Stream Permitting

Also known as the 310 Law, is a state law which requires that any person planning to work in or near a perennial stream or river on private or public land must first obtain a 310 Permit from their local conservation district. 

The purpose of the 310 Law is to insure that projects on perennial streams will be carried out in ways that are not damaging to the stream, its banks or to adjoining landowners.

Conservation Districts throughout Montana administer the 310 Law. The Yellowstone Conservation District in partnership with Fish Wildlife and Parks administer the 310 law in Yellowstone County. 

Any private, nongovernmental individual or entity that proposes to work in or near a stream on public or private land in Yellowstone County must contact the Yellowstone Conservation District to obtain a permit application prior to any activity in or near a perennial-flowing stream. 

Applications can be picked up in the district office or downloaded below. Please submit your application to the YCD. For questions call the office at 406-247-4420 or email livie@mt.gov

The permitting process takes between 30 and 90 days. Once approved, a 310 permit is valid for one year. Permit decisions are made by the Yellowstone Conservation District Board of Supervisors during the regular monthly meetings. 

Once submitted, the board will review your application and decide to accept the project or not. 

Once an application is accepted, a team that consists of a Yellowstone Conservation District representative, a MT FWP biologist and the applicant may conduct an on-site inspection. The team makes recommendations to the conservation district board to be reviewed at the next regular meeting. 

The district will decide at the next meeting whether to approve, modify or deny the project. After receiving the supervisors' decision, the applicant has 15 days to return the permit, signed to indicate agreement with the district's decision. 

There is an emergency provision in the 310 Law to handle actions necessary to safeguard life or property, including growing crops, during periods of emergency. If a person takes emergency action, a notice of emergency form must be completed and submitted to the Yellowstone Conservation District within 15 days of action taken. The emergency action will be reviewed by the conservation district. The district will decide if the action was appropriate, must be modified, or must be removed and/or replaced.