Yellowstone River Corridor
Resource Clearinghouse
This web page provides a single point of access to data and publications that the Montana State Library archives for the Yellowstone River Corridor, and is intended to provide a clearinghouse for information associated with the river. The data and publications were developed by federal and state agencies primarily through contracted services.
The most recent work was conducted as part of the Yellowstone River Corridor Comprehensive Study, also known as the Cumulative Effects Assessment. This interdisciplinary study was mandated by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1999, section 431. Please refer to the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council web site for more information about the project, partners, and cumulative effects assessment study results.
The project area extends from the Yellowstone National Park boundary near Gardiner, Montana to the Missouri River confluence in McKenzie County, North Dakota. Primary sponsors of the work include the State of Montana, the Governor’s Upper Yellowstone River Task Force, and the Yellowstone River Conservation District Council, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District.
Yellowstone River maps and data online:
Map and air photo data created for the Yellowstone River may be viewed by anyone with the Yellowstone River Map Viewer, or loaded as a GIS Service by users of mapping software such as ArcMap and ArcGIS Explorer. These let you pan and zoom to any location along the river and choose which data to view. The data layers on the left side of the map viewer are categorized into groups of data -- please open the groups to see the layers for various time periods that are available.
Downloadable GIS Data:
These are files that may be used with GIS software to create maps or analyze features of the Yellowstone River corridor.
- Air Photos and Map Data Collected for the Cumulative Effects Assessment
- High-Resolution Orthophotography (aerial photos, MrSID format)
- 1999 Park County - north half - south half
- 2004 Stillwater, Yellowstone (west), Yellowstone (east), and Dawson Counties
- 2007 Sweet Grass, Treasure, Rosebud, Custer, Prairie, Richland, and McKenzie Counties
- 2001 Color Infrared (All Counties except Park)
- Elevation Data (DEMs and TINs)
- Planimetric Feature Data (Contours, Roads, Buildings, Hydro-Features, etc., - ESRI personal geodatabase format)
- 2004 Stillwater, Yellowstone (west), Yellowstone (east), and Dawson Counties
- 2007 Sweet Grass, Treasure, Rosebud, Custer, Prairie, Richland, and McKenzie Counties
- High-Resolution Orthophotography (aerial photos, MrSID format)
- Orthophotos of Montana from the National Agricultural Imagery Program
- Physical Feature Inventories
document development of flood and erosion control structures over time within the Yellowstone River corridor, and also contain features such as diversion structures and irrigation return flow points.
- 1999 Channel Modification Inventory (Park County only)
- 2001 Rapid Aerial Assessment (all Yellowstone River counties)
- Historic Physical Feature Inventories
- 1954 (Park County)
- 1973 (Park County)
- 1950, 1976, 1995, and 2005 (Yellowstone, Stillwater, and Dawson Counties, in ESRI personal geodatabase format)
- Floodplain Analysis Products
are a by-product of the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Assessment. They provide information about historic channel change and risk of flooding and erosion within the Yellowstone River corridor. They should be considered as an initial point of reference for more detailed project- or site-specific studies. Their development was sponsored by Yellowstone River Conservation District Council to inform land use decisions within the Yellowstone River floodplain.
- Channel Migration Zone GIS Data - ESRI personal geodatabase format
- 100-year GIS Inundation Boundary - ESRI personal geodatabase format
- Bank and Flowline GIS Data for 1950, 1976, 1995, 2001 - ESRI personal geodatabase format
- Riparian Vegetation for 1950, 1976, and 2001 - ESRI personal geodatabase format
- Historic Aerial Photography
includes aerial photographs and aerial photo mosaics from which other baseline datasets, such as banklines and flowlines are extracted. The historic bankline and flowline datasets are then used to develop indicators of change within the Yellowstone River stream corridor. They are a foundational element of the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Assessment because they allow detection of change within the stream corridor over the last 55+ years.
- 1950 Black and White Photos (All Counties except Park)
- 1954 Black and White Photos (Park County)
- 1973 Black and White Photos (Park County)
- 1976 Black and White Photos (All Counties except Park, Richland, and McKenzie)
- 1977 Color Photos (Glendive to ND state line)
- 1997 Flood, Black and White Photos (Reed Point to Custer)
- 1990s (mostly 1996) USGS Black and White Digital Orthophoto Quadrangles
- National Wetlands Inventory
Data for the Yellowstone River Corridor region was added to the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) in 2010. Statewide NWI data and maps are available from the Montana Natural Heritage Program web site at http://mtnhp.org/nwi/NWI_Status_map.asp - Russian Olive Inventory
Produced by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, this GIS shapefile documents the distribution and extent of Russian Olive along the Yellowstone River main stem and major tributaries for purposes of education and control. The data were extracted from 2009 true color aerial photographs developed by the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) using ArcGIS 9.2 and the Feature Analyst extension. It includes approximately 500,000 individually attributed polygons. The data is available at http://nris.mt.gov/nsdi/nris/shape/YellowstoneRiverRussianOlive2009.zip.
These are finished work products in PDF format resulting from the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Assessment, or previous interdisciplinary environmental analyses.
- Yellowstone Impact Study (1974-1976) in 11 volumes
- Geomorphology
- Summary of Studies Supporting Cumulative Effects Analysis of Upper Yellowstone River Channel Modifications. This was performed by the USGS, Fort Collins Science Center and was sponsored by the Army Corps of Engineers.
- Geomorphic Reconnaissance and GIS Development for the Yellowstone River (2004). Draft report and GIS datasets
- Yellowstone River Channel Migration Zone Maps. Yellowstone River CMZ maps by county.
- Yellowstone River Channel Migration Zone Final Report. Report that accompanies the CMZ maps.
- Upper Yellowstone River Physical Features inventory (1998). An early inventory of a portion of the Yellowstone River in Park County. The inventory was conducted by volunteers and produced by the NRCS.
- Geomorphic Parameters and GIS Development. These two reports document the results of a GIS analysis performed in support of the geomorphic scope of work associated with the Yellowstone River Cumulative Effects Assessment.
The work consists of a GIS-based summary of geomorphic planform parameters of the Yellowstone River corridor from Gardiner to the Missouri River confluence. Primary reach breaks and reach classification data reflect those presented in the Geomorphic Reconnaissance and GIS Development for the Yellowstone River.
- Work Order Number 1 (2006)
- Work Order Number 3 (2007)
- Yellowstone River Human Impacts Timeline (2008). This documents the development of flooding and erosion control structures through time in the Yellowstone River corridor. Determination of the approximate construction dates for features such as dikes, levees, riprap, and transportation infrastructure encroachment on the floodplain was accomplished using Historic Aerial Photography.
- Yellowstone River Historic Events Timeline (2008). This provides tabulated summaries of historic occurrences in the river corridor related to bridge construction, irrigation structures, ice jam formation, natural grade control removal, and flooding. The information is intended to support the development of a timeline that describes the progressive construction of numerous types of physical features within the river corridor (see Yellowstone River Human Impacts Timeline), along with timing of natural events such as floods and ice jams.
- Yellowstone River Geomorphic Analysis for Yellowstone County (2000). Prepared for the Yellowstone Conservation District by Womack and Associates, Inc. and Aquoneering, Inc., this report assesses the effects of erosion and flood control structures on the Yellowstone River’s geomorphology from the Carbon County line to the eastern edge of the Billings East USGS Quadrangle. Principal sources of data include historic aerial photography (1957 and 1999) and survey data obtained by the report authors (1999) and the US Army Corps of Engineers (1968).
- Biology
- Inventory of Important Biological Resources for the Upper Yellowstone River Watershed (2001)
- Ecologically Significant Wetlands in the upper Yellowstone River Watershed (2001)
- Yellowstone River Riparian Vegetation Mapping Final Report (2008). This document reports on changes in riparian vegetation between 1950 and 2001.
- Factors Influencing Riparian Breeding Communities along the Middle and Lower Yellowstone River (2009) investigates factors influencing community and the distribution and abundance of breeding birds along a 450-mile segment of the Yellowstone river in central and eastern Montana
- Socioeconomics
- Yellowstone River Cultural Inventory (2006). This documents the variety and intensity of different perspectives and values held by people who share the Yellowstone River. The results of 313 interviews with landowners, resource managers, industry representatives and civic officials are documented and summarized.
Other data about the Yellowstone corridor can be found through the NRIS TopoFinder and Thematic Mapper applications.
