PPL Montana has been awarded the National Hydropower Association’s ‘Outstanding Stewardship of America’s Rivers Award’ for its environmental management of eight hydro power plants and a storage reservoir along the Missouri and Madison rivers.
The Allentown, Pennsylvania, US based utility has set aside US$23M to spend on recreation, fisheries, water quality and wildlife habitat development along a portion of the Madison-Missouri river corridor, spanning over 800km.
Environmental management has seen the restoration of the fluvial Arctic grayling, pallid sturgeon and other fish species in the watersheds, as well as work on cottonwood, migratory bird and wildlife habitats.
The work involved collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service and non-profit groups including American Rivers and the Montana Conservation Corps.
PPL Montana also picked up the same award in 2002.