Who We Are
Our Mission
The mission of the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed Group is twofold:
To protect, preserve, and restore the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed through community outreach, education, science, and stewardship.
To promote and foster appreciation and respect for the unique qualities of the Rattlesnake Creek watershed for Rattlesnake residents and for the broader Missoula community
Our Vision
We envision a Rattlesnake Creek Watershed where:
Rattlesnake Creek and its tributaries are clean and naturally flowing, with sufficient water quality and quantity to support its functions. The creek supports healthy fish populations, including bull trout. Riparian communities flourish. Other native plant communities are healthy and support diverse wildlife habitats and species.
Humans and native wildlife safely share the landscape with minimal conflict. Human recreational uses are balanced with the needs of wildlife habitat, agricultural land, water quality, and with each other.
Residents are informed, knowledgeable, and engaged. Residents and the broader community develop, deepen, and celebrate relationship to the watershed. The history of the watershed is known and honored.
Acknowledgement & Values
We acknowledge that the Rattlesnake Creek Watershed is in the homelands of the Salish and Pend d’Oreille peoples. We offer our respect for their history and culture, and seek to follow their example in caring for this place for future generations.
We acknowledge that we are living in a time of climate change that may hold predictable and unpredictable consequences for the watershed. We endeavor to include, where possible, strategies and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change with the goal of promoting overall resiliency.
We recognize that we work better together when we represent a diversity of life experience, knowledge, perspective and self-expression. We know that each person contributes in their own way and that all of it supports the work we do in the watershed.