Montana’s Clark Fork River Basin Task Force: A Vehicle for Integrated Water Resources Management?

This article examines what is generally considered to be an unattainable goal in the western United States: integrated water resources management (IWRM). Specifically, we examine an organization that is quite unique in the West, Montana’s Clark Fork River Basin Task Force (Task Force), and we analyz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental management (New York) 2010-11, Vol.46 (5), p.671-684
Main Authors: Shively, David D., Mueller, Gerald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advisory Committees - legislation & jurisprudence
Advisory Committees - organization & administration
Allocations
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Case studies
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecology
Environment
Environmental law
Environmental Management
Environmental Policy
Forestry Management
Freshwater
Groundwater
Integrated approach
Montana
Nature Conservation
Organizations
Planning
Policies
Resource management
River basins
Rivers
Social Planning
State government
Surface water
Task analysis
Task forces
Tasks
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollutants - analysis
Water Pollution Control
Water resources
Water resources management
Water rights
Water shortages
Water supply
Water Supply - analysis
Water Supply - legislation & jurisprudence
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Summary:This article examines what is generally considered to be an unattainable goal in the western United States: integrated water resources management (IWRM). Specifically, we examine an organization that is quite unique in the West, Montana’s Clark Fork River Basin Task Force (Task Force), and we analyze its activities since its formation in 2001 to answer the question: are the activities and contributions of the Task Force working to promote a more strongly integrated approach to water resources management in Montana? After reviewing the concepts underlying IWRM, some of the issues that have been identified for achieving IWRM in the West, and the Montana system of water right allocation and issues it faces, we adapt Mitchell’s IWRM framework and apply it to the analysis of the Task Force’s activities in the context of IWRM. In evaluating the physical, interaction, and protocol/planning/policy components of IWRM, we find that the Task Force has been contributing to the evolution of Montana’s water resources management towards this framework, though several factors will likely continue to prevent its complete realization. The Task Force has been successful in this regard because of its unique nature and charge, and because of the authority and power given it by successive Montana legislatures. Also critical to the success of the organization is its ability to help translate into policy the outcomes of legal and quasi-judicial decisions that have impacted the state’s water resources management agency.
ISSN:0364-152X
1432-1009
DOI:10.1007/s00267-010-9552-9