From pristine headwaters in Yellowstone National Park, to an urban interface with Montana’s fastest-growing City, the Gallatin is a river of many faces. It is a stronghold for wild trout, but often is overlooked by visiting anglers in a state that is full of bucket-list fishing destinations. The headwaters provide healthy habitat and cold, clean water for native cutthroat trout, while lower reaches still suffer ongoing pollution from sewage and stormwater run-off. The Gallatin is a local’s river with a unique character, and it is a rare treasure for those who get to know it; but a history of intense human use – and misuse – has left the Gallatin in a compromised condition, at a time when the specter of climate change demands ultimate resiliency. It will require hard work to restore the Gallatin to its full potential, and engaged and effective advocates to protect it into the future. TU has decades of experience and technical expertise implementing stream and watershed restoration projects. A partnership with Simms couples that technical capacity with Simms’s marketing know-how and extensive outreach network to increase our collective capacity to restore habitat and improve fish populations, and to engage anglers and volunteers from Bozeman and surrounding communities. The Gallatin Home Rivers Initiative is a collaboration between Simms Fishing Products, Trout Unlimited, and our watershed partners including the Gallatin Watershed Council, Four Corners Foundation, and the Gallatin River Task Force to protect, restore, and sustain a healthy Gallatin River for our community and its future.
