LOWER CLABK FORK RIVER DRAINAGE 



Boundaries: Bitterroot River to Idaho border 



Drainage size: 22,073 square miles 



Main stem length: 200 miles 



Tributaries: St. Regis, Flathead, Thompson 



Cities/Towns: St. Regis, Plains, Thompson Falls 



Access: Interstate 90, Montana Highway 200 



From a car window or train boxcar, one can see most of the 200 

 miles of the lower Clark Fork River as it snakes through forested 

 foothills, grasslands, narrow canyons, and broad cottonwood-lined 

 river valleys en route to Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille. With an 

 average flow of 21,000 cubic feet per second, the Clark Fork is 

 Montana's largest river (Figure 5). The relatively few remote 

 miles on this stretch -- most notably Alberton Gorge west of 

 Missoula -- can be experienced firsthand in a rubber raft or 

 kayak. 



Because of its integration with civilization, the lower 170 

 miles of the Clark Fork River in Montana is another drainage of 

 diverse resource uses. Paper mill effluents, municipal sewage, 

 past mining and logging activities, and construction of three dams 

 have degraded wildlife and fishery habitat and diminished the 

 Clark Fork's recreational appeal. Man's heavy imprint upon the 

 land resulted in the lower Clark Fork River drainage receiving few 

 outstanding ratings in the Montana Rivers Study. Scenic quality, 

 for example, was rated Class I or II on only three percent of the 

 1,350 miles of rivers and streams assessed for recreation -- a 

 likely reflection of conflicting land uses. 



The Flathead, the lower river's major tributary, was not 

 assessed due to its location on the Salish and Kootenai Indian 

 Reservation. 



Fisheries 



A total of 1,176 miles in 206 reaches were assessed for their 

 fisheries value in the lower Clark Fork River drainage (Tables 27 

 and 28). Insufficient fisheries data prevented the evaluation of 

 60 percent of the identified reaches. Only one percent of the 

 reaches rated received a Class I final resource value, the lowest 

 number of Class I reaches of all drainages in the state. No 

 reaches received a Class I in the sport fishery value but four 

 reaches received a Class II. These 140 miles of Class II sport 

 fisheries included the Clark Fork main stem from the Bitterroot to 

 the Flathead, the lower 26 miles of the Thompson River, and the 

 lower 14 miles of Fish Creek. Bull trout, rainbow trout, cutthroat 

 trout and whitefish provide local fisheries in the Thompson River 

 and Fish Creek. 



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