Summary of Recommendations 



and ameliorate those roads and 

 associated cut slopes that are 

 known to contribute sediment or 

 pose a potential threat to contrib- 

 uting sediment to surface waters 

 in the Flathead Basin. Strong con: 

 sideration should be given to road 

 surfacing and cut-slope stabiliza- 

 tion on high risk roads, trunk roads 

 designated for long-term use, and 

 roads in the immediate vicinity of 

 streams. 

 B. Minimize new road construction 

 and limit construction of newroads 

 to areas of the basin where the risk 

 of increased sediment delivery to 

 surface waters is low. Ensure use 

 of BMPs and mitigation measures 

 with the goal of eliminating unde- 

 sirable sediment delivery associ- 

 ated with new road construction. 

 17. Bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. 

 Species of Special Concern in Mon- 

 tana, are native to the Flathead Basin. 

 Both species are highly valued sport 

 fishes that are very sensitive to degra- 

 dation of spawning and rearing habi- 

 tats resulting from increased sediment 

 delivery to streams. Therefore we make 

 the following recommendations: 



A. Obtain information on fish spe- 

 cies composition in drainages 

 where management activities are 

 planned and current status is un- 

 known. 



B. Bull Trout: Continue monitoring 

 or begin monitoring streams hav- 

 ing known bull trout spawning 

 and rearing areas. A listing of these 

 streams is available from the Mon- 

 tana Department of Fish, Wildlife 

 and Parks. (See Appendix G.) 



i. Threatened Streams. 



When the following stream 



criteria are met, 



•the percentage of fine 

 materials in spawning 

 gravels in any given year 

 is greater than 35% and/ 

 or 



• the substrate score (meas- 

 ure of imbeddedness) is 

 less than 10, 



the stream is considered threat- 

 ened as a bull trout spawning 

 and/or rearing stream. 

 If any disturbance activity is 

 planned in the watershed, the 

 land owner should: 



a) Take active precautions 

 to minimize new sedi- 

 ment loading to the 

 stream. 



b) Steps also ishould be taken 

 to ameliorate past road- 

 ing or other human land 

 disturbances that continue 

 to contribute sediments to 

 streams. 



ii. Impaired Streams. 



When the following stream 

 criteria are met, 



• the percentage of fine 

 materials in spawning 

 gravels in any given year 

 is greater than 40% and/ 

 or 



• the substrate score (meas- 

 ure of imbeddedness) is 

 less than 9, 



the stream is considered im- 

 paired as a bull trout spawning 

 and/or rearing stream. 

 If any disturbance activity is 

 planned in the watershed, the 

 land owner should: 



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