INTRODUCTION 



Throughout Montana's history and settlement, the state's 

 rivers and streams have played a major role in developing our 

 state. From the upriver journey of Lewis and Clark in the early 

 1800s and paddleboats on the Missouri to the rafts, canoes and 

 power boats that tour them today, our rivers have been used as an 

 important means of transportation and recreational opportunity. 

 As well as their instream importance, their waters also provide 

 irrigation for millions of acres of hay and wheat fields, 

 municipal water supplies, dilution for sewage treatment effluent, 

 and power generation. 



The dams on our rivers and streams have been constructed for 

 irrigation, flood control, and the generation of electricity. The 

 first hydropower project in western Montana was constructed in 

 1902 on the Swan River in the Flathead drainage. One of the 

 largest earthen dams in the country. Fort Peck on the lower 

 Missouri, was completed in 1934. Kerr Dam on Flathead Lake was 

 soon to follow in 1938 and the last major dam construction in 

 Montana occurred on the Kootenai River when Libby Dam was 

 completed in 1972. 



In western Montana, the damages to resident fish and wildlife 

 resources from past hydroelectric development have been well 

 documented (Fraley 1986, May and Weaver 1987, Beattie and Clancey 

 1987 and Chisholm and Fraley 1986). Ten percent of western 

 Montana stream miles were lost due to construction of nine dams 

 from 1902 to 1972. Construction of Hungry Horse Dam on the South 

 Fork of the Flathead River blocked over one-third of the drainage 

 area to the migratory fishery populations of Flathead Lake. 

 Hungry Horse Reservoir inundated nearly 24,000 acres important to 

 wildlife species. The construction of Thompson Falls, Cabinet 

 Gorge and Noxon Rapids dams on the lower Clark Fork River blocked 

 all upstream migration from Lake Pend Oreille and flooded 11,000 

 acres of big game, furbearers and waterfowl habitat. Libby Dam 

 impounded nearly 50 miles of the Kootenai main stem in Montana 

 as well as numerous lower reaches of spawning tributaries. The 

 reservoir flooded almost 30,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat. 



Montana has traditionally been in the forefront in developing 

 protection for river and stream natural resources. In 1959, the 

 Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) initiated 

 the "Blue Ribbon Stream" concept identifying our premiere sport 

 fisheries. Instream water rights on these streams were established 

 10 years later by the Montana legislature. The Water Pollution 

 Act of 1955, the Stream Preservation Act of 1963 and the 

 Streambed and Land Preservation Act of 1975 added additional 

 protective measures. In 1973, the Montana Water Act specifically 

 defined fish and wildlife as beneficial uses of our waters and 

 provided a mechanism to reserve water for instream purposes. In 



