introduction 



The Rlackfoot River Watershed was settled in the 1860's when Union miners discovered 

 gold near Lincoln, Ml, toilowed soon ihereaner oy eariy rancners ana loggers, as exiracuve 

 industries expanded during the industrial revolution, streams of the Blackfoot were subject to 

 rapid environmental change, with little understanding of the ecological consequences. By the 

 mid- 1900s, waste from acid-bearing rock, dredges and placer mines led to extreme damage to 

 many streams of the Garnet Mountains. At the lower elevations of the valley, increased 

 irrigation and livestock production eventually led to dewatering, altered stream channels and 

 excessive streamside grazing in the lower reaches of most tributaries. Meanwhile, segments of 

 other streams were channelized with wetlands drained in order to expand hay production - often 

 at government expense. As timber demands increased, riparian conifers were cut and shipped to 

 downriver mills, first using splash dams, log drives, railway, and then eventually over an 

 extensive network of roads - often constructed with little regard offish passage problems, altered 

 habitats or high sediment delivery to streams. 



For more than a century, many native fish populations were compromised by not only 

 toxic waste, dewatering. riparian degradation and disruption of migration corridors, but also by 

 over-fishing, agency mismanagement and general public neglect. By the 1970"s, environmental 

 awareness let to a gradual shift in public values. By the iTiid-1980's, local public concern of a 

 greatly diminished wild trout fishery prompted fisheries and habitat investigations of the 

 Blackfoot River and primary tributaries. By 1990, fisheries investigations identified: 1) mining 

 impacts in the headwaters, 2) over-exploitation of the fishery, and 3) excessive degradation of 

 tributaries contributed to declining fish populations of the Blackfoot River. Early studies 

 documented low densities of native WSCT at the middle to lower elevations of the Blackfoot 

 watershed. Bull trout densities were precariously low basin-wide, with local populations 

 extirpated from several streams. 



Fish population surveys conducted in the Blackfoot River drainage found that early life- 

 stages of salmonids rely on tributaries {Peters 1990, Pierce et al. 1997). Tributary assessments 

 reported extensive problems that spanned multiple land ownerships and resulted in fish 

 population declines at a watershed scale (Peters 1990, Pierce et al 1997). Low numbers of 

 spawning adult rainbow trout (O. mykiss) and brown trout {Salmo trutta), combined with high 

 winter mortality of young-of-the-year (YOY) and poor tributary habitats, resulted in weak 

 recruitment to river populations for these species (Peters and Spoon 1989; Peters 1990; and 

 Pierce et al. 1997). Reliance of native fish on upper tributaries at early life stages indicates an 

 adaptation to the severe environment of the Blackfoot River. However, due to 1 ) poor tributary 

 conditions, 2) long migrations, 3) high fidelity to natal streams, 4) barriers to movement and 5) 

 extensive use of tributaries at early life stages, fluvial native fish are even more subject to human 

 impacts in the tributary system than introduced fishes. By contrast, non-native rainbow and 

 brown trout spawn in lower stream reaches, migrate shorter distances, and as a result, are less 

 prone to the same level of human-related impacts to the tributary system. These findings helped 

 galvanize public support and focused restoration of tributaries as the basis of the Blackfoot River 

 restoration initiative beginning in 1990. 



Since 1990, tlie restoration program has expanded from simple riparian fencing projects, 

 to the restoration of four streams in 1994, and then to the development of i\\e focus area concept 

 by 1996. As currently defined, \.\\q focus area directs restoration priority to streams within a 

 broad area of the Ovando Valley, including many critical native fish streams. Since 1999, we 

 have assessed 53 additional tributaries in order to identify restoration opportunities beyond the 

 current focus area. To date, assessments have identified fisheries impairment on 88 of 95 



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