Restoring Rivers, Revitalizing Connections to the Land

Camas is a defining feature in the meadows of western Montana. But they need a healthy riverscape. Stream restoration, using techniques that mimic natural processes such as beaver dams, is central to the effort to bring back a spring blanket of blue camas to the landscape.

Three centuries ago, many wet meadows of western Montana would erupt into a blanket of blue and violet blooms each spring. This showy display was the flower of common, or blue, camas, which was and remains a culturally and nutritionally important plant to Indigenous peoples across the western United States. Camas is also valuable to many wildlife species.

To make them edible, Indigenous peoples cooked the camas plant's bulbs in pits for days at a time. Bulbs were eaten in soups, or dried and ground to create a sweetener or flour to make bread-like foods. Camas was sustained and enhanced through the use of ceremony, fire, weeding out of undesirable species, and seasonal harvesting.

Elk, deer, and moose graze on the camas leaves each spring, and burrowing animals feast on the bulbs. Pollinating insects and camas plants share a mutually beneficial relationship, as the plant relies on insects for pollination, and insects rely on the plant's nectar and pollen.

Preferring a moist environment in early spring, common camas thrives in wet meadows and prairies, floodplains, moist hillsides, and streamside areas. If there is ample moisture come springtime, camas will reliably push out its bluish-violet flowers. But, without these conditions, the camas bulbs remain dormant underground, patiently waiting for the right moment to send forth their beautiful blooms.

Despite its name, common camas is no longer as prevalent in the Northern Rockies.

A common camas meadow in Montana. Photo credit: BLM

Part of the reason camas is harder to find is because of the way Montana's riverscapes and prairies have changed. Over the years, agriculture, road networks, and land development have drained and otherwise altered wet meadows, taking away vital camas habitat.

Fortunately, partners are working together to restore riverscapes and wet meadows in Montana. In 2015, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) acquired over 117,000 acres in southwestern Montana's Gold Creek watershed, and soon began working on meadow restoration in partnership with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). TNC and CSKT are working on a years-long effort towards enhancing native grassland communities, as well as restoring camas to meadows.

"The many meadows in the Gold Creek and nearby watersheds are prime places for blue camas and native grassland restoration," said Steven Kloetzel, Western Montana Land Steward for TNC, "Historically, the nearby and now-developed Potomac Valley was called 'Camas Prairie' and was one of the principal camas gathering places in western Montana for many Tribes. Restoring meadows where we can will enhance traditional Tribal cultural uses and treaty rights, as well as natural habitats for many species."

This restoration work didn't happen overnight; for about five years, TNC, in partnership with CSKT, has been completing projects like weed spraying, planting camas and seeding native grasses, removing encroaching conifer species, and stopping vehicle access into meadows to encourage native vegetation growth. After seeing the progress TNC made, in 2021, the Bureau of Land Management contacted TNC, the National Wildlife Federation, and other partners, to work towards stream restoration in tandem with plant restoration efforts in the Gold Creek Watershed.

"Gold Creek's history-both old and new-has left it in the perfect position for us to do restoration at this scale. From historic land use, a century of aggressive corporate logging, and the Bureau of Land Management recent acquisition of part of the watershed, this area is well primed for investment. Gold Creek has Canada lynx, wolverine, grizzly bears, westslope cutthroat trout, and bull trout, which all rely on this place and the water it provides," Shelby Weigand, riparian connectivity manager for the National Wildlife Federation said, "People want to do restoration in this area."

Westslope cutthroat trout - Montana. Photo credit: Pat Van Eimeren

The restoration projects support camas habitat and provide other benefits by reconnecting streams with their floodplains, which slows and spreads out water allowing it to maintain wet habitat and support stream flows later in the season. Healthy riverscapes often have multiple flowing channels and riparian wetlands. Much of the time, beaver dams play a role in storing water in the floodplain and in shallow aquifers. Stream restoration projects also improve the quality of habitat for willows and aspen, native trout, and other wildlife.

Claire Romanko, a restoration specialist for the BLM's Missoula Field Office, remembers when she first visited the Gold Creek watershed in 2021. "I walked through the woods from the road, started walking across the meadow, and tripped over the creek because it was completely covered in non-native grasses," Romanko said. The stream had become so channelized and diminished; it was hardly detectable.

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