Mike Castudia, Milltown State Park manager, opened the Confluence-area program at Milltown State Park by urging attendees to see the site as overlapping stories of people and rivers. "Confluence of stories" was his repeated framing for the site'where two rivers meet and where interpretive panels and talks now aim to tell both natural and human histories.

Why it matters: the program tied local history to a long restoration project that followed contamination from mine waste and a century of dams and reservoirs. David Brooks, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, said local residents and grassroots actions played a decisive role in the site's cleanup and reuse, noting the scale of public involvement that ultimately influenced federal decisions.

At the event presenters traced Milltown's arc: indigenous occupation and Salish place names; 19th-century trail, road and railroad alignments; early dam construction in the 1880s and dam operations in the 20th century; discovery of arsenic in Milltown wells tied to the 1908 flood that carried mine waste downstream; and the multi-decade response that culminated in a Superfund cleanup and restoration project. Castudia described the site as intentionally sited so visitors can “see those 2 rivers coming together,” and said interpretive panels, talks and a story map on the park website are part of an ongoing effort to record the site's histories for visitors.

Speakers emphasized that restoration and redevelopment grew from many constituencies. Brooks described how local complaints about stained well water, university researchers sampling sediment by hand, and public events such as a Milltown-to-downtown flotilla collectively generated the political momentum that placed the site on the federal Superfund agenda and shaped the cleanup alternative ultimately pursued.

Park planning updates were presented as programmatic next steps rather than formal decisions. Castudia said the Confluence area will receive additional revegetation and finishing work and described a prospective trailhead at Bandman Flats across the river, a future connection to an amphitheater and a long-term aim to link trails across the river to the Black Bridge and beyond. He framed those items as projects "in the wings," dependent on ongoing work and other infrastructure schedules.

Ending: organizers framed the Confluence opening as the start of continued interpretation and public programming rather than a finished project. The presenters repeatedly invited visitors to return for future talks and to use the park's story map and interpretive panels to explore the layered histories of the rivers and communities around Milltown.