DEWR (406) 675-2700

Project

Jocko River Bison Range Reach Restoration

River or area

Jocko River

Between Ravalli and Dixon, along MT 200

Program

Environmental Restoration

Status

Under way

Now

Phase One completed in 2025. Phase Two in progress through 2027.

Updated October 22, 2026

Contact

Tabitha Espinoza

Environmental Restoration Program
(406) 675-2700 ext. 7238

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
Natural Resources Department
Division of Engineering & Water Resources

Aerial view up the Jocko River valley: the river winds through cottonwoods on the left while the new channel is cut through the open floodplain beside MT 200 and the railroad.
Bison Range Reach The new channel taking shape in the floodplain beside MT 200

Restoring the 2.8 miles of the Jocko River to improve fish habitat, reconnect the floodplain, and support healthier riparian and wetland ecosystems.

of the Jocko River being restored
2.8 miles
of new channel planned in its historical alignment
14,300 feet
of existing channel to be reclaimed to upland, wetland and riparian habitats
12,000 feet
of new wetland habitat expected
30+ acres

Project Overview

The Bison Range Reach of the Jocko River plays an irreplaceable ecological role in the Jocko watershed: it is the gateway for migratory salmonids that move among the Jocko, Flathead, and Clark Fork rivers to complete their life histories. This stream reach is critical to cold-water fish seeking thermal refuge as the Flathead River warms during summer. However, the reach has been impaired by a suite of anthropogenic disturbances that have diminished its capacity to provide the range of quality habitats it once did. Habitat degradation and hydromodification are outcomes of both private and federal actions. For example, 65 percent of reach of river has been channelized and contained by rip-rapped levees; it is almost entirely disconnected from its former floodplain. These conditions raise water temperatures, simplify the fish habitat, reduce floodplain diversity, and cause increased sedimentation in the downstream reaches.

The project, as defined, will generally restore the river to its pre-disturbance planform, increase connectivity between the river and floodplain surface and groundwater, reduce water temperatures, and notably improve the existing condition and future potential for instream, floodplain, and adjacent riparian habitats. The project will enhance floodplain plant community diversity, benefitting both ecological and cultural resources.

The Jocko River Bison Range Restoration Reach is a crowning jewel of a large-scale watershed restoration effort aimed at improving habitat and water quality to benefit native fish and wildlife species. The Project proposes to construct approximately 14,300 linear feet of new Jocko River channel in an historical channel alignment in the former floodplain, reclaiming approximately 12,000 feet of existing Jocko River to upland, wetland, and riparian habitats, and actively restoring the current and former floodplain. The proposed project is expected to produce over 30 acres of new wetland habitat.

Historic photos

The Reach in 1962 and the Plan for It

DEWR’s phase map of the Jocko Bison Range Reach over a current aerial photograph: the new channel’s Phase 1 meanders upstream, at right, and Phase 2 downstream, at left, beside the existing Jocko River, between MT Highway 200 and the hills to the north.
The same stretch of the Jocko River valley in a black-and-white aerial photograph from July 22, 1962: the river winds through wooded bottomland between the highway and railroad and the open hills.
The Jocko River at the Bison Range Reach, July 22, 1962, and DEWR’s phase map for its restoration. Drag the edge, or use the arrow keys, to compare. The photograph is set to the map on two places that have not moved since 1962: the railroad bridge over the Jocko and King Road at MT 200. Open each whole: 1962 photograph · phase map

By year

Phases

  1. 2023

    Design and permitting

    Done

  2. October 2024

    Put out to bid; four bids received

    Done

  3. Completed 2025

    Phase One construction

    Done

  4. In progress through 2027

    Phase Two construction

    Under way now

Status Updates

Fall 2024 – Project was put out to bid in October, 2024. CSKT received 4 bids total, and selected Glacier Excavating Inc. based on the factors outlined in the RFP. The bid totals are in this project’s documents.

Temporary public closures are in place during construction.

On site

Photographs

Students sit in folding chairs in a circle around a drum while DEWR staff and partners stand behind them, an excavator and grassy hills beyond.
Jocko Bison Range Reach The groundbreaking ceremony for the project
An excavator fills a haul truck with earth at the edge of the cottonwoods during Phase 1 construction.
Bison Range Reach Phase 1 construction in the floodplain
An excavator works the floodplain below grassy hills during Phase 1.
Bison Range Reach Shaping the floodplain below the hills
Logs set along the banks of the newly dug channel, with cottonwoods and hills under a cloudy sky.
Bison Range Reach Wood set along the new channel's banks
A river bend with large logs laid along a gravel bar, cottonwoods on the far bank and open hills beyond.
Bison Range Reach Log structures along a gravel bar

From the archive

Before Restoration

A black-and-white photograph of the Jocko River valley from a hillside, the river running straight along the valley floor toward the hills.
Jocko River An undated archive view of the valley