National Forest. Following the field season of 1987, ten 

 tributaries that support pure westslope cutthroat trout, and an 

 additional tributary that contained arctic grayling, have been 

 identified. 



Poindexter Slough, a Class I spring creek, enters the 

 Beaverhead River just south of the town of Dillon. This is the 

 only spring creek in the state purchased by the Department of 

 Fish, Wildlife and Parks for its recreational value, which 

 includes an outstanding rainbow and brown trout fishery. Numerous 

 other spring creeks and riverside channels flow into the 

 Beaverhead. By contrast, only one spring creek has ever been 

 inventoried in the Big Hole River drainage. 



Wildlife 



From the blue ribbon waters of the Big Hole River to the high 

 swampy marshlands of the Red Rock National Wildlife Refuge, 

 southwestern Montana support abundant big game populations, as 

 well as threatened or endangered species and other species of 

 special concern. Of 18 units comprising the Big Hole and 

 Beaverhead River drainages, all but one unit received a final 

 value class rating of II or better (Table 33). Of seven class I 

 units, five lie within the upper Big Hole and Red Rock River 

 drainages. The remaining two units include the headwaters of 

 Horse Prairie Creek and a 63-mile reach of the Beaverhead River 

 below Clark Canyon Dam. 



The Centennial Valley, through which the Red Rock River flows, 

 is one of the most remote, cool, high-mountain valleys in Montana, 

 with winter temperatures plummeting to 50 degrees below zero, and 

 150 inches of snow falling each year. Bordered by the rugged, 

 timbered Centennial Mountains on the south and the sagebrush- 

 covered Gravelly Range on the north, the valley consists of 

 marshlands, wetlands, and ponds connected by the Red Rock River. 

 This variety of habitat combined with the lack of valley 

 development provides outstanding habitat for long-billed curlews, 

 sandhill cranes, trumpeter swans, waterfowl, peregrine and prairie 

 falcons, and bald and golden eagles. Moose, pronghorns, elk, and 

 deer dot the countryside. 



Wildlife values for the lower stretch of the Red Rock River 

 were also outstanding in the Montana Rivers Study. Although the 

 lower river received a Class II habitat rating, it received one of 

 the highest scores for game species in the state. The lower 

 Centennial Valley and its tributaries support large populations of 

 pronghorn, moose, deer, elk, sheep, black bear, mountain lion, 

 sage grouse, beaver and bobcat. 



Equally outstanding for its incredible beauty and wildlife 

 values, portions of the Big Hole and lower Beaverhead main stems 

 also received Class I wildlife values. The habitat along the lower 



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