In 2006 conservation efforts for Montana grayling included implementing one of the largest conservation programs on private lands in the country. The Big Hole Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances Program (CCAA) goal is to secure and enhance the population of fluvial (river-dwelling) Arctic grayling within the upper reaches of the Big Hole River drainage. Montana fluvial Arctic grayling were historically distributed in the upper Missouri River drainage but have been reduced to one population in the Big Hole River, approximately 4% of their native range. Arctic grayling are currently classified as a Candidate Endangered Species Act (ESA) Species and the USFWS has been asked to make a decision whether to list grayling as a threatened or endangered species by April 16, 2007.
The CCAA is an agreement between FWP, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and any non-federal landowner who voluntarily agree to manage their lands or waters to remove threats to grayling. The landowners receive assurances against additional regulatory requirements and incidental take authority should grayling be subsequently listed under the ESA. Enrollment currently includes 20 private landowners and approximately 73,485 acres of state and private land.
Under the CCAA, FWP holds an ESA Section 10(a)(1)(A) Enhancement of Survival Permit issued by the USFWS which authorizes the incidental take of grayling should it be listed under the ESA. Landowners can be included in this Permit through Certificates of Inclusion. The conservation goals of the program are achieved by working with each landowner to develop a conservation plan for their land that identifies specific actions that can protect and provide benefit to grayling. These site-specific plans will be developed with each landowner by an interdisciplinary technical team made up of individuals representing FWP, USFWS, Natural Resource and Conservation Service (NRCS), and Montana Department of Natural Resource and Conservation (DNRC). Conservation measures under the agreement will: 1) Improve streamflow, 2) Improve and protect the function of streams and riparian habitats, 3) Identify and reduce or eliminate entrainment threats for grayling, and 4) Remove barriers to grayling migration. This collaborative effort has developed partnerships with private landowners, The Big Hole Watershed Committee, the Big Hole River Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and federal and state agencies.
Habitat restoration projects associated with the CCAA that address-limiting factors for grayling have expanded dramatically. In 2006, habitat improvement included projects that; 1) enhance riparian protection through fencing (6 miles), implementing grazing plans, developing a willow brood stock that will be used to enhance degraded riparian areas, and installing stock water wells, 2) Improve connectivity to important seasonal habitats by reconnecting Rock Creek an important tributary to the Big Hole River, installing fish ladders, and developing fish friendly diversions, 3) Improving instream flows by replacing non-functioning irrigation systems, developing supplemental flow agreements, and installing stock water systems. Additional work planned for 2007 includes installing fish screens to prevent grayling from moving into irrigation diversions, installing riparian fence, planting willows to improve riparian health and continued improvement of irrigation infrastructure.
In addition to the efforts in the Big Hole, restoration work continues to establish a grayling population in the Upper Ruby River. Remote site incubators were used to develop fry under natural selection mechanisms of the Ruby River. These efforts have been encouraging and have produced multiple age classes since 2004. These efforts will continue in 2007 with the goal of producing a stable age structure that will naturally reproduce and establish a self-sustaining population.
In 2006 habitat enhancement projects include 1.4 miles of channel reconstruction on Willow Creek, construction of spawning habitats on small spring creeks, and the design to improve instream flow, spawning and rearing habitats on Lazyman Creek and develop high quality pools while reducing sediment on a section of the upper Ruby River. These projects are a collaborative effort among FWP, private landowners, the Ruby Watershed Council, and the US Forest Service. On the ground work for this project will start this year.
For an update on grayling recovery efforts please visit the Arctic Grayling Recovery Programs (AGRP) website www.graylingrecovery.org
Angling opportunities in the Upper Clark Fork Basin near Butte have been limited for decades due to water quality problems stemming from historic mining. Three fishery projects implemented in recent years have attempted to promote the recovery of native fish near the mining city. Extensive removal of mine waste along Silver Bow Creek, westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) enhancement in Norton Creek, and expansion of the range of WCT in Basin Creek have all shown positive effects for fish in recent years.
Montana FWP monitors fish response to Silver Bow Creek Restoration each year and biologists are beginning to find fish in areas that were devoid of fish in recent years. Monitoring has found that the first species to recover after removal of mine wastes are non-game fish like suckers and sculpins. In 2006, FWP observed a trout near German Gulch during the fall, which is the first time biologists have documented trout surviving in the this reach of Silver Bow Creek outside of the spring run-off period.
The future supply of trout to live in Silver Bow Creek depends on healthy populations of fish migrating downstream from “clean” tributaries. Two tributaries of Silver Bow Creek have experienced increased numbers of native cutthroat trout due to management activities. Over 200 cutthroat trout were moved over a natural barrier in Basin Creek to a fishless reach of stream in 2005 and 2006. This project will result in about 2 additional miles of stream for cutthroat trout to live and thrive. In another nearby tributary, Norton Creek, cutthroat trout were losing ground to an expanding population of non-native brook trout. Brook trout population control from 2003 to 2006 resulted in a dramatic increase in cutthroat trout abundance. In 2003, a three-mile reach of Norton Creek only contained 303 cutthroat trout. The cutthroat trout population increased to 2160 individuals in 2006 due to annual removals of brook trout.
Habitat improvement and fishery management in the Upper Clark Fork Basin is intended to provide improved water quality in Silver Bow Creek and healthy tributaries of native trout to supply fish in the restored stream. Annual fishery monitoring by FWP from 2003 to 2006 indicates that positive things are beginning to happen.
The upper Yellowstone River has continued to fair well in spite of the continued drought. Two sections of the Yellowstone River were surveyed in 2006. These were the Springdale Section and the Corwin Springs Section. Abundance estimates were not done in these sections, but numbers of fish and condition appear to be on par with previous years. Survey of all four long-term monitoring sections in the Yellowstone is scheduled for spring 2007. We began tagging Yellowstone cutthroat trout in order to monitor movement within the Yellowstone River and spawning tributaries. If you capture a fish with a tag, please record and report to a FWP office the tag number, species, length, and location that the fish was caught. Tagging of Yellowstone cutthroat will continue in 2007.
Fish populations in the Shields River also appear to be doing well. In 2006, we surveyed three monitoring sections of the river. Abundance of brown trout in the Convict Grade section appears to have increased and is above the long-term average. Brown trout in the Todd Section have increased slightly, and remain above the long-term average. Overall condition of fish in the Shields River appears good. Survey of three sections in the spring and one additional section in the fall are scheduled for 2007. We will continue tagging Yellowstone cutthroat to get a better understanding for movement of these fish in the river and tributaries that they use for spawning. If you capture a fish with a tag, please record and report to FWP office the tag number, species, length, and location that the fish was caught. We are currently in the process of acquiring our first public fishing access site on the Shields River.
A remote radio telemetry monitoring system was installed in the Bypass Reach of the Madison River between Ennis Dam and Madison Powerhouse in 2002 to assess fish movement seasonally and in response to changes in flow, and to determine if spawning gravel should be placed in the Bypass. Radio telemetry receivers were located at two sites to allow monitoring at the upstream and downstream ends of the Bypass. Two antennae were wired into each receiver.
To implant the transmitter, fish were anesthetized to facilitate handling during the implant procedure. After the fish is anesthetized, it was placed ventral side up in a tray containing river water and its head and gills submersed. A small incision was made on the ventral side of the fish anterior to the pelvic girdle, and the skin behind the pelvic girdle was broken with the scalpel. A grooved director was inserted into the body cavity through the incision and fed posteriorly around the pelvic girdle. It was used to capture the tip of a catheter needle inserted behind the pelvic girdle and directed anteriorly. This method prevents the sharp tip of the catheter needle from injuring the internal organs of the fish. The transmitter antenna was inserted into the catheter tip and fed posteriorly until the transmitter was inserted into the body cavity. The grooved director and catheter needle were removed from the fish and the incision closed with surgical staples or sutures. The actual implant procedure, from placement of the fish into the surgical tray to release into the recovery cage, lasted approximately one minute. Fish were held in a live cage until fully recovered. Prior to being released, the incision was examined to insure the closure was secure.
From July 2002 through March 2005, 141 fish were captured in the Bypass section and implanted with radio transmitters.
During the 3½ years the remote telemetry system was in the Bypass, the only obvious reason that transmittered fish departed the Bypass was related to seasonal movements, probably related to spawning. There was no relationship between a fish’s departure from the Bypass and river discharge, water temperature, or being implanted with a transmitter. None of the implanted fish attempted to move upstream past Ennis Dam, though some rainbow trout were observed futilely jumping at the base of the dam in April 2003 and 2004. It is unknown if these fish moved upstream from below the Bypass. Most fish implanted with a transmitter remained in the Bypass during the life of their transmitter, but 37 of 75 rainbow trout, 15 of 53 brown trout, and 6 of 13 whitefish were documented to have departed the Bypass, including 19 (13 rainbow, 6 brown) of the 42 fish implanted with transmitters in March 2005.
Of the 58 transmittered fish that departed the Bypass in 2002 – 2005, only 11 departed in summer or winter. Thirty-one of the 35 rainbow trout that departed did so in later winter or spring. Rainbow trout are a spring spawning fish, so these movements out of the Bypass likely indicate spawning movements. Brown trout did not exhibit a clear emigration pattern, such as rainbow trout exhibited during their spawning season. Six of the 15 departing brown trout, a fall spawner, departed in spring, and eight departed in summer or fall. All six whitefish that departed the Bypass did so in the fall. Whitefish are a fall spawner, and 3 of the 6 emigrants moved about 34 river miles downstream of the Bypass while the other 3 remained within about 8 miles of the Bypass.
For rainbow trout, the number of days between the implant date and departure date ranged from 5 – 255, and for brown trout ranged from 5 – 279 days. All six of the whitefish that departed the Bypass did so within 11 days of being implanted, the soonest departure was 4 days post implant.
The greatest movement detected was by an 18.9-inch rainbow trout captured and implanted on February 4th, 2005 at the base of Ennis Dam. It departed the Bypass on May 21st and was relocated 1½ - 2 miles above the mouth of the Madison River on June 16th, a distance of approximately 38 river miles below the capture site. Another interesting movement was by a 15.1 inch female rainbow trout implanted on March 17, 2005, that departed the Bypass on April 4 and was relocated in Cherry Creek about 150 feet upstream of the Montana Highway 84 bridge on May 24. It was subsequently relocated back in the river near the Warm Springs FAS, about 3 miles upstream of Cherry Creek, on June 16, July 12, and October 14. The greatest downstream movement by implanted brown trout was into the section of river between Warm Springs and Blacks Ford fishing access sites.
Five transmitters were returned by anglers who harvested the fish or found the transmitter on the riverbank. Four of the transmitters were from brown trout, three of which were harvested in the Bypass. The harvest location of the fourth brown trout is unknown, but the telemetry data indicates that it did not depart the Bypass. One transmitter, found by a fishing guide on the riverbank in Bear Trap Canyon, is from a rainbow trout that was implanted March 15, 2004, and departed the Bypass July 15, 2004. The transmitter was implanted in another rainbow trout in October 2004, but that particular fish did not depart the Bypass.
Rainbow and brown trout populations in the Bypass compare favorably with population levels in other sections of the Madison River. The preponderance of holding sites among the boulder and cobble substrate allows for a greater density of fish than other river sections. Whirling disease did not have a severe population impact on trout in the Bypass and Norris sections downstream of Ennis Reservoir, presumably due to the different temperature regime than that which exists in the upper river.
Based on the strong population of both rainbow and brown trout in the Bypass and the accessibility Bypass fish have to spawning habitat throughout the lower river as shown by radio tracking, placement of spawning gravel in the Bypass is not necessary.
The Cherry Creek Native Fish Introduction Project was initiated in 2003. The project area is comprised of over 60 miles of stream habitat and the 7-acre, 105 acre-foot Cherry Lake, and includes all of the Cherry Creek Drainage upstream of a 25-foot waterfall approximately 8 miles upstream of the Madison River confluence. Species present in the project area are brook trout, rainbow trout, and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The large size of the project area requires that the project be completed in phases. Each phase will be treated for at least two consecutive years.
An inflatable raft and outboard motor were used to distribute Fintrol throughout Cherry Lake. Two people occupied the raft, one steering the raft, the other periodically filling a 14-gallon container with a mixture of Fintrol and lake water. A battery powered pump was used to apply the Fintrol mixture to various depths of the lake through a nozzle system designed to disperse the Fintrol over a broad area. It dispersed the Fintrol/water mixture from the tank at a rate of approximately 1.3 gallons/minute.
Stream treatments were made using trickle application systems. The system consists of a 3½ gallon plastic bucket & lid, garden hose, a gate valve, and a commercially available automatic dog watering bowl. Applications are designed using a 7-hour application period, so the bucket must be refilled and the process repeated once at each application point each day.
Stations were placed at selected points along the stream and started at predetermined times to coordinate application of the mixture with the other stations along the stream. Backpack sprayers were used each day to treat off-channel water and larger pools.
Eyed westslope cutthroat trout eggs collected from genetically pure populations were used in 2006 to begin seeding Phase 1 streams. Seeding with eggs will continue for 3 – 4 additional years. On September 25, 2006, Cherry Lake was stocked with 150 male westslope cutthroat trout. The average length of the fish stocked was 11.2 inches. Only a single gender was stocked to eliminate the possibility of spawning prior to seeding the lake with wild westslope cutthroat trout eggs in 2007 or 2008.
