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)
