MONTANA UPDATE

Mark Lere, Habitat BureauMontana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

WHAT WE DON’T HAVE• SCREEN LAWS

• SCREEN SHOPS

• SPECIFIC FUNDING (Mitchell Act)

• ANADROMOUS FISH

• NMFS OVERSIGHT

WHAT WE DO HAVE

• SOME NEEDS!

A FEW EXAMPLES….

UPPER BIG HOLE RIVER • Home to the last fluvial

arctic grayling population in the contiguous United States

• Has very robust Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances Program– One main goal of the CCAA

is to eliminate entrainment into irrigation systems

• Supports traditional agriculture – most rely on flood irrigation for hay crops, thus numerous diversions

Photo by Mark Conlin

YELLOWSTONE RIVER

• Series of 6 low head diversion dams – Hinder or block upstream

fish passage for numerous warm water species of fish, including pallid sturgeon , paddlefish, sauger, blue sucker……….

– The diversions entrain lots of fish

Miles City

T & Y Diversion(Rm 20.4)

Map of the Yellowstone River, tributaries, and diversion dams with approximate river miles (Rm).

INTAKE DIVERSION• 1,300 cfs diversion• Passage barrier to

most fish species• Entrainment

estimates for Intake diversion range from 50,000 to 350,000 fish per month

• Recently screened, but passage remains a BIG issue

BULL TROUT & CUTTHROAT TROUT• Losing native trout

species to entrainment• Losses commonly not well

quantified• Diversions typically have

not been prioritized • Most screen and

passage projects are opportunity based

• Federal strings occasionally drive projects

NON-NATIVE SPORT FISH• Also have concerns about

entrainment of our non-native sport fish – Typically rainbow trout and

brown trout

WHAT WE ARE DOING - SCREENS• Installed a variety of

screens– Infiltration galleries– Simple passive horizontal

screens– Passive inclined plane

screens– Turbulent fountains– FCA screens– Rotary drum screens– Vertical flat plate screens– Traveling belt screens

• Efforts not centralized• Not all meet NMFS criteria

FISH SCREENS• Scale of Screen Projects

– From small to very large– A majority of our installed

screens are around 20 cfs or less.

WHAT WE ARE DOING – FISH PASSAGE

• Many passage projects completed across the state– From projects for

our stronger swimming and jumping fish in the west

– To our weak swimming, non-jumping fish in the east

WHAT WE ARE DOING - BARRIERS• At times, it appears

that we have a split personality disorder

• Migration barriers are being used to isolate our native cutthroat trout from non-natives (rainbow trout, brook trout, and brown trout)