Overview:
Crooked Arm Coulee Mitigation Bank is a 99.2 acre site located in Big Horn County, Montana. Crooked Arm Coulee was approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District in December 2024 for a potential of 258.06 wetland credits.
The high wildlife value of this restored wetland habitat will result largely from restoration of the hydrology-related functions such areas provide (via flowing water, pooled water, and saturated soils) to a large diversity of plants and animals. For example, it is commonly stated that riparian areas and wetlands occupy less than 4% of Montana’s land area, yet they are used by more than 80% of the bird species found in the state during all or part of the year. Wetland restoration at the scale encompassed by the Crooked Arm Coulee MB provides benefits well beyond the local wetland resource, contributing to improved water quality and quantity and improved aquatic and terrestrial habitat in areas down gradient and adjacent to the bank site.
Crooked Arm Coulee MB is approved to offset wetland impacts within the Middle Yellowstone Montana Service Area. The Middle Yellowstone Montana Service Area encompasses the Pryor (HUC 1007008), Yellowstone-Pompeys Pillar (HUC 10070007), Big Horn Lake (HUC 10080010), Lower Bighorn (HUC 10080015), Little Bighorn (HUC 10080016), Shoshone (HUC 10080014), Rosebud (HUC 10100003), Lower Yellowstone – Sunday (HUC 10100001), Big Porcupine (HUC 10100002), Upper Tongue (HUC 10090101), and the Lower Tongue (HUC 10090102) basins.
