MONTANA UPDATE Mark Lere, Habitat Bureau Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

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)