Watershed Interpretive Signs
In 2020, the Gallatin Watershed Council received Cash in Lieu (CIL) funding from the City of Bozeman Parks Department to develop five watershed-themed signs to be installed in Bozeman parks. The interpretative signage project aims to help educate and engage community members in stewarding the Lower Gallatin Watershed by increasing awareness of general watershed knowledge, and to provide consistent unified messaging across Bozeman parks and across the Lower Gallatin Watershed at large.
Many amazing partners such as the Association of Gallatin Agricultural Irrigators, MSU Extension Water Quality, and the Gallatin Local Water Quality District contributed to the content of the signs. Additionally, GWC works closely with Townsend Collective and Katie Christiansen, the designer and illustrator of the signs.
The five signs are located across Bozeman City Parks (see locations below), and focus on the following five themes: "An Engineered Watershed,” “Wetlands at Work,” “A Water Droplet’s Journey,” “What is a Watershed, Anyway?”, and “Rivers Need Room to Roam.”
This project also aims to expand the signage, within the city of Bozeman, and beyond. GWC worked with Bridger Bowl to replicate an existing sign (pictured above) and is continuing to work with partners such as the Association of Gallatin Agricultural Irrigators (AGAI) and Design 5 Landscape Architecture.
Interested in replicating or creating a watershed-themed interpretative sign?
We would love to work with you to continue installing these signs within the watershed. There are a variety of options to engage in this project: work with GWC to replicate an already existing theme/template, make modifications to an existing theme, or work with GWC to create a new sign that fits your mission or project. To learn more, reach out to info@gallatinwatershedcouncil.org.
Check out our signs!
Below is a map of the locations of all our interpretive signs. The five signs were recently installed, and are located in Kirk Park, Oak Springs Park, Langhor Park (on the Gallagator Trail, near the community gardens), Bronken Park, and Bogert Park. Additionally, the deck of Jim Bridger Lodge to check out a sign on snowpack, a result of a sign expansion and partnership with Bridger Bowl!
The partners involved recognize that Indigenous Peoples occupied the lands that now constitute the greater Bozeman area since time immemorial; and Bozeman is built upon their homelands, hunting grounds, and along their sacred waterways. For more information, visit the MSU Native Lands Project.
