Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has completed an environmental assessment for the Bass Lake Restoration Project, a proposal to remove a northern pike population in Bass Lake and Mud Creek in Northwest Montana using a combination of netting, trapping, and electrofishing, and restocking the lake with native westslope cutthroat trout.
This project would be conducted within the Mud Creek watershed located approximately six miles southeast of Eureka. The removal of northern pike would help restore native fish populations in the Tobacco River and Lake Koocanusa, which Bass Lake and Mud Creek feed. The Bonneville Power Administration is proposing to fund the project.
The draft EA was out for a 30-day public review through June 8. Five comments were received, four in support of the preferred alternative and one that opposed stocking westslope cutthroat trout in Bass Lake upon the successful removal of northern pike from the lake, according to FWP. The comments are addressed in the decision notice.
Copies of the draft environmental assessment are available at the FWP office, 490 N. Meridian Rd., Kalispell; Montana State Library, 1515 E 6th Ave., Helena; Lincoln County Libraries, 220 W 6th St., Libby, 207 N 3rd, Troy, and 318 Dewey Avenue, Eureka; and the FWP website under Public Notices.