It’s a small tributary of Bridger Creek. Pat Byorth, Montana Water Director at Trout Unlimited, says that it is one of the five most important spawning creeks for trout in the Gallatin Valley.
Rainbow and brown trout, which feed into Bridger Creek and the East Gallatin River and from there into the Missouri River.
Yes. Because Lyman Creek is fed by underground springs it doesn’t freeze in the winter and supports a diverse ecosystem of plants and wildlife.
Moose, elk, deer, bear, mountain lion, fox, coyote, owls, eagles, hawks, cranes and porcupines have all been seen near Lyman Creek.
Lance and Siri Gilliland have owned Lyman Creek Ranch since 2014. Both the City and the Gillilands have water rights to Lyman Creek which runs through their property (More on the Gillilands later).
Simply to save Lyman Creek for fish and wildlife—and out of sheer frustration with the City of Bozeman. Their goal is to maintain a minimum instream flow of one cubic foot per second (CFS) year-round and a percentage of the higher flows during the spring and fall to support the spawning seasons for rainbow and brown trout. That’s what it takes to maintain the creek as a viable spawning habitat.
The City of Bozeman. The City is on course to dewater the Lyman Creek, which will kill off the trout and plant life that the creek supports and deprive surrounding wildlife of vital habitat.
Based on their actions, it’s hard to draw any other conclusion.
The City’s intent has come out in litigation between the City and Gilliland that has been going on for 6 years.
The City does have water rights to Lyman Creek that are senior to those of Lyman Creek Ranch—but these rights are not perfected. “Bozeman has rights to water in Lyman Creek,” said Pat Byorth of Trout Unlimited. “But they don’t have the rights to all the water and they don’t have the right to kill off the fishery.”
In 2016, shortly after they purchased Lyman Creek Ranch, the Gilliland’s approached the City about an illegal, unpermitted diversion that the city had made to Lyman Creek upstream to their property. This illegal diversion had already reduced instream flow to the creek which adversely affected fish and wildlife. It also affected the Gilliland’s water rights. The Gilliland’s primary objective is to protect the fishery and habitat for wildlife.
Yes.
Reasonable people could. The Gillilands have been trying to settle this for six years. The City has been intransigent. Without any other option, the Gillilands filed suit to move things forward seeking a settlement. The city flatly refused. Litigation dragged on. Last year, the Gillilands finally concluded that if they could not reach a reasonable settlement with the City they had to tell the people of Bozeman about the problem. It was too important to hide from voters.
Yes. It happened in two steps. First, they had their agency, Flying Horse Communication, inform City Attorney, Greg Sullivan, that they would launch a communication campaign unless negotiations began in good faith.
They said that they were now open to settlement but warned the Gillilands that if they launched a communication campaign all negotiations would cease. In short, it was a threat. Subsequently, the City said it would offer a settlement agreement but failed to do so. At this point the Gillilands made a settlement offer. They got no meaningful response so they wrote a letter to each of the Bozeman City Commissioners that asked for their help. The letter outlined the history of the litigation, expressed the Gilliland’s desire to protect fish and wildlife while still providing water for the City, and asked to settle the litigation (A copy of the letter is attached).
The City would have been the big winner. Lyman Creek Ranch would get the preservation of a minimal instream flow to support trout spawning and wildlife habitat. The City would get to perfect its water rights to Lyman Creek and receive more water than they currently have rights to.
Only after a months-long wait.
It was disappointing. When the City finally did respond it was clear they had no intention of providing enough water for even minimal support for wildlife. In short, what they said would guarantee that sometime in the future the creek would be dewatered and kill off the trout.
Good question. That’s something for the City Commissioners to answer. But, in general, people in government like to talk about the things they are proud of.
First, to let the people of Bozeman and all other interested parties know what’s going on. This is a public policy issue that impacts everyone. It deals with the preservation of wildlife during a period of rapid growth. Then, the Gillilands would like the people who care about fish and wildlife—and a balanced approach to growth—to let the City Commissioners know that they want them to keep water in Lyman Creek.
Emphatically, no. Lyman Creek is important, but the City has a broad portfolio of water rights including in the West Gallatin River, Baxter Creek and Sourdough Creek among others. The City has also allowed numerous wells for new homes in Bozeman to go unpermitted which also provide water. In any case, 1 cfs wouldn’t be decisive in the City’s work to provide enough water for a growing city.
Another good question. This is something popular with some municipalities. It holds that cities can increase their water consumption without limit, in essence, to take the water rights of landowners if they say they need the water. This has not been codified into law but has been the subject of preliminary court rulings and is a threat to the water rights of everyone in Montana. This may explain some of the City’s actions towards Lyman Creek.
Lance was born in Texas, grew up in Oklahoma, fell in love with the Rocky Mountains during summer vacations and, as he said, he was “lucky to meet a Montana girl who introduced me to her childhood home in the Gallatin Valley. Since that time my passion for nature and wildlife has found an outlet as an amateur photographer with a focus on the Northern Rockies.” Lance shot the pictures of wildlife on this website. Siri moved to Bozeman with her family in the early 70s, attended Bozeman High School and graduated from Montana State University. She has family ties with Al Stiff, the former mayor of Bozeman. Lance has business interests in Houston and the Gillilands split their time between Texas and Bozeman.
