"THE RIG DAiM ISSUE" 

 by 

 Frank H. Dunkle, Director 

 Montana Fish and Game Departinent 



Fish and p,ame interests are not opposed to v;ater storage dams, per se. In fact, the >fontana 

 Fish and Game Departinent has financed or helped finance several small dams which serve as fishing 

 lakes. Other state fish and p.ame departments have impounded water to augment downstream flows to 

 benefit fish. This idea has merit; however, our one trial in Montana has been a failure. 



In this instance, the Montana Fish and Game Department, the 1,'estern Montana Fish and Game Assoc- 

 iation (Missoula), and the Ravalli Gounty Fish and Wildlife Association (Hamilton) contributed 

 $104,900., $5,000., and §500. respectively, to purchase water from the Montana VJater Conservatioa 

 Board's Painted Rock Reservoir on the West Fork of the Bitterroot River. The purchase was to pro- 

 vide 5,000 acre-feet of water each year for tlie life of this water storage project. The water was 

 to be delivered to any specified point down to the mouth of the Bitterroot River. Our purpose in 

 buying it was, of course, to improve the flow in the Bitterroot during periods when irrigators 

 have depleted it in certain areas. 



To make a long story short, we have called for water releases, but have never been able to con- 

 clusively demonstrate that our water reached its destination. We spent a couple thousand dollars 

 having the U. S. Geological Survey gauge the river, but still are unable to prevent sections of It 

 from going bone dry. 



So you ask, "VJhy don't you do your fishing in lakes and reservoirs?" 



Actually, we are proud of Montana's lake and reservoir fishing. We can rank Georgeto^^m and 

 Flathead Lakes among the finest in the country. 



The Bureau of Reclamation's Canyon Ferry Reservoir provides a lot of water-based recreation, but 

 in spite of expenditures up to $35,000 a year for trout from state and federal fish hatcheries, 

 fishing in Canyon Ferry cannot be called good. Yes, there are period, particularly in the early 

 spring, when Canyon Ferry fishing is "red hot". The fish are nice - rainbows average a pound and 

 a half - but month to month fishing is slow. A check of over 5,000 fishermen in May and June of 

 1965 revealed they fish an average of 10 to 12 hours to catch one trout I Fisliing is considerably 

 better in unimpounded stretches of the Missouri River above Great Falls. 



Wliat we are saying, then, is that simply building a dam does not guarantee good fishing. We 

 will agree that standing water will provide water-based recreation - boating, water-skiing, and 

 swimming - but providing good fishing in reservoirs is often difficult and expensive. In fact, 

 we haven't yet devised a method of keeping fisli in some reservoirs, particularly those vjith ex- 

 treme water level fluctuations and those referred to as "run of the river" reservoirs. 



Then, there is the effect of dams on the streams below. Proponents of dams often talk of bene- 

 fitting fish populations by eliminating spring high water flows. Actually, spring flooding is 

 part of the natural cycle that benefits aquatic life by flushing sediment downstream. Fish, too, 

 have attuned their lives to normal flow fluctuations and many have their spawning migrations 

 triggered by spring freshets. Eliminating spring flows can harm,, rather than benefit, aquatic 

 life. 



There are other problems, too, in streams below dams. For example. Fort Peck Dam, in common 

 with other dams, acts as a silt trap. The water released is much cleaner than it was prior to 

 impoundment. It is hungry for sediment. As a result, the river bed downstream from the dam is 

 widei^ing to the detriment of fish habitat. 



Another example is Clark Canyon Dam. Water releases during the irrigation season are so high 

 that the Beaverhead River is up in the brush along its banks, and hard to fish from the dam to 

 Barratts Diversion. The cold water releases from Hungry Horse Reservoir are still another prob- 

 lem. The fish population in the five miles of the South Fork of Flathead River downstream from 

 the dam has been decimated by violent fluctuation in flow releases accompanied by extreme changes 

 in water temperatures. We have recorded a change of 58 degrees Fahrenheit, from maximum to mini- 

 mum and back to maximum, in 24 hours. Even the main Flathead River is affected. 



Uliat I am saying is that the Montana Fish and Game Department is not flatly against big dams or 

 little dams. Each proposal must be judged on its own merits - on its effects on fish and wildlife. 

 For instance, we would prefer a series of small dams on the headwaters of the Big Hole River to 

 Reichle Dam, whicli would impound the heart of the "Blue Ribbon" stretch of this river. But, at 

 the same time, we would prefer a large dam on the lower, warm-water portion of the Yellowstone to 

 a series of smaller dams on its upstream trout waters. 



