PPL Montana and the Missouri-Madison River Fund are inviting grant applications for projects that will enhance recreational opportunities along the Madison and Missouri rivers.
These grants have funded boat ramps, hiking trails and campgrounds that enable people to enjoy the lakes and rivers near the company’s hydroelectric plants.
“PPL Montana and its employees across the state believe in responsible stewardship of recreational resources near our hydroelectric facilities,” said Jon Jourdonnais, PPL Montana’s director of Hydro Licensing and Environmental Compliance. “We work with agencies and private partners through the Missouri-Madison River Fund to provide opportunities.”
PPL Montana’s funding of $10 million has helped build the River Fund and develop 32 recreation projects with agency support.
A 2008 River Fund grant application for the current grant cycle, as well as a list of previous award recipients and PPL Montana contact information, can be found at www.apleco.com/mmcrp.asp.
Awards for qualifying projects for the 2008 grant cycle will be announced in December, with funds awarded in January.
Created as a public-private partnership to meet public recreation needs along the Madison and Missouri rivers, PPL Montana and the River Fund now support ongoing efforts to protect and enhance the public recreation resource in a project area extending from Hebgen Reservoir downstream to Fort Benton, excluding the Toston and Canyon Ferry hydroelectric plants and the river segment between them.
River Fund grants, together with PPL Montana matching funds and contributions from project sponsors and their partners, totaled $1.1 million in 2007 for qualifying public recreation projects along the Madison and Missouri rivers.
Awards are funded through a combination of PPL Montana contributions and grants from the River Fund, a $7 million trust fund for public recreation. The fund was created through the collaborative efforts of PPL Montana; Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks; U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Madison, Gallatin, Broadwater, Lewis & Clark, Cascade and Chouteau counties; and numerous other public and private partners.
PPL Montana has cooperated with other agency and private partners in creating this fund to support its responsibilities for public recreation at eight hydroelectric plants and a storage reservoir under the Missouri-Madison Project 2188 License, issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2000.
PPL Montana’s support of the River Fund is part of an overall $23 million commitment for recreational and other wildlife, fisheries, habitats and water quality river stewardship projects along a 524-mile portion of the Madison-Missouri River corridor.
PPL Montana provides safe, reliable energy from coal-fired power plants at Colstrip and Billings, as well as 11 hydroelectric plants along West Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison, Clark Fork and Flathead rivers. It has a combined generating capacity of more than 1,200 megawatts and has offices in Billings, Butte and Helena. PPL Montana and its 500 employees are dedicated to Montana and its communities, supporting educational, environmental and economic development programs across the state. PPL EnergyPlus operates a trading floor in Butte that markets and sells power for PPL Montana in wholesale and retail energy markets throughout the western United States. PPL Montana and PPL EnergyPlus are subsidiaries of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL).