August 1 TU meeting
to focus on low water and fisheries issues
Extremely hot dry weather coupled with
a low snowpack have led to record breaking low water flows and high water
temperatures. The severe impacts to streamflows, agriculture and fisheries
continue to mount, and restrictions on angling have already been imposed on the
Bitterroot and other rivers in Montana.
In order to inform anglers,
recreationists and others about the situation and the measures being taken to
mitigate the impacts, Bitterroot Trout Unlimited is holding a special meeting.
The meeting will be from 7 to 8 pm on Thursday, August 1 at the Hamilton Elks
Club, 203 State St in Hamilton. The meeting is open to the public and there is
no charge for admission.
The meeting will feature presentations
by Bitterroot River Commissioner Al Pernichele and MFWP Fisheries Biologist
Chris Clancy, followed by an open question and answer forum.
According to Bitterroot TU President
Doug Nation, “The situation so far this year is particularly dire. We are
fortunate to have the water from Painted Rocks, but in order to minimize
impacts, anglers and irrigators will all have to cooperate. Combating
misinformation is the first step, and our TU chapter decided to provide a forum
so people can learn the facts.”
Message from Chris
Clancy
The following
message is forwarded from MFWP Fisheries Biologist Chris Clancy. Al is
Bitterroot River Commissioner Al Pernichele.
You
are probably aware that FWP has imposed “hoot owl” fishing for the entire
Bitterroot River mainstem. These regulations are most often related to elevated
water temperatures. The criteria for the restriction are met when the water
temperature reaches 73 degrees F for 3 consecutive days. Those criteria have
been met in the Bitterroot River at Missoula and Hamilton, hence the
restriction to that point. In the guidelines, restrictions can be applied more
broadly for species of special concern or concerns about shifting angling
pressure onto sensitive waters. So, even though the temperature target is not
met in the upper river, we extended the restriction to the confluence of the
East and West Forks. The East and West Forks themselves are not affected by the
restriction.
We
have floated the lower West Fork and Bitterroot River 3 times in the past 2
weeks, looking for dead fish. We have found more in the mainstem than in the
West Fork. We found 36 dead fish total. Of the trout, about ¾ are westslope
cutthroat. They make up about ¼ of the population of trout in the river up
there, so they appear to be more sensitive to angler induced mortality (we
assume these are release mortality). One question that I cannot answer is how
many dead fish does the 36 we saw represent? Dead fish generally are not very
conspicuous and don’t stay around in the stream very long if they are.
As
for Painted Rocks, Al released 50 cfs. on Sunday. He and I talked 2 days ago
and I asked him if the irrigators are going to make any releases. He said they
are split on the idea. With that in mind I suggested we release another 25
later this week if the irrigators don’t. That would put us at about 100 cfs.
which is more than I want to release now, but since temperatures are so high,
every little bit helps (although not much). I am hoping we don’t have to
release any additional water for a while.
If
you have any comments, I am happy to respond.
Chris
Clancy
Montana
Fish, Wildlife and Parks
1801
North 1st Street
Hamilton,
MT 59840
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