Walker talks water

The Sheridan Community Land Trust team wished to help farmers, ranchers and others interested in the subject of water and its use.

The subject is broad, water is needed for every form of life and its abundance or lack thereof can make or break a local economy. The need for water affects every aspect of the agricultural sector as well as recreational, hunting and fishing and the population of an area. The need for water touches almost every aspect of a civilization.

Having up-to-date information regarding water and its availability is invaluable. The team at SCLT knew this would be vital information, but didn’t know what types of water information would be most valuable for the residents of the Sheridan region. 

Big Sky Watershed Corps member Lila Walker

Walker is trained in geology. Although she has worked in other fields, her passion for the science and care of watersheds led her to the Big Sky Watershed Corps and SCLT. 

Although the report itself took a few months to develop, Walker and others at the land trust have worked for more than a year to ensure the report contained what the public asked for in the surveys. Much of the work involved finding consistently reliable sources of information and developing a format that provides the vital data which would be used by Sheridan residents. 

This report contains the latest information on water availability, streamflow, snowpack, drought, soil moisture, and even water supply forecasts for the Tongue and Powder Rivers.

The Sheridan County Water Supply Report is a monthly report that can be downloaded from the SCLT website. Interested parties can sign-up to have it delivered directly to an email inbox once a month. SCLT also invites readers to share their feedback on what they would find most helpful through a survey on the page.

Find the SCLT Water Report and optional sign-up information here.