pollution control plans (Total Maximum Daily Loads or TMDLs) that 

 set limits on pollution loading to water-quality limited" waters . 

 Water-quality limited waters are lakes and stream segments that 

 do not meet water-quality standards, that is, that do not fully 

 support their beneficial uses. The Clean Water Act and EPA 

 regulations require each state to (1) identify waters that are 

 water-quality limited, (2) prioritize and target waters for 

 TMDLs, and (3) develop TMDL plans to attain and maintain water- 

 quality standards for all water-quality limited waters. 



The purpose of this report is to provide information that 

 will help the State of Montana to determine whether Careless 

 Creek, Lodgepole Creek, and the South Fork of Lodgepole Creek are 

 water-quality limited and in need of TMDLs. 



PROJECT AREA AND SAMPLING SITES 



The project area is located in the middle and lower 

 Musselshell River drainage of central Montana. Careless Creek 

 heads in the Big Snowy Mountains and flows southeasterly for 

 about 30 miles to where it enters the Musselshell River east of 

 Ryegate in Golden Valley County. Lodgepole Creek heads in 

 western Garfield County and enters the Musselshell River just 

 before its confluence with the Missouri River. 



The project area is located in the Northwestern Great Plains 

 Ecoregion, although the headwaters of Careless Creek are in the 

 Middle Rockies Ecoregion (Omernik and Gallant 1987) . The surface 

 geology of the Careless Creek and Lodgepole Creek watersheds 

 consists primarily of marine shales, sandstones, and siltstones 

 of the Montana Group (Taylor and Ashley, undated) . 



Vegetation along lower Careless Creek and in the upper 

 Lodgepole Creek watershed is mixed grassland; river breaks along 



