Idaho’s planned Teton River Watershed Advisory Group will find opportunities to improve or maintain water quality, and potentially will quantify the impacts of work over the years by agricultural producers, environmental groups, irrigation entities and others.

The state Department of Environmental Quality is seeking members for the multi-stakeholder group.

Advisory group members will develop water quality improvement plans for water bodies, help to identify contributing sources of pollution and recommend actions to control them, and help to develop and execute a plan to meet water quality targets, according to a department news release.

Pollutant total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) are a key component of the water quality improvement plans. Protection and restoration of the Teton River — including all tributaries upstream to the headwaters and downstream to Henry’s Fork of the Snake River — is an overall priority for the advisory group.

The department seeks members representing farming, livestock production, local government, tribes, recreation, forestry and forest products, and environmental interests. A local member at large also is sought.

The group will meet twice a year or as needed. Meetings will be open to the public.

Advisory group members will help guide updates to 2003 TMDLs, help quantify impacts of existing water-quality improvement projects and provide input on where new projects could be pursued, Alex Bell, DEQ’s Idaho Falls region water quality manager, told Capital Press.

“We anticipate that in some places in the sub-basin, where there have been investments in water quality projects, to see improvement,” he said. “There may be some other changes, as to how land use is changing, but that remains to be seen.”

Development driven by population gains is a possible contributor to water quality changes, as is additional recreation use, Bell said.

A mix of gradients and bank-side environments — from a valley to a steep canyon — characterize the Teton River, which flows into Henry’s Fork.

The Teton and Henry’s Fork support pollution-sensitive coldwater fish, insects and other species. Environmental groups, farmers and ranchers, soil and water conservation district leaders, irrigation entities and others have been working together in the area for decades.

Agricultural best management practices, and projects by other landowners and groups, may aim to control sediment, for example, Bell said. Sediment may be subject to maximum daily load requirements.

“They work together to find solutions,” he said, referring to the various groups.

People interested in serving on the advisory group should contact Bell by April 28 at 208-528-2679 or alex.bell@deq.idaho.gov.