Page 65 - Flathead Beacon // 7.29.15

MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
OUTDOORS IN BRIEF
FLATHEAD BIOBLITZ CATALOGUES SPECIES
A group of 14 scientists gath- ered last week in British Colum- bia’s Flathead and Elk valleys for a research trip on three undevel- oped parcels of land belonging to Teck Resources Ltd.
Teck purchased the land for conservation in October 2013 for $19 million. One parcel is the for- mer Flathead Townsite, a 2,471- acre section along the Flathead River that is important for bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, grizzly bears and birds. The com- pany also bought two 7,400-acre parcels at Alexander Creek and Grave Prairie in the adjoining Elk Valley.
Scientists collected specimens of everything from bugs to plants, and documented all the wildlife they spotted, including bird spe- cies and small mammals like the endangered badger.
“We already know that the Flathead and Alexander Creek
parcels are critically important for wildlife connectivity,” said Wildsight Conservation Director John Bergenske. “They are part of an essential corridor for grizzlies, lynx and other wildlife that move up and down the Rocky Moun- tains, from Montana’s Glacier National Park to Banff and Jasper National Parks.”
Three previous BioBlitzes were already held in the Flat- head, starting in 2012. Scientists found no introduced bug, mol- lusc (clam, snail and slug) or bird species in the Flathead, confirm- ing that the area is rich in biodi- versity. Among other finds, they discovered a brand new species of spider so speedy that they named it Apostenus ducati after the Ital- ian motorcycle. They also found a fingernail clam that had not been sighted in B.C. in 100 years, sev- eral rare butterfly species, and all four species of chickadee.
Going on an adventure? If you would like to be featured in “Mountain Exposure,” email information to [email protected].
OUT OF BOUNDS ROB BREEDING SMOKED TROUT
GLACIER PARK WENT UP IN smoke last week. Well, that’s something of an exaggeration. There was one major fire in the park last week — the Reynolds Creek fire. Hope- fully there won’t be more by the time you read this, but the odds are in the other direction. In this summer of heat and drought we can expect fire.
While the Reynolds fire was blowing up over on Glacier’s east flank, I was at the park’s far western edge floating the North Fork from Big Creek to Glacier Rim. The USGS river gauge measured the flow at about 1,300 cubic feet per sec- ond that day, less than half the average for this time of year. The river was pretty boney but we only heard the dull thud of rock hitting drift boat bottom a time or two. By the time you read this, however, the North Fork will be inflatables-only water in my book.
I float my hard boat through this stretch of river all the time. Only occa- sionally does it get so low that I feel I have to go with the raft. Generally, this hap- pens in late August.
We weren’t just floating of course, we were also fishing. Catch-and-release fish- ing has become the norm in these parts; I don’t remember the last time I saw some- one killing a fish on a Montana river. I do remember the last time I killed one, but that was on the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho and that dead fish was a rainbow in a reach where wildlife officials were encouraging anglers to kill all rain- bows caught to protect threatened Snake River cutthroats from hybridization.
That trout went into the smoker. It was delicious.
Usually we’re putting fish back for the intended purpose of keeping them alive to be caught again by another angler. In good conditions trout can survive being caught and released multiple times. Most anglers have caught trout bearing the
telltale scars of previous engagements with fish hooks. And there are some waters I’ve fished often enough that my buddies and I have begun to believe we recognize the trout we catch-and-release throughout the summer.
Catch-and-release keeps catch rates high and ensures they’ll be plenty of breeding age fish to restock the water via natural spawning. This is the only way trout are “stocked” in rivers in Montana.
But in a summer like this, releasing fish does not ensure those trout will sur- vive to fight and breed another day. Hot, dry conditions, the sort you see when riv- ers drop to barely floatable levels months early, and when fires blow up on windy afternoons, usually means water tem- peratures near lethal ranges for trout, a species adapted to live in cold, clear steams and rivers.
One of the many nice things about the rivers flowing on the border of Glacier is that, at least for now, those rivers are being fed my melting snow and ice, the type of stuff that’s sometimes referred to as glaciers. So even in a year like this the water stays cold enough that released fish do just fine. But in other parts of the state — and eventually also on the forks of the Flathead as the Park’s glaciers melt away for good — that’s not the case. When water temperatures begin to approach 70 degrees they can become lethal for native trout such as bull and cutthroat.
If water temps are in the low 70s you may do everything right, playing the fish quickly and releasing it carefully, and it may swim off looking just fine. But the stress of the fight may push it beyond its limits and it will turn belly up hours later anyway.
Smoking is a good way to treat a trout that’s headed for the dinner table. But be mindful of conditions as summer wears on, or you may be smoking more fish than you intend.
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JULY 29, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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