About

The Yellowstone Clearinghouse provides a single point of access to data and publications that the Montana State Library archives for the Yellowstone River Corridor and is intended to provide a clearinghouse for information associated with the river.  The data and publications were developed by the Yellowstone River Technical Advisory Committee that included representation from federal and state agencies, non-profit organizations, and private firms.

The most recent work was conducted as part of the Yellowstone River Corridor Comprehensive Study, also known as the Cumulative Effects Assessment.  This interdisciplinary study was authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, section 431, in response to flood damage caused by severe springtime run-off flooding in 1996 and 1997.  These interrelated studies fall into three broad categories with an objective of assessing the effectiveness of human management of the river corridor.  The three categories were (1) hydrology and hydraulics and related subjects; (2) terrestrial and aquatic biology, and (3) socioeconomic/geographic human development in the river corridor.  The culminating product of the Comprehensive Study, completed in 2015, assessed the cumulative changes in the river corridor between 1950 and the latest data collected by 2010. Please refer to the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council web site for more information about the project, partners, and current activities.

The Comprehensive Study project area extends from the Yellowstone National Park boundary near Gardiner, Montana to the Missouri River confluence in McKenzie County, North Dakota and is concentrated on Yellowstone River Corridor, with some specific studies encompassing the entire watershed.  Primary sponsors of the work are the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council and the State of Montana, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District.  Other technical reports include the assessment of the river corridor in Park County, sponsored by the 1997 Upper Yellowstone River Task Force, again with major support from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.