2) . Ross Fork and Ware are sidings on the Burlington Northern 

 and Santa Fe Railroad. 



Land use in the Judith River watershed is mostly 

 silviculture and recreation in the mountains and livestock 

 grazing and hay production with some dryland farming at lower 

 elevations. Fish, wildlife, and watershed values are also 

 important. The Judith River is classified B-1 in the Montana 

 Surface Water Quality Standards above Big Spring Creek, and B-2 

 below Big Spring Creek. The section of river addressed in this 

 report is located just above the mouth of Big Spring Creek and is 

 classified B-1 . 



METHODS 



Periphyton samples were collected by Darrin Kron (Water 

 Monitoring Section, MDEQ Monitoring and Data Management Bureau) 

 following standard operating procedures of the MDEQ Planning, 

 Prevention, and Assistance Division. 



Using appropriate tools, microalgae were scraped, brushed, 

 or sucked from natural substrates in proportion to the rank of 

 those substrates at the study site. Macroalgae were picked by 

 hand in proportion to their abundance at the site. All 

 collections of microalgae and macroalgae were pooled into a 

 common container and preserved with Lugol ' s solution. 



The samples were examined to estimate the relative abundance 

 and rank by biovolume of diatoms and genera of soft (non-diatom) 

 algae according to the method described by Bahls (1993) . Soft 

 algae were identified using Dillard (1999) , Prescott (1978) , 

 Smith (1950) , and Whitford and Schumacher (1984) . These books 

 also served as references on the ecology of the soft algae, along 

 with Palmer (1977) . 



