Silver Bow Creek has undergone a major environmental cleanup and restoration effort covering 22 stream miles from Butte to the Warm Springs Ponds, funded through a settlement with Atlantic Richfield Corporation under federal Superfund law. The project has cost more than $120 million and employed more than 80 people a year during more than a decade of work. Century-old contamination caused by floods that discharged tailings and other mine wastes with elevated metal concentrations had polluted the stream and floodplain and eliminated aquatic life. Since remediation and restoration began in 1999, water quality in surface water and groundwater has greatly improved, remediated areas have shown no metal concentrations above drinking water standards, the reconstructed stream channel has stabilized, vegetation has become well established, aquatic habitat diversity has increased, and biological indicators such as aquatic insect diversity and algal composition have improved. Trout have returned to parts of the creek, deer, elk, mink, and trumpeter swans have been seen in remediated areas, and the project, conducted by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality with state and local partners and in consultation with the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, has received local, national, and international awards for environmental excellence.