sections of the Clark Fork, Flint Creek, the Little Blackfoot, 

 most of Rattlesnake Creek, the upper Blackfoot, and numerous 

 westside tributaries to the Bitterroot. 



More than half of the 868 stream miles rated in the Bitterroot 

 River drainage received a Class II final resource value. Included 

 in the 133 miles of Class II sport fisheries were the Bitterroot 

 main stem and its east and west forks. Only 33 miles in the 

 drainage received a Class I final resource value and these were 

 all reaches which contained pure westslope cutthroat trout. The 45 

 reaches receiving a Class II habitat and species value included 

 essential spawning habitat and potentially pure westslope 

 cutthroat trout populations or pure populations where genetic 

 invaders exist in the drainage. 



Recent information collected on the Bitterroot main stem found 

 trout populations between Hamilton and Stevensville lower when 

 compared to upper river sections less affected by irrigation 

 demands. Dewatering was found to reduce young-of - the-year 

 populations, which eventually limited adult population size. In 

 an effort to compensate for water losses during the irrigation 

 season, MDFWP has purchased 15,000 acre-feet of water from Painted 

 Rocks Reservoir, a multi-purpose project located on the West Fork 

 Bitterroot River. The supplemental releases have enhanced the 

 upper river rainbow population by 200 percent since 1983. A 

 cooperative water management system to better distribute 

 irrigation waters has been recommended by the recent fishery 

 studies . 



In the Blackfoot River drainage, sufficient fisheries data 

 were available on only 66 of the 288 identified reaches in the 

 drainage to allow for a fisheries assessment to be made. Most of 

 the 222 unassessed reaches were short upper reaches where only 

 habitat data have been collected. Six reaches received a Class I 

 final resource value, including five essential spawning streams to 

 the Class I portion of the Blackfoot River from the Clearwater 

 River to its mouth. Abundant rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, 

 and trophy-size bull and brown trout in a setting of outstanding 

 natural beauty led to this Class I designation. Class II reaches 

 included the Blackfoot main stem from Arrastra Creek to the 

 Clearwater, five essential spawning streams and six streams 

 containing potentially pure westslope cutthroat and/or bull trout 

 populations . 



The upper Clark Fork River and its drainage above Missoula 

 conjures up a variety of images from hazardous waste sites and 

 milling and smelting pollution to Milltown Dam with its 

 accumulated mine waste, to Rock Creek with its potpourri of trout. 

 How about combining past mining with trophy fishing? It has been 

 done on the upper Clark Fork River from Warm Springs to Dempsey 

 Creek, abused for over half a century from untreated mine 

 effluent. In the first stream classification map in 1959, the 

 Clark Fork from Warm Springs to the Little Blackfoot was rated a 



59 



