A deal to allow the Yellowstone River to roam between Forsyth and Miles City is the second channel migration easement created in Montana in what’s hoped to be a chain of such easements along the stream. Channel migration easements pay landowners to allow the river to chew up their land. This lets the river remain in a more natural state, which benefits fish and wildlife. The easements are the opposite of what many landowners do, which is to armor their bank with rock to turn the river away. The problem is that such rip-rapping simply transfers the river’s energy downstream.
To learn more about the unique agreement, check out my story on Montana Untamed at
http://bgz.tt/wyx9r.
(Written by Brett French – Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette)