the natural economy that those support. Otherwise Bozeman will become just like any other big city. What would set it apart?
You, as Bozeman’s leaders, are already struggling with the task of securing and providing enough clean, drinkable, usable water for this rapidly growing community. The best way to provide that resource is to protect and prevent that already present resource from slipping through our fingers, rushing through our
immediate watershed and rapidly flowing downstream to the larger drainage.
In order to do so Sacajawea Audubon Society asks that you adopt the scientifically based watercourse
and wetland setbacks presented by the Gallatin Water Council in the Wetland and Watercourse Code Update, including attachment A, presented in a September 6, 2025 letter to the Community Development Board and City Commission. This is in relation to Sec. 38.410.100. Watercourse setback.
Sacajawea Audubon strongly supports the stream setbacks recommended in those documents. These setbacks should apply to all streams and wetlands, where setback widths are based on best available science for maintaining ecological functions and values. Research shows that these buffers are needed
for water quality and wildlife protection. If sufficient buffers are not required, then other codes need to be put in place to protect birds from window collisions and predations by domestic animals.
We applaud that Bozeman is leading the way in stepping up and taking actions to protect non-jurisdictional wetlands after the Sackett decision. Sacajawea Audubon Society has also stepped forward in our mission to educate the public about the natural values and economic resilience provided by healthy wetlands. We have thus far spent tens of thousands of dollars and dedicated thousands of hours of community service in seeing that there is a Wetland Mitigation Bank option in Bozeman and the Gallatin Watershed by establishing the Sacajawea Wetland Bank - the first urban mitigation bank in Montana. Requiring non-jurisdictional wetland mitigation for wetlands impacted or destroyed in Bozeman
Re: Proposed DRAFT City of Bozeman Wetland and Watercourse Regulations version 7/29/25
Page 2
is indeed a noble step. But, non-jurisdictional wetlands account for only 20% of the wetlands potentially impacted by growth in Bozeman. As you expand Bozeman’s City limits, Bozeman is growing into numerous areas that still harbor jurisdictional wetlands. Deciding to ALSO REQUIRE those jurisdictional
wetlands be mitigated within the Gallatin Watershed would prove to be forward thinking. Please do not risk loss of the natural capital jurisdictional wetlands help generate. The natural functions and services those jurisdictional wetlands provide are enormous. Please note, jurisdictional wetlands comprise the vast majority, 80% of the wetlands in Bozeman.
Thus we have concerns about wording of: Sec. 38.610.100. Wetland mitigation. A. Adverse wetland impacts must be mitigated regardless of wetland jurisdictional status in the following order of priority except as may be required or authorized by the USACE for wetlands within USACE jurisdiction: Does this wording indicate that the Bozeman Commission will not be insisting that wetland mitigation for jurisdictional wetlands ALSO be mitigated within the Gallatin Watershed?
SAS has repeatedly verified with legal consultants that the Bozeman City Commission, as the local authority, has the ability to require ALL wetland impacts within Bozeman to be mitigated within the Gallatin Watershed - since it does in fact wholly lie within the much larger Upper Missouri Watershed
within which the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) requires impacts to be mitigated. You are restricted in that you could not require wetland impacts generated within Bozeman be mitigated OUTSIDE of the Upper Missouri Watershed. You would not be allowed that action per the USACE
Codes. That action would subvert the Clean Water Rule. However, you are within your rights to restrict mitigation closer to the source of impact since it would not be in opposition to the requirement of the USACE necessitating mitigation within the Upper Missouri River Watershed. You are safe to take a proper step and require all local wetland impacts, be they non-jurisdictional or jurisdictional, to be mitigated within the immediate Gallatin Watershed.
Only by insisting that all wetland impacts be mitigated within the Gallatin Watershed will you generate what is necessary to support the economic need for local wetland mitigation banks. It takes the economy of scale to support the new industry you would be generating within the immediate watershed. Prior investments in established Wetland Mitigation Banks distant from Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley were made when land prices were much less and in an area where the land was already at a lower value
than in the rapidly developing Gallatin Watershed. Thus, opening the door for mitigation of jurisdictional wetland impacts to happen outside of Gallatin Valley will basically assure that all such mitigation will take place out of the immediate area and all those wetland services will be lost locally. It would be a loss on
every level for the citizens of Bozeman.
We encourage you to exercise your full authority and require all wetland impacts within Bozeman, be
they non-jurisdictional or jurisdictional, to be mitigated within the Gallatin Watershed. Our SAS Mitigation Bank is small compared to what is projected to be needed for expected wetland impacts in Bozeman. Exercising your full authority could generate the impetus for a new Wetland Bank Industry in the
immediate area, thus mitigation funds would be reinvested locally, and more importantly, vital wetland services would be retained locally.
Thank you for your careful consideration for the future of wetlands and waterways within Bozeman and the Gallatin Watershed.
On behalf of the entire Board of Sacajawea Audubon Society, Chris Nixon President, Sacajawea Audubon Society
pres@sacajaweaauduon.org