Commercial raising of trout in Western Montana has been 

 occuring for a considerable time. It is a natural area for 

 raising trout with substantial supplies of cool clean creek and 

 spring water. The area's wild trout fisheries is infamous through- 

 out the United States. People naturally thought of utilizing some 

 of the water supply to grow trout for home use, for the kids and 

 friends to catch, and to provide a few to grocery stores for 

 retail sale. The industry has not grown appreciably due to the 

 lack of a large scale processor to clean, package and sell the 

 fish. There is a small processor in the Flathead area and 

 Rainbow Trout Products processors in Livingston; but they are 

 either not meeting the local needs or located a prohibitive distance 

 from the area's trout farms. People have, for a long time, considered 

 the possibility of creating their own processing plant. 



On December 20, 1976, approximately 22 prospective members 

 of a processing cooperative gathered to pursue the idea of building 

 a plant. Folks from the Flathead Valley, Heron, Rock Creek, the 

 Bitterroot Valley, and Kalispell came, along with members of the 

 Technical Assistance Program of the Department of Natural Resources 

 and Conservation. This meeting was the culmination of hours of 

 discussion of development of the trout industry in V/estern Montana. 

 As a result, the Western Montana Trout Growers Association was 

 formed. The Cooperative is comprised of people in the trout 

 business, growers, sellers, and hatchery folks, who will market their 

 fish through the Cooperative processing plant. The Technical 

 Assistance Program of the Department of Natural Resources and 



