News & Notes—Fall 2015
News that's fit to print.
Your Shuttle, in a Snap
If you float many rivers, this scenario has happened to you: you’ve planned a float trip with friends and you’re on your way to the put-in only to realize that no one scheduled a shuttle. Now you have to call a shuttle provider (hopefully you saved the phone number from last time), make sure you talk to a person, give your vehicle information, including license-plate numbers, put-in and take-out locations, and book the shuttle. Then leave cash or a check in an obvious location and hope you put the keys in the same place you told your shuttle provider.
The process, albeit clunky, has worked for decades, but there’s always lingering doubt. Shuttle Snap, a website developed by Brett Seng right here in Bozeman, is streamlining the process. Log on to shuttlesnap.com to create your profile that includes vehicle and payment information, plus any other special instructions. Then pick your river, the section you’re floating, and the provider you’d like to shuttle your vehicle. You’ll receive a text message confirming your request, another when the provider accepts your request, and finally a text message when your shuttle has been completed. Goodbye lingering doubt.
Shuttle Snap went live in June of this year and already has providers on 14 Montana rivers, servicing over 600 miles of floatable water. Seng plans on expanding the number of rivers and states over the next several months, so even if you travel to a new river, you’ll be able to book your shuttle in a snap. —CHRIS MCCARTHY
Spring Cleanup
Poindexter Slough is one of the few accessible public spring creeks in Montana, and thanks to the Poindexter Slough Fishery Enhancement Project, it’s getting a much-needed facelift. Poindexter is a 4.7-mile long valley-bottom slough off the Beaverhead River, fed by a combination of groundwater and flow from the Beaverhead. The Beaverhead Watershed Committee has been working for the past five years to enhance habitat conditions and fishing opportunities for the public. Through grants, generous private donations, and a fundraiser in Dillon, the committee has completed all the necessary infrastructure improvements and a large part of the stream habitat work. The final part of the habitat enhancement of the channel downstream from the Dillon Canal to the Beaverhead River (2.5 miles) is planned to start as soon as the money is available. The BWC has raised $107,000 of the estimated $250,000 needed to finish the project. To learn more about the project and to donate, visit beaverheadwatershed.org. —TOM SMITH
Wild and Scenic, Officially
For the first time in nearly 40 years, many iconic rivers in Montana will have the chance to be protected by Wild and Scenic designation. Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 to preserve rivers with cultural and recreational value in their free-flowing condition. In Montana, only four streams are designated Wild and Scenic, which is hard to believe in a state so highly treasured around the world for its beautiful, clean, free-flowing rivers. An effort to garner support for new Wild and Scenic designations on rivers across the state is being led by Montanans for Healthy Rivers, a coalition of business owners, landowners, and sportsmen’s and conservation organizations. Included in the rivers under consideration for protection are 56 river miles in the Upper Gallatin and Taylor Fork drainages. For more information on the Wild and Scenic effort or to learn how you can help with the effort, visit montanansforhealthyrivers.org. You can also contact Charles Drimal at [email protected] or Kristin Gardner at [email protected]. —KRISTIN GARDNER
