Rapids and then surges over Kootenai Falls and into a two-mile 

 canyon, filling the air with spray and the powerful sound of 

 crashing water. Erosion has created a complex series of bedrock 

 channels and drops, producing a long series of falls, cascades, 

 and large but boatable rapids. The river here drops 90 feet in 

 eight tenths of a mile, and with an average flow of 13,000 cubic 

 feet per second, the effect is impressive. A rocky trail winds 

 down to the falls from an overlook just off Highway 2. The view is 

 partially blocked by lofty pines and cedars. Once at the water's 

 edge, visitors can walk downstream to a swinging bridge that spans 

 the canyon. 



Fisheries 



Over 1,100 miles of stream fisheries contained in 310 reaches 

 were inventoried in the Kootenai River drainage (Tables 15 and 

 16). Nearly 40 percent of the reaches could not be assessed due 

 to insufficient fisheries information, which dropped the stream 

 reaches rated to 190 in 1,044 miles. Seven reaches received a 

 Class I in the habitat and species value, six of them because of 

 their value as essential spawning habitat to the Class I sport 

 fishery, the Kootenai River from Libby Dam to Kootenai Falls. 

 Only nine percent of the river miles received a final resource 

 value of II, well below the state average of 21 percent. 

 Essential spawning habitat for two Class II sport fisheries (the 

 lower Kootenai River and the lower Yaak River), the presence of 

 species of special concern and local community value led to these 

 values . 



The majority of the stream miles in the Kootenai received a 

 final resource value of Class III or below. The inaccessibility 

 of the drainage, both from a recreational and research standpoint, 

 contributed to the relatively low ratings of the Kootenai's 

 fisheries . 



Approximately 10,000 years ago, two taxonomic groups of 

 rainbow trout were geographically separated into the coastal and 

 inland forms. The rainbow trout found in nearly every major 

 drainage in Montana originated from a coastal steelhead trout 

 population and came to Montana via hatchery trucks beginning in 

 1899. The inland form of rainbow trout, a Class B species of 

 special concern, is unique to the Kootenai drainage in Montana. 

 The presence of pure inland populations led to upper Callahan 

 Creek and its two forks receiving a Class II habitat and species 

 value. In an effort to determine drainage- wide status of this 

 species, rainbow populations have recently been collected in seven 

 tributaries to the Yaak River for electrophoretic analysis. 



The 21 miles of Kootenai River between the falls and the Idaho 

 border received a Class I final resource value because of the 

 existence of the only living sea monster in the state of Montana 

 . . . or so we still hope. The white sturgeon (A cipenser 

 transmontanus to the biologist, "wiyal" to the Kutenai Indians), 



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