Ecological Drought: Accounting for the Non-Human Impacts of Water Shortage in the Upper Missouri Headwaters Basin, Montana, USA

Authors

Jamie McEvoy, Montana State UniversityFollow
Deborah J. Bathke, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Nina Burkardt, USGSFollow
Amanda E. Cravens, USGSFollow
Tonya Haigh, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kimberly R. Hall, The Nature ConservancyFollow
Michael J. Hayes, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Theresa Jedd, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Marketa Podebradska, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Elliot Wickham, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Resources 2018, 7, 14

Comments

© 2018 by the authors.

Open access

doi:10.3390/resources7010014

Abstract

Water laws and drought plans are used to prioritize and allocate scarce water resources. Both have historically been human-centric, failing to account for non-human water needs. In this paper, we examine the development of instream flow legislation and the evolution of drought planning to highlight the growing concern for the non-human impacts of water scarcity. Utilizing a new framework for ecological drought, we analyzed five watershed-scale drought plans in southwestern Montana, USA to understand if, and how, the ecological impacts of drought are currently being assessed. We found that while these plans do account for some ecological impacts, it is primarily through the narrow lens of impacts to fish as measured by water temperature and streamflow. The latter is typically based on the same ecological principles used to determine instream flow requirements. We also found that other resource plans in the same watersheds (e.g., Watershed Restoration Plans, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Watershed Assessments or United States Forest Service (USFS) Forest Plans) identify a broader range of ecological drought risks. Given limited resources and the potential for mutual benefits and synergies, we suggest greater integration between various planning processes could result in a more holistic consideration of water needs and uses across the landscape.