Clark Fork fish passage project earns White House props

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) A White House council has recognized a Montana project to improve fish passage in the tributaries of the Clark Fork River as one of 10 best.

On Wednesday, the White House Council on Environmental Quality identified 10 “transformational” fish passage projects out of more than 600 across the nation that are doing important restoration work to help ecosystems recover and make communities more resilient in the face of climate change.

The Clark Fork River Basin Reconnection Project was one of the 10 that “are a testament to collective action and highlight locally led, landscape-scale restoration efforts that rejuvenate ecosystems and also bolster climate resilience and local economies across the country,” according to the White House announcement.

“(The Clark Fork Coalition and Trout Unlimited) have been working side-by-side throughout the Clark Fork River watershed for decades addressing fish passage barriers, restoring fish habitat, and re-watering streams to ensure connectivity for fish between the mainstem Clark Fork River and tributaries. This announcement comes at a great time—we have the expertise and experience to continue this work strategically and effectively across the watershed and are well-poised to support the Whitehouse’s aim to reconnect the Clark Fork for improved ecosystem function, climate resilience, and clean water,” said Brian Chaffin, Clark Fork Coalition executive director.

For the past few years, Montana Trout Unlimited and the Clark Fork Coalition have headed up the Clark Fork River Basin Reconnection Project, which has been working to modify or remove agricultural dams to reconnect habitats for fish, especially Westslope cutthroat trout and threatened bull trout. They’ve teamed up with the state Natural Resource Damage Program, local groups and private irrigators to address streamflow and fish passage at eight sites on the upper Clark Fork River, and now they’ve added more sites near Missoula.

“We’re looking at trying to fully reconnect this whole migratory corridor. Historically, fish migrated from western Montana all the way to Lake Pend Oreille and back. There are three hydropower dams downstream near Thompson Falls that don’t allow for that anymore. But the long-term vision is to reconnect everything else,” said Montana Trout Unlimited director Casey Hackathorn.

Hackathorn said work is continuing in the Deer Lodge Valley, and five of the eight dams there should be complete by fall. Work on the three remaining dams, which are larger and more challenging to modify, is not yet fully funded but they’re close. Once complete, the headwaters of the Clark Fork will be reconnected.

Farther downstream, MTU project manager Rob Roberts is working on other dam projects in and around Missoula, following on the heels of the City of Missoula acquiring the Flynn-Lowney ditch diversion.

“That’s the first of another four or five projects in town, including the Grass Valley Ditch, the Orchard Homes and the Missoula Ditch in town. We’re kind of putting all of those on the table as ‘here’s the wish list,’” Hackathorn said.

To date, the Administration has dedicated more than $970 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to more than 600 fish passage projects in 45 states. Out of that, the 10 highlighted projects have received more than $150 million from eight federal agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. When complete, the 10 projects alone will reconnect more than 4,500 miles of rivers and streams.

The Clark Fork River Basin Reconnection Project has so far received $19 million from federal agencies and raised another $2 million. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overview, total restoration costs are estimated at more than $50 million.

Hackathorn said the White House recognition doesn’t come with any additional money, but it would prioritize the Clark Fork projects for any future funding.

“On the tail-end of this infrastructure funding wave, an interagency group of all the federal agencies got together and started vetting all these projects. And essentially because of the momentum we’ve built with our partners on trying to accomplish some of these bigger fish passage opportunities in the Deer Lodge and Missoula valleys, they see that as warranting future investment to try to realize what is possible,” Hackathorn said.

Other projects recognized are in Arizona, Alaska, California, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Washington.

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.