Biologists predict early fishing restrictions due to drought
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) Montana is becoming a hotter, drier place, based upon the conditions of at least the past decade, and that’s damaging Montana’s streams and fisheries. Some anglers question whether Montana needs to start changing its water management for the long term.
During an online townhall Wednesday, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks fisheries managers from southwestern and central regions of the state discussed the almost historic low stream levels that exist across the state and how that will affect fish this summer and into the future.
FWP fisheries chief Adam Strainer said that during an internal call this week, fisheries managers in every region had commented on the already low water levels and the need to start implementing various tools early to protect fish populations.
Those tools include hoot-owl restrictions, fishing closures and making water rights calls to keep water in some streams. Hoot-owl restrictions are normally based on water temperature; if the peak stream temperature exceeds 73 degrees for three days straight - the temperature limit is lower for streams with native trout like westslope cutthroat or bull trout - anglers are prohibited from fishing after 2 p.m. But closures can kick in when flows get low, and that’s already happening.
Region 2 fisheries manager Pat Saffel said his people are focused on flow conditions right now, calling the conditions on the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers “alarming.” Both the upper Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers have only about one-third the flows that are normal for this time of year when spring runoff is tailing off. As of June 5, Region 2 east of Missoula is in severe drought conditions.
“Another way to put that is it’s almost like it’s mid-July in an average year,” Saffel said. “If it’s like mid-July now, we’re going to be possibly talking about hoot-owls in the coming weeks. It’s a bit alarming. It’s early.”
That’s really bad news for fish in the Blackfoot River, which hit historic low levels last summer due to low winter snowpack and low precipitation that created exceptional drought conditions. The Blackfoot region was the only region of the state that experienced that level of drought. Now, after this winter’s snowpack melted out early, the Blackfoot is looking at another low-water year, which is also concerning for irrigators.
Saffel said the Bitterroot River is slightly better off with stream levels that are two-thirds of normal. That’s still concerning, but the Bitterroot has the advantage that water can be released from Lake Como to sustain streamflows and keep the river somewhat cool.
FWP co-owns instream water rights with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in the Clark Fork River. Strainer said FWP may need to make calls on junior water rights owners in some basins to keep enough water in the rivers for aquatic life.
In the spring, fisheries biologists conduct population surveys in several rivers, and this year, there’s not much good news. In the Clark Fork River, there’s been a dramatic decline in the brown trout population above Deer Lodge, although Saffel said the decline doesn’t appear to be related to streamflow. Between Deer Lodge and Missoula, populations are stable but that changes below Missoula.
“We saw some declines in cutthroat trout. We’re not quite sure what the cause of that is yet. And then we have some other sampling we want to do to see if they’ve declined elsewhere to corroborate that finding. So that’s kind of new and yet to be assessed,” Saffel said. “Farther downstream, it’s fairly stable.”
The streamflow conditions aren’t any better in Region 3 after a warm, dry spring cancelled out the decent winter snow that blanketed southwestern mountains, said fisheries manager Mike Duncan. Even the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers have seen flows decline rapidly.
“I’ve started to reference 2021 as being the most recent exceptionally bad year, kind of as a frame of reference. And most of our sections are below the flows we saw just a couple years ago in 2021,” Duncan said.
The beleaguered Big Hole River has some stretches where the flow is below historic lows, Duncan said. The stretches around Twin Bridges are the lowest since a stream gage was installed in 2008. Upstream of that, the river is less than 25% of the normal flow.
“With water temperatures around Wisdom starting to creep up into the 70s, we’d start to see hoot-owl restrictions come into play. Much earlier than we’d expect in a normal year,” Duncan said.
In addition to hoot-owl restrictions, the Big Hole Watershed Committee has a drought plan that outlines voluntary actions - fishing closures, reduced irrigation withdrawals - that irrigators and anglers can take when streamflows drop to critical levels. The river hit the first triggering threshold in May.
Duncan said his fish population surveys had an “interesting mix of results.” On the Big Hole, populations in the upstream stretch near Jerry Creek are “promising,” but populations declined as biologists moved downstream into the sections where streamflows get low.
Calling it the one highlight of the spring, Duncan found populations are rebounding on the Beaverhead River downstream of where it comes out of the Clark Canyon Dam. Conversely, the brown trout populations in the Ruby River are still near historic lows.
Stream conditions are worse along the Rocky Mountain Front, where severe drought conditions prevail. Region 4 fisheries manager Jason Mullen said flows in the Dearborn, Sun and Marias rivers are historically low.
The Dearborn River has occasionally been floatable in early June, but this year, it’s trickling along at a paltry 63 cubic feet per second, the lowest flow on record, Mullen said. The Sun River, like the Bitterroot River, has the benefit of a reservoir, the Gibson Reservoir, but the it attained just 71% of its full volume this spring and is drawing down due to heavy irrigation demand. As a result, the Sun River, which normally flows at 1,400 cfs, is now at 107 cfs. Similarly, the Marias River, which has suffered from years of drought, is flowing at about 412 cfs below Tiber Dam when it should be 1,100 cfs.
“This is the third consecutive year of not having any real spring runoff just because of the significance of the drought in that basin,” Mullen said. “So in general, rivers and reservoirs along the Rocky Mountain Front are in really poor condition. This is obviously not good for the fisheries. It’s not good for recruitment in the rivers that we hear a lot about, but also in the reservoirs that we don’t talk about a lot, it’s not good either.”
Finally, last year saw the first-ever hoot-owl closure on the North Fork of the Flathead River, and Strainer said the drought conditions this year are leading toward the same thing.
Strainer summed up the news from the regions, saying “it’s becoming an all-too-routine drought period.” Some fishing guides agreed during the question-and-answer period that followed, but added that something more needed to be done.
“This is a full-blown crisis that continues. I think “drought” implies it’s a temporary condition. But I’ve been on the Smith for 40 years. I see increased drought every year. In fact, I can’t remember anymore a series of wet years. I think that happened in the ‘90s. At what point, do you admit that water and the way we’ve used it in Montana is just not sustainable anymore?” said Smith River outfitter Mike Geary.
Big Hole Valley landowner Paul Siddoway agreed with Geary that the state’s streams are in crisis. A decade ago, he and Geary sat on the upper Missouri River advisory group for the 2015 State Water Plan, which recommended that the state develop more water storage in the Big Hole River basin.
“Here we are 10 years later, and there’s been no major movement,” Siddoway said. “Until we improve water flows on the Big Hole, we’re not going to see the fishery improve. This is not new news - this has been going on for some time.”
Strainer didn’t have an answer but said he and his staff have regular discussions about how to make changes acceptable to everybody.
“The best strategy in the short term is working with others across the state, working with DNRC, working with DEQ,” Strainer said. “We recognize that it’s a prolonged, now-very-normal approach, sitting here talking about the drought scenario, it’s now a normal process we go through. You’re not alone. We hear comments like yours consistently.”
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.