Hill County looks to plan for flooding

Beaver Creek has suffered from serious flooding for three of the last four years, and Hill County is looking into ways to solve the problems.

The county is looking to hire a professional engineering firm to research what that would take.

"We need to look at the whole (of the Beaver Creek drainage) and what's best for Beaver Creek," Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said during a meeting with Jeremiah Theys, project manager with Great West Engineering in Helena. "How do we get it back to being a healthy stream?"

Theys met with county officials this week to talk about a basin-wide study of the Beaver Creek drainage and possible projects to reduce damage from flooding.

Flooding has caused devastation in the park, and on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation including at the headwaters of Beaver Creek, as well as downstream in three of the last four years.

President Barack Obama has declared Hill County a federal disaster site due to flooding in 2010, 2011 and 2013.

Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other state and federal agencies involved in flood remediation, have become regular visitors to Hill County and other counties in the region. Work done in the park, and throughout the state, has included trying to mitigate future damage in the repairs, such as raising the level of bridges over Beaver Creek to reduce damage from future flooding.

FEMA approved last year conducting a study on the Lions Campground, heavily damaged in each of the flood events, to find ways to reduce damage in future years.

Peterson said during the meeting with Theys that funding the studies and mitigation projects will be difficult, especially with the oil and gas revenue in the county dropping from some $1.7 million to about $200,000. The county needs to look for funding sources, both to pay for conducting a study of the basin and for mitigation projects, he said.

"The financial health of the county isn't what it used to be," he said.

Theys said a basin study would likely cost between $50,000 and $100,000.

Bear Paw Development Corp. Executive Director Paul Tuss said the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation has funds that could be tapped to pay for a study, but the deadline to apply is fast approaching - May 15.

"We're staring that deadline right in the face," he said.

Theys said the cost of projects coming from a basinwide study could seem overwhelming - he said one such study Great West completed listed $5 million in projects - but that funding sources are available, and the projects would not have to be done all at once.

"(Funding is) limited, but there are a lot of programs out there ... ," he said. "It's just a matter of commitment and pursuing them."

Theys said it will be crucial, if a study is conducted and projects recommended, the county works to actually complete the projects, saying he doesn't want to turn over a watershed study that ends up sitting on the shelf.

If something isn't done to mitigate future flooding, it could have major impacts as the creek reroutes itself, he added.

"At the end of the day, Mother Nature will fix itself," Theys said, adding "it may take 200 years, and you may not have a park or campground (when it is done)."