2024 Water Legend

Vicki Watson

Professor Emeritus, Environmental Studies. University of Montana

If there was a single individual that best reflects Missoula’s recent decades of success in stewardship, conservation and community, Vicki
Watson is someone who should come to all of our minds. Born and raised on a creek in a Texas blackland prairie farm, she earned a B.A.
in Biology at the University of Houston, and an M.S. and PhD in Aquatic Systems Ecology at the University of Wisconsin, studying the
lakes & rivers of Wisconsin.

Dr. Watson served as a professor at the University of Montana for 35 years where she taught over 20 different courses, including environmental
science, applied & pollution ecology, impact assessment, watershed conservation and sustainability science. She has directed
over 90 MS graduate committees and served on over 100 other graduate committees. Advised over 50 undergraduates, directed hundreds
of internships, senior honors theses, and independent study projects. Her former students have gone on to make waves as public
interest scientists, educators, stewards, policymakers, and non-profit organizers throughout the US.

Vicki assisted Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality in characterizing Montana lakes and streams, while also working with
other scientists to develop nutrient criteria guidance documents for the EPA and nutrient standards for Montana – some of the first in
the US. And she served on state and local task forces where she advocated for watershed CPR (conservation, preservation & restoration).
With grants from the USEPA, Forest Service and Geological Survey, Vicki researched the fate of heavy metals and cyanide leaching from
abandoned mines and environmental fate of herbicides used in roadside weed control.

Now ‘retired’, Vicki continues to serve her Missoula community – leading community dances, producing newsletters & jobs notices for
UM Environmental Studies students, organizing volunteers for service days, and continuing studies of the Clark Fork River and other
streams. Her generosity and kindness extends beyond the planet to people, often offering housing or needed equipment to current and
former students, providing local events with home-baked goods or produce from her garden, and contributing regularly to local fundraising.

Vicki’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. During her time at UM, she received UM’s Distinguished Teaching Award (1992), Service Learning
Fellowship (1998), Greening UM award (2006), and Outstanding Service to Students Award (2015). Other accolades for her service
include the Clark Fork Coalition’s Dedicated Conservationist Award (1988), Missoula YWCA’s Professional Woman of the Year (1991),
Missoula Conservation Roundtable’s Arnold Bolle Conservation Professional Award (1996), MT Natural History Center’s Environmental
Educator of the Year (2007), Missoula Sustainable Business Council’s Sustainability Advocate of the Year (2011), Western Montana Conservation
Commission’s Water Steward (2024) and Montana chapter of American Water Resources Association’s Water Legend (2024)!

In her own words: “I retired from the university but not from watershed keeping. I thank all these rivers for helping satisfy my thirst for
life.” Those that benefit from the watersheds she has helped conserve for decades, have her to thank.