NorthWestern Energy and the Missouri-Madison River Fund Trust awarded funding for six public recreation improvement projects on the Missouri and Madison rivers. The grant and matching funds will supplement public agency and partner contributions for projects to be implemented in 2025.

A combination of $22,426 from NorthWestern Energy and $410,896 from the Missouri-Madison River Fund will be combined with $773,439 from agency and project partners to complete projects totaling more than $1.2 million. NorthWestern Energy will supplement these funds by contributing an additional $569,487 to state, federal and local agencies for operation and maintenance efforts at many existing recreation sites in 2025, according to NorthWestern.

“These programs help recreation managers improve and maintain services to ensure visitors have positive experiences while recreating and protect our state’s resources,” Andy Welch, NWE hydropower license compliance manager, said in a release. “Every year there are roughly one million visits to public recreation sites along the Madison and Missouri rivers in Montana. The Missouri-Madison River Fund Trust is a unique public-private partnership that has supported this use by funding public recreation projects for two decades.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Project 2188 hydroelectric license issued in 2000 for the hydro generation facilities on the Missouri and Madison rivers that NorthWestern Energy owns and operates today requires public recreation sites and facilities. The Missouri-Madison River Fund Trust ensures public recreation opportunities along the river corridors will remain available long into the future.

2025 projects funded by the River Fund grant program include:

Great Falls region

• 700 linear feet of deteriorated asphalt on the River’s Edge Trail near Weissman Bridge will be replaced with five-inch-thick concrete. The River Fund award is $129,398, with a $10,176 NWE match and $48,176 from agency and partner contributions for a total project cost of $187,750.
• Phase 1 of an expansion of the canoe campground in Fort Benton will get underway, adding 14 new RV sites to accommodate large motorcoaches. The River Fund award is $50,650, with a $5,750 NWE match and $23,000 from agency and partner contributions for a total of $79,400.
• Funds were provided to the Missouri River Open Lands Preservation group to help purchase an easement to retain public access and open space on a Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation parcel on the south end of Great Falls. The River Fund award is $29,948, with no NWE match and $622,763 from agency and partner contributions for a project total of $691,711.

MROLP requested $150,000 from the River Fund, but was awarded $29.948.

Clock restarts on effort to preserve state trust land in Fox Farm [2024]

The group had previously sought an easement for the two school trust land parcels in the Fox Farm area, managed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

In the fall, they amended their application for only the north riverfront parcel, which is 47.92 acres and had previously appraised for $640,000.

Group asks for fundraising extension, reduced value for DNRC land in Fox Farm [2024]

The group said in their January update that they had raised $501,851.

• The Bureau of Land Management will upgrade the drinking water delivery systems at White Sandy, Holter Lake, and Log Gulch campgrounds. This project dovetails with drinking water improvements at Devil’s Elbow Campground and Clark’s Bay Day Use Site, which was supported by the grant program in 2023 and 2024.
• The Helena Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service will update and add interpretive signage at the Hauser Dam and Beaver Creek access sites.

Ennis region

• The Bureau of Land Management will install bear-proof trash containers and purchase a towable dumpster to service them for sites under BLM management on the Madison River and Ennis Lake.

“Taking care of recreation sites in the Missouri-Madison Corridor, especially those constructed during relicensing of the Missouri-Madison Hydroelectric Project in the 1990s, is the purpose for which the River Fund was established, and it’s working exactly as it was intended,” Welch said in a release.

Two Great Falls projects picked for funding from NorthWestern Energy, River Fund [2023]

Since 2007, 175 projects have received $6.8 million in funding from the River Fund Trust, about $350,000 per year. NorthWestern Energy contributed another $1.8 million in matching funds, according to NWE.

River Fund grants and NWE matching funds have leveraged public agency and partner funding to provide $14.1 million in public recreation improvements in the Missouri-Madison Corridor since 2007.

The Missouri-Madison River Fund trust for public recreation, currently valued at $7.1 million, was created through the collaborative efforts of NWE; Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Madison, Gallatin, Broadwater, Lewis and Clark, Cascade and Chouteau counties; and numerous other public and private partners.

Project to reroute River’s Edge Trail reaches fundraising milestone [2019]

Created as a public-private partnership to meet public recreation needs along the Madison and Missouri rivers, the River Fund supports ongoing efforts to protect and enhance recreation from Hebgen Reservoir downstream to Fort Benton, excluding the Broadwater and Canyon Ferry hydroelectric plants and the river segment between them. River Fund awards for qualifying projects will continue on an annual basis, with grants awarded each December, according to NWE.