Another funded group that we are happy to highlight is the Yaak Valley Forest Council. YVFC is based out of Troy Montana, in Lincoln County. The organization is primarily working to conserve and protect the aquatic and terrestrial environments in the Kootenai National Forest. One of the programs the organization facilitates is water quality monitoring in the Yaak Watershed. Monitoring is conducted to understand how factors such as land use change, development, and climate change impact the conditions of the watershed. The group also works with the Yaak Headwaters Restoration Project to restore habitat connectivity in the area. This is of utmost important because the ecosystems support a diverse variety of wildlife and fish species, some with endangered or threatened status by the ESA. The group also works to conserve the old-growth forests of the Yaak National Forest through their Forest Watch program. Through this program the organization provides input when forest management and harvest projects do not account for climate change or the conservation of wildlife and their habitats. Other projects the group supports include aiming to reroute the Pacific Northwest Trail out of critical grizzly bear habitat, as well as providing community education on bear safety, conservation, and recreation. In the upcoming sampling season, the group will continue to work with Monitoring Montana Waters on their monitoring efforts. The group will be monitoring for nutrients, total suspended solids, pH, and temperature to gain more baseline data on a variety of sites. The Yaak Valley Forest Council is a great example of how important conservation groups are to preserving the regions surrounding them. This organization uses a multi-faceted approach to both aquatic and terrestrial conservation of the Yaak Valley. For more information on the Yaak Valley Forest Council check out the YVFC website, and the MMW storymap on the 2021 monitoring efforts.