An Associated Press article today says that scientists have discovered that the water in some parts of Glacier National Park in Montana is so polluted that the result is fish contaminated with certain chemicals may be harming wildlife eating the fish. That’s disturbing none the less but what about that person at the top of the food chain? How long have we been eating these fish without warning?

Dixon Landers of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency led a three-year study examining pollution that travels in the air.

Landers first hiked into Glacier in 2003. Later he and his team used more than a dozen mules to transport some 2,000 pounds of scientific gear to places such as Snyder Lake, high above the park’s McDonald Valley. The researchers took samples that included water, lake sediment, vegetation and fish.

Water tests revealed contamination such as a pesticide that is not used widely in the United States but is applied in Canada, and pesticides that are banned in North America but still are used in some other parts of the world.

Landers says other studies show that pollutants from China get caught up in powerful jet streams and can be in the U.S. in five days. He and his team are testing fish tissue searching for what chemicals are dangerous.

He wondered what chemicals are at Glacier, whether they posed a risk, where they came from, where they accumulate and how best to measure them.

Studying fish is one way to find answers because chemicals tend to accumulate in fatty tissue and eggs. Some toxins that were small, airborne concentrations build to much higher concentrations within fish and move up the food chain, Landers said.

He found that “for certain contaminants, wildlife exposure thresholds are exceeded for several different species that feed on fish.”

So much for that pristine, clean water and air experience of the Big Sky Country.

Tom Remington

There is a debate ongoing about Cabela’s newest endeavor of listing real estate believed to be good hunting and fishing lands. Cabela’s Trophy Properties, LLC says they are only providing a service for would-be land purchasers to find another resource where listings of prime properties can be found. Critics say that Cabela’s decision to do this is yielding a net result of less lands remaining available to hunters, fishermen and outdoor sportsmen.

Today, a guest opinion writer for the Billings Gazette in Montana, lists reasons why what Cabela’s is doing is bad for outdoor sportsmen.

What do you think? Is Cabela’s biting the hand that feeds them?

Tom Remington

Scientists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and members of fish and game from Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, say in a newly completed study that the cutthroat trout is not in danger. Environmentalists disagree.

Forbes has the story.

Tom Remington

A recent report from Montana, conducted by two college professors and members of the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Department, says the pike is “negatively impacting” the salmonid population.

The report – conducted by two University of Idaho professors and two Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Fisheries employees – states that northern pike may be negatively impacting the native salmonid populations in the research area. The study area encompassed the Flathead River from the north end of Flathead Lake to the confluence of the Stillwater River, a 32-kilometer stretch.

FWP researchers assessed the diet, growth and abundance of northern pike using passive trapping and angler captures from 1999 to 2004 and concluded that the lake-influenced portion of the Flathead River appears to provide highly suitable pike habitat that supports a wide diversity and abundance of prey fishes that are available to the pike year round.

The real problem exists when the spawning trout pass through areas inhabited by the pike. The young fish become dinner for the waiting pike at a rate that is diminishing the trout populations.

“The native fishery is hanging on by a thread,” Farling said. “These pike are death on them. Pike tend to like these slew habitats and move in and out of them seasonally. This also happens to be a place where the migratory juvenile natives will forage for food and use for security. They go in there, and then they meet all these teeth.”

Farling, who is the executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited believes the pike should be managed in a way that reduces and rids the waters of the fish.

“Reducing pike should be a priority,” Farling said. “We’re at the point now where additional hits [added to lake trout predation and habitat issues] will be pretty significant. If we don’t take care of these native fish, we’ll end up with a very simplistic fishery – pike and lake trout. We should not be managing pike as a legitimate sport fishery.”

In Maine, bucket biologists as they have been called, have illegally introduced pike into waters there. Of course Maine is notorious for some of the best brook trout fishing anywhere. As you can see from this study and report given, if pike are allowed to flourish in Maine waters where they don’t belong, it could devastate the fishing there.

Tom Remington

Because of rising water temperatures and reduced flow in a lot of Montana’s waters, fish and game officials have decided to either restrict or completely close some of its waters.

The Blackfoot River will be closed to fishing from noon to midnight. The part of the river that will be closed is from near Rogers Pass to the confluence with the Clark Fork River near Missoula.

Officials will also completely close several of the Blackfoot’s bull trout tributaries to all fishing. Those tributaries are: Gold, Belmont, Cottonwood, Copper and Monture creeks, plus the North Fork of the Blackfoot River and Landers Fork.

Tom Remington

Yellowstone Park officials formally approved a plan to restore westslope cutthroat trout to a portion of the northwest corner of the park. They have decided that the East Fork of Specimen Creek is the best place to make the move.

A barrier will be contructed to keep non-native fish out of the area where the cutthroat will be re-introduced, then a project that involves poisoning the waters for two years to kill all the other fish will take place.

The latest project will mean building a barrier in the creek to keep nonnative fish out of the stream and applying a fish poison three times over two years to remove hybridized fish from the East Fork of Specimen Creek and High Lake.

Once the fish are killed and removed, park officials will replace them with westslope trout. The trout will come from a previously unknown, genetically pure westslope population found last summer on the western edge of Yellowstone.

Park officials hope that a successful program will mean better fishing along the remote creek.

Tom Remington

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has requested anglers to voluntarily limit their fishing of the Smith river to the morning hours between 5 a.m. and noon. Recent warm weather has caused water temperatures to rise into the mid 70s and this is causing additional stress on the trout. Officials have witnessed an increase in dead fish that they believe is caused by the warmer waters. The Great Falls Tribune has more on this story.

Tom Remington

Water is a valuable commodity. In places it is worth more than oil and in others, it is taken for granted and even abused. In Montana, where the water comes from, makes a difference.

At issue is a lawsuit filed by Trout Unlimited and other outdoor groups to stop a permitting system that allowed ranchers to drill wells near the Smith River to use for irrigation. TU’s belief was that drilling these wells would deplete the water flow in the river and significantly affect the fish and other wildlife.

Even the Montana Department of Natural Resources, who issues the permits, said underground water had no affect on the river. A study was done and it was determined that the ground water did replenish the water flow.

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Trout Unlimited and the permits have been denied. The question is, what kind of affect is this going to have on future water rights, etc.?

Go here and read the complete story.

Tom Remington

The upper reaches of Crooked Creek nestled in the Pryor mountains is the location of a tiny population of pure native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. What has kept them this way for so long has been a natural barrier that isolated the trout from other species of trout further down the creek. This natural barrier would prohibit species of brook and rainbow trout from traveling so far upstream to spawn. The dangers that exist are the fact that rainbow trout could cross breed and destroy the genetically pure cutthroat and the brook trout spawns earlier than the cutthroat. This could cause the brook trout fry to consume most of the food necessary for the cutthroat fry later in the fall.

A violent rainstorm in 2004 triggered mudslides that were a result of little vegetation caused by a forest fire back in 2002. The mudslide destroyed a natural barrier by forcing a portion of the creek to find a new flow, opening up the upper part of the creek to lower spawning trout.

Montana and Wyoming state agencies, along with federal agents, are trying to work out a plan to construct a manmade barrier on a narrow part of the creek. There are some other types of barriers that are slowing down the process.

The best location for the dam to be constructed is where the creek flows through the Bureau of Land Management’s Burnt Timber wilderness study area. This is a study area hoping that eventually it will be classified as wilderness and fears are that by constructing this concrete barrier, they may lose consideration for wilderness designation.

There is wording in the bylaws that allow for such things as fish barriers but it needs to be constructed in a way that doesn’t look like a sore thumb, essentially.

The project carries an estimated cost of about $160,000 all paid for through grants. The barrier itself would be 5 1/2 feet high and 35 feet wide. The concrete would be colored to match the surround ledge and rock as well as covered with natural surrounding field stones to make it blend in as much as possible.

The area proposed for the dam is isolated and material would need to be lifted in by helicopter. Officials say that the only way you can access the area is by actually walking in the creek. With this kind of prohibitive access, officials believe their shouldn’t be a problem with interfering with wilderness designations.

Attempts have been unsuccessfully attempted to place the Yellowstone cutthroat trout on the endangered species list, but feds have refused stating that the time and costs so far trying to protect the fish is beyond reason. They hope that this project, which is threatened by the clock running out, will work well in protecting this area and the fish.

There are only an estimated 200 of these fish 10 inches and smaller left in about 1.5 miles of the upper reaches of Crooked Creek. The rainstorm destroyed two miles of habitat and reduced the population by two-thirds.

If this project is approved and is completed, it would add an additional four miles of habitat for the cutthroat trout.

Tom Remington