flows. This fish remained in Keep Cool Creek for 50 days before returning to its former 

 location in a pool on June 15. This fish did not spawn and fell prey to a suspected 

 mammal attack in October 2003. 



Both the Copper Creek and North Fork bull trout spawned during September in 

 known discrete locations in reaches dominated by alluvial channels. The Copper Creek 

 bull trout spawned in a confirmed groundwater upwelling area where winter surface water 

 temperatures were significantly higher than downstream non-spawning downstream sites 

 (P < 0.05, this report. Results Part IV). Bull trout that spawned in the North Fork and 

 Copper Creek behaved differently after spawning and into the winter. All post-spawning 

 bull trout (n = 3) in Copper Creek remained throughout the winter, while all surviving 

 (n=3) North Fork post-spawning bull trout returned to the mainstem Blackfoot River to 

 within one-mile of, or to their previous mainstem Blackfoot River over-wintering 

 locations. 



Of the 28 WSCT that spawned in 2002 and 2003, eight (29%) died after spawning 

 (all before July 1 5' ). Nine of the surviving twenty WSCT (45%) returned to their 

 capture locations within 1-217 days (mean: 72.3) of exiting tributaries. Four WSCT 

 summered in the Blackfoot River within an average of 6.7 miles (range 0.8-17.8) of their 

 capture location and seven summered in their spawning tributaries. 



Of the original 20 surviving migratory WSCT, eleven wintered (November 1 - 

 April 30) in the Blackfoot River. Eight of these (73%) returned to original capture 

 locations and the remaining three over-wintered an average of 8.4 miles (range 0.8 - 

 17.1) firom capture sites. One WSCT radioed in a pool in the Blackfoot River near rm 

 64.7 in 2002 over-wintered in the North Fork (rm 20.2) the following year, a distance of 

 30.6 river miles between wintering sites. We observed wintering fish in larger complex 

 pools and exhibited very little movement between September and March. The remaining 

 nine WSCT either died or their transmitters expired prior to winter. 



Ten WSCT (40 %) and three bull trout (60 %) captured in 2002 were alive with 

 working transmitters in 2003. Of the ten WSCT, four (40%) were repeat spawners with 

 three of four returning to the same stream used in 2002, and within 0.6 miles of the 

 previous year's spawning location. The fourth fish returned to the mouth of the previous 

 years spawning tributary, within 0.7 miles of the previous spawning site, at which point 

 contact was lost. Two WSCT that did not spawn in 2002 did in 2003. The remaining 

 four made either no spawning attempt or their transmitter expired prior to the spawning 

 period. 



Land ownership (Private, State, USFWS, USPS, BLM, and PC) use for bull trout 

 and WSCT trout was variable; although, private land was shown to be important (Table 

 7). For bull trout, private land comprised the majority of over-wintering sites (94%) and 

 migration corridors (67%); however, spawning was limited exclusively to USPS land. 

 Private land was critical for WSCT for over-wintering and migration corridors in all three 

 reaches. Likewise, WSCT spawning occurred primarily on private land in all three 

 reaches. 



WSCT use of pools varied by reach. For the two upper (C-type) reaches, WSCT 

 occupied pools 89% of the time (89% for summering and 88% for wintering), although 

 pools comprised only 46% (grand mean) of the wetted channel area. Most occupied 

 pools (73%) were associated with large woody debris (LWD) and 27% with other forms 



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