Study Area 



The Blackfoot River, located in west-central Montana, begins at the junction of 

 Beartrap and Anaconda Creeks, and flows west 132 miles from its headwaters near the 

 Continental Divide to its confluence with the Clark Fork River in Bonner, Montana 

 (Figure 5). Mean annual discharge is 1,596 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs). 



This river system drains a 2,320 square mile watershed through a 3,700-mile 

 stream network, of which 1 ,900 miles are perennial streams capable of supporting fishes. 

 The physical geography of the watershed ranges from high-elevation glaciated alpine 

 meadows, timbered forests at the mid-elevations, to prairie pothole topography on the 

 valley floor. Glacial landforms, moraine and outwash, glacial lake sediments and erratic 

 boulders cover the floor of the entire Blackfoot River valley and exert a controlling 

 influence on the habitat features of the Blackfoot River and the lower reaches of most 

 tributaries. The Blackfoot River is a free flowing river to its confluence with the Clark 

 Fork River where Milltown dam, a run-of-the-river hydroelectric facility, has blocked 

 upstream fish passage since 1 907. 



Current land ownership in the Blackfoot watershed is 42% National Forest, 25% 

 private ownership, 1 9% Plum Creek Timber Company, 7% State of Montana, and 6% 

 Bureau of Land Management. In general, public lands and large tracts of Plum Creek 

 Timber Company properties comprise large forested tracts in mountainous areas of the 

 watershed, while private lands occupy the foothills and lower valley areas (Figure 7). 

 Traditional land-use in the basin includes mining, timber harvest, agriculture and 

 recreation activities, all of which have contributed to habitat degradation or fish 

 population declines. Of 94 inventoried streams, 88 have been altered, degraded or 

 otherwise identified as fisheries-impaired since inventories began in 1989. Restoration 

 has been directed to 40 of these streams. The majority of habitat degradation occurs on 

 the valley floor and foothills of the Blackfoot watershed and largely on private 

 agricultural ranchlands. However, problems also extend to commercial timber areas, 

 mining districts, and state and federal public lands. 



The Blackfoot River is one of twelve renowned "blue-ribbon" trout rivers in 

 Montana with a 1 972 appropriated "Murphy" in-stream flow water right of 700 cfs at the 

 USGS Bonner gauging station. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks manages the Blackfoot 

 River and tributaries for a diversity of self-sustaining "wdld trout" populations. 

 Distribution patterns of most salmonids generally conform to the physical geography of 

 the landscape, with species richness increasing longitudinally in the downstream direction 

 (Figure 8). Species assemblages and densities of fish can also vary greatly at the lower 

 elevations of the watershed. Native species of the Blackfoot Watershed are bull trout 

 {Salvelinus confluentus), westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi), 

 mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni). pigmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri), 

 longnose sucker {Catostomus catostomus), largescale sucker (Catasomus macrocheilus), 

 northern pikeminnow {Ptychocheilus oregonensis), peamouth {Mylocheilus caurinus), 

 redside shiner (Richardsonins hallealus), longnose dace {Rhinichthys cataractae) slimy 

 sculpin {Coitus cognatus) and mottled sculpin (Coitus hairdi). Non-native species of the 

 Blackfoot Watershed include rainbow trout {Onorhynchus mykiss), kokanee (O. nerka), 

 Yellowstone cutthroat trout (O. clarki houvieri), brown trout {Salmo trutta), brook trout 



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