Volume 3, Issue 4 Fall 2014 aáy (pronounced “ahh-ee”) is the Salish word for bull trout.
Our mission: To conserve, protect and restore valuable wild fish and their habitat in Northwest Montana
New USFWS Bull Trout Recovery Plan Out for Comments After a long wait, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released the Revised Draft Recovery Plan for the Coterminus United States Population of Bull Trout. Bull trout were listed as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. Since that time, three separate draft recovery plans were completed by the Service, none of which were finalized. In 2008, USFWS completed it’s most recent review of bull trout and recommended that the species retain its threatened status. In 2010, USFWS released a Final Bull Trout Critical Habitat Rule. Bull trout populations throughout the northwest continue to decline or disappear locally and persistently face new threats, but there still is no overarching plan for recovery. Northwest Montana continues to have probably the most intact and connected example of bull trout habitat in the country, but protection and restoration of our bull trout populations seems to be pursued haphazardly rather than managing these iconic fish as a single connected population. Several important restoration projects are showing hope for our bull trout populations, but threats persist and multiply as individual populations continue to decline. The new recovery plan has an overall goal of removing bull trout from the protections of the Endangered Species Act using an adaptive management recovery plan Our chapter supports the overall goals of the new draft plan and efforts to recover decimated bull trout populations in Northwest Montana.
Officers President……….. Larry Timchak Vice President…….. Jim Johnson Secretary……….Chris Schustrom Treasurer……...…. Glen Anacker Banquet Chair……….. Dan Short Conservation Chair... Lucky Sultz
For more information on the Bull Trout Draft Recovery plan and to submit your own comments, as well as to learn more about the threats facing this keystone species, please visit the USFWS Bull Trout webpage.
aáy is a quarterly publication of the Flathead Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Contact: 406-250-7473, flatheadtu@gmail.com, www.flatheadtu.org
Recovery Plan Continued on page 5
www.warriorsandquietwaters.org
“Fly fishing is the most fun you can have standing up.” ~Arnold Gingrich 1
Volume 3, Issue 4
Fall 2014
From Our President
Milestone for Montana Trout Unlimited I had the good fortune to attend Montana Trout Unlimited’s 50th birthday celebration at the mouth of Rock Creek recently. What a fitting location as Montana TU, working with Five Valleys Land Trust, helped protect over 200 acres where a major subdivision was planned. Now instead of houses, we have open space, wildlife habitat and public access to a blue ribbon trout stream.
Timchak Invasive Species Reduction Program
Larry Timchak—FVTU President Newsletter content does not necessarily reflect the views of Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited, it’s membership or Montana Trout Unlimited. FVTU welcomes submission of photos or content from our valued members. The newsletter is published quarterly throughout the year. Publication dates will be approximately Oct. 1, Jan. 1, Apr. 1, and July 1.Please send contributions at least ten days prior to publication to the newsletter editor at: lucky@flatheadtu.org aáy is available online at the FVTU website. www.flatheadtu.org Newsletter editor: Lucky Sultz
That’s typical of the good work Montana Trout Unlimited has accomplished over the past 50 years. Good work accomplished by Montana TU founders and fly fishing legends Bud Lilly, Dan Bailey and Bud Morris. The persistence of Tony Schoonen, George Grant and others who helped convince the Montana Legislature to pass the landmark Streambed and Land Preservation Act (the “310” law). And legal action led by Stan Bradshaw and Jim Goetz resulting in restoration of the Upper Clark Fork River and preservation of Montana’s Stream Access law. Some battles appear to be won. Efforts to dam the South and Middle Fork of the Flathead, the Yellowstone and Big Hole were all defeated. The era of big dam building is now past and we are removing dams across the country! TU was instrumental in Montana’s shift from stocking hatchery trout in our streams to wild trout management, a policy that continues to this day. Other battles were won but still require defensive actions with the Stream Access law first and foremost in mind. While there has been much progress with in-stream flows, there is always more to do and Montana Trout Unlimited will continue to lead in those efforts. Over these past 50 years Montana Trout Unlimited has learned that protection and prevention are the best ways to sustain our waters and fisheries for the long run. Once invasive species compete with our native trout or our watersheds are damaged by man’s activities, we’ve learned how to implement effective
restoration measures. But these measures are often expensive, complex and time consuming as we are learning with our efforts to reduce invasive lake trout populations in Swan Lake and Flathead Lake. So our Chapter will continue to work hard to protect what we have and restore what we can, following the proud tradition of Montana TU. Larry Timchak President, FVTU
See you on the river! Good day on the South Fork Flathead 2
Volume 3, Issue 4
Fall 2014 Over the last 50 years, Montana Trout Unlimited has become a model for conservation organizations throughout the country. The celebration was held at the mouth of Rock Creek on property recently saved from development by the Five Valleys Land Trust, with help from MTU to be protected for the public in perpetuity.
Montana Trout Unlimited is 50 Years Old! On Sept. 20th, members and supporters of Montana Trout Unlimited gathered near the mouth of Rock Creek to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of our organization. In the early 1960s, a forward-thinking group of anglers and conservationists gathered to fight the proposed Allenspur Dam on the Yellowstone River as well as several other proposed projects.
For a good overview of the history of Montana Trout Unlimited, please see the great biography put together by our current Executive Director, Bruce Farling and join us all in thanking our great staff and wonderful volunteers for 50 years of conservation success. And we can only hope that the next 50 are just as successful.
Outdoor Pursuits Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited was pleased to return to Glacier High School this year to participate in the Outdoor Pursuits class led by instructor Pete Byl.
The first MTU meeting was held at Chico Hot Springs in 1963. The chapter was chartered by the, then fiveyear old, National TU organization in March of 1964. The first MTU chapter president, Bud Lilly, was present at Rock Creek to celebrate our 50th anniversary along with most of the succeeding State Council presidents.
Students get to participate in all manner of outdoor learning adventures and enjoyment. FVTU helped to educate the students about, and appreciation of, our Montana native fish and programs in which we participate. President Larry Timchak gave a presentation on Trout Unlimited and an introduction to fly fishing. The next day FVTU members tutored the class on tying their own flies. On the final day of the class, students Through the years, Montana Trout Unlimited has con- took their creations to a local pond and had the opportinued fights to protect, conserve and restore fish popu- tunity to cast their hand-tied flies to eager trout. lations throughout the Treasure State. We were instrumental in the debates over stream access in the 1970s FVTU will also help David Lillard’s Glacier High bioland that fight continues today. MTU has grown ogy class in setting up and maintaining a Trout in the through the years to now include 13 chapters across Classroom aquarium where they will raise and observe Montana and MTU is one of only four state chapters to trout from eggs to adult and study the necessities of fund a full-time staff directed by the State Council. clean, cold water on trout development.
Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited holds monthly meetings on the third Tuesday of each month October through April. Meetings are held at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks conference room at 490 N. Meridian in Kalispell beginning at 7pm. Please join us for our regular meetings and program
FVTU Calendar
October 21: Please join us for our first general chapter meeting of the new year. Our program will feature Darwon Stoneman and Bill Hart from Glacier Anglers presenting a program on a recent successful fly fishing excursion to Cuba. We sincerely hope you can join us.
Later this winter we hope to have biologists from Idaho Fish and Game to present us with an overview of fisheries status, protection and enhancement work being pursued in Northern Idaho. Our programs are always informative and exciting. Please join us. 3
Volume 3, Issue 4
Fall 2014 its extreme popularity as a fishing and floating destination. Recreation on the Smith River generates over $12 million dollars each year for our economy. Nearly 8,000 people apply each year for the 1,100 permits to float the Smith. Permit fees alone brought in $165,000 in 2013.
Save Our Smith In August, the latest cleanup effort on the Mike Horse Mine in the headwaters of the Blackfoot River began at a contract cost of $7.2 million dollars. That cost comes on top of the more than $40 million spent to clean up the effects of the disastrous 1975 spill of 200,000 cubic yards of contaminated waste that flowed downstream and sterilized the upper ten miles of the Blackfoot River. So far, more than $50 million has been spent on that one mine cleanup effort. Next year will be the fortieth anniversary of the Mike Horse blowout and we are still cleaning up the mess and dumping millions of dollars into the effort. The state of Montana is laced with hundreds of similar problems large and small, caused by well-meaning mining companies. Cleanup continues at the Zortman/ Landusky site, the Golden Sunlight mine and many others that have polluted our lands and streams for over a hundred years and cost millions of dollars to remediate.
“ The Smith River and its tributaries provide crucial habitat and spawning grounds for regional trout fisheries. The Sheep Creek drainage accounts for over half of tributary spawning of rainbow trout in the Smith River drainage, and rainbow trout have been known to travel nearly 200 miles round-trip from the Missouri River to spawn!” Tintina plans to drill four deep wells to test groundwater recharge rates at the mine site. To dispose of the arsenic -tainted water from the drilling, Tintina plans to use a process called “land application disposal”. This process would spray the nearly one million gallons of polluted water over 40 acres near the mine site during the growing season with the expectation that the water will evaporate before reaching the local groundwater. Arsenic in the pumped water will exceed standards for human drinking water, but will be below limits for irrigation and wildlife.
Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited commented that, “There is a high likelihood that it won't work, which means the company would potentially violate Montana's nondegradation water quality standard. We don't believe DEQ has the authority to allow that to happen based upon a subjective conToday, Tintina Resources, a small Canadian exploration clusion about risk,” “Earthworks spokeswoman Boncompany with little or no mining experience wants to nie Gestring agreed that the arsenic-laden water should put a massive copper mine and a similar potential disas- be treated because the use of land application at other ter in place near Sheep Creek in the headwaters of our mines has always resulted in some harmful discharge.” precious Smith River. Sheep Creek is the spawning stream for nearly half of the trout in the Smith River. During the public comment period in July, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality received over Since the mine tunnels would drop below the level of 940 comments about the mine. For more information, the local groundwater, Tintina would have to pump please visit the MEIC website SaveOurSmith.com. water out of the mine to keep it from flooding. The pumped wastewater would contain arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Approximately 11 miles downstream from the proposed mine site lays the Smith River, one of Montana’s most important natural treasures. The Smith is the only permitted river in the state due to
Montana Bull Trout 4
Volume 3, Issue 4
Fall 2014 A century ago, tens of thousands of bull trout roamed the waters of Flathead Lake and the Flathead River system. By the mid-1980s a spawning run of 10,00015,000 fish still provided exciting fishing opportunities. Today there are less than 3,000 adult fish left in Flathead Lake and the North and Middle forks. Due to our misguided actions and inattention, these magnificent fish are on the brink of extinction in our home waters. FVTU is proud to announce the release of our exciting video, Jewel in The Crown. This DVD examines the plight of native fish in the Flathead with a focus on current problems facing bull trout. Through conversations with the last generation of anglers who were able to legally fish for bull trout in our home waters and many historical photos as well as interviews with local fisheries biologists and managers, we examine the current situation and where we need to go now to preserve our native fish heritage in the Flathead Basin.
Get your copy today: Jewel in The Crown is available for only $12 (+ $2 shipping and handling) and can be obtained at several participating local fly shops, or at our monthly general meetings.
Bull trout recovery plan continued from page 1 One of the more controversial elements of the new draft plan has been the effort to “de-emphasize” the use of target population size in the recovery process. FVTU feels that it is very important that numerical objectives relating to population size be recognized for individual core areas. The 2002 draft recovery plan used targeted “minimum number core area total adult abundance” standards to achieve recovery goals. Numbers used to calculate those goals were somewhat flimsy, but were at least based on the best available science at the time. We feel it is important that achievable numerical goals remain a part of any recovery plan and we feel that significant effort should be expended as part of this new plan to collect and examine numerical population abundance data to assure that population numbers and realistic numerical goals can be assigned and hopefully reached. The new draft plan, for the first time, recognizes the challenges of a changing climate to the recovery of bull trout populations throughout the northwest. Local anglers daily note changes in stream temperatures, precipitation and streamflow patterns and how those changes are affecting our native fish populations. We applaud the Service for including recognition and mitigation for those impacts as part of the updated plan.
Flathead Lake. We have also supported efforts to slow the spread of nonnative rainbow trout throughout the Flathead Watershed. Rainbow trout interbreed with our native cutthroat trout and provide unwanted competition for bull trout. Our chapter supports work currently being undertaken in the lower Clark Fork by Avista and the USFWS to reestablish connections between the Pend Oreille native fish populations and the Clark Fork populations that were severed decades ago by dam construction. It is of vital importance for the genetic health of these populations that the larger Headwaters Recovery Unit metapopulation regain access to spawning and rearing areas that have become underused by native fish and in some cases have come to provide habitat for invasive species. We commend the Service for supporting implementation of continued connectivity improvements in the basin. We see proactively addressing the threats of lake trout and other nonnative fish species as being of the highest priority in the recovery effort.
This effort has dragged on for far too long since bull trout were listed as a Threatened Species in 1999. Although we have seen some habitat improvements and there have been a few local successes, we continue to lose individual local bull trout populations and threats continue to multiply while there has been no overall Another factor of the new plan is support for ongoing plan to act as a guiding document for recovery. Flathead projects particularly in Northwest Montana. We see the Valley Trout Unlimited hopes that this latest recovery number one threat to our local bull trout populations as plan will be implemented in a timely manner with adebeing the continued expansion of competition and prequate funding and guidance that will make a real and dation by nonnative fish throughout our streams and fundamental difference in restoring our declining bull lakes. FVTU has been very active in recent years in sup- trout populations. porting projects to suppress lake trout in Swan Lake ad 5
Volume 3, Issue 4
Fall 2014 easier for businesses that need permits. The proposed rule is nothing new, it is just a clarification of existing policy. However, there has been a lot of scary rhetoric and misinformation about the proposal. From the EPA website: MYTH: Groundwater is regulated by the Clean Water Act. TRUTH: The proposed rule specifically excludes groundwater. MYTH: The federal government is going to regulate puddles and water on driveways and playgrounds. TRUTH: Not remotely true. The proposal specifically says groundwater and shallow subsurface connections are not regulated.
Clean Water—We all live downstream Make your voice heard. “For more than four decades, the Clean Water Act has protected our right to safe water to drink and pristine places to hunt, fish, swim, and play. The law didn't just defend the mighty Mississippi or our Great Lakes; it also protected the smaller streams and wetlands that weave together a vast, interconnected system. It recognized the dangers of dumping toxic pollution upstream, because healthy downstream lakes and rivers are beholden to the streams and wetlands that feed them.” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
MYTH: EPA is gaining power over farms and ranches. TRUTH: No. All historical exclusions and exemptions for agriculture are preserved. MYTH: This is the largest land grab in history. TRUTH: The Clean Water Act only regulates the pollution and destruction of U.S. waters. The proposed rule would not regulate land or land use.
MYTH: This is about little streams in the middle of nowhere that don’t matter. TRUTH: Everyone lives downstream. This means that our communities, our cities, our businesses, our schools, and our farms are all impacted by the pollution The clean water act is under attack. In March, the Envi- and destruction that happens upstream. ronmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers proposed a rule that will make the protection of Learn more about the proposed rule and submit your water resources more clear and consistent, as well as comments to the EPA before October 20.
Montana’s Yellowstone River and poses a potential threat to native frogs. USGS biologist Adam Sepulveda said Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 that recent surveys have found bullfrogs from the Laurel area downstream to Custer, a 66-mile stretch. The animal can eat anything that fits in their gaping mouths. A bullfrog from Bullfrog Invasion Billings dissected last year had a In this June, 2013 photo provided by robin in its stomach. (AP Photo/U.S. the U.S. Geological Survey, govern- Geological Survey) ment scientists try to catch and remove bullfrogs from a side channel Mack Days Continues along the Yellowstone River near Billings, Montana. Scientists say an invasion of voracious American bull- The annual Fall Mack Days lake frogs is spreading downstream along trout derby began on Sept. 26 and
continues through Nov. 16 on Flathead Lake. This event, along with the spring contest, is sponsored by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is one leg of their program to suppress the population of nonnative lake trout in Flathead Lake to reduce competition and predation on native fish in the watershed. The event will award up to $125,000 in cash and prizes to participating anglers. Following Mack Days, the Tribes will continue with their lake trout netting program to further reduce the population. 6