.« Two Ausust 6 ' 1979 



trh of M,5 rainbow trout per 1000 feet of 



>!?., cen„un ' — 1Sd LpWlr« tSTcreol census estimate tc . popula- 



<rea» in «*.£"»,.«££. ^ the Falls, a -^» '^S-IJifL. 

 »*£ SSS Sa? -r nine inches in en, h grated over^ ^ 



downstream from the Falls is sign ^ ^ 



Unite sturgeon numbers see. to be declining la to = t ^^ port) , 

 stream from Kootenai Falls in ™e area h habita t below the 



Stulfof these fish has *en totticM £>&** e ^ other divers , 



ISfs and the nature of the fisn OnJ ^UJfthe Kootenai River Canyon 

 who volunteered to aid in- bruo a ^;™^ ,, „ or2 trying to determine 

 in two areas to search ior *nit, s«W ft. - ^^ ^ d approximate size. 

 the exun of ^f ^ffSst was made approximately 2.5 mil" ^wnstream 

 Two dives were made. ine ^^ mi d-canvon ranged from 75 to over 

 from the Falls Depths encountered a ^^ of * divers descended in 

 100 feet. In this part of the ^^' J two sma ii sturgeon (12 to 

 the same general area One ^"^f^? on the bottom of the canyon 

 18 inches in length) at appr ^^J* £ the canyon in mid-afternoon. One 

 Upstream about oj^mile all divers dove in . ^ ^^ They 



larger sturgeon was ?**™?^ e *^ B ^ welfover three feet long, 

 estimated it as weighing ^ to 20 P°^ a n st urgeon measuring 12 



Another team of divers reported seeing anotne ind icate that 



to 18 inches long although they were nature; J ^ ^ 

 the number of sturgeon (particularly ^ than we had 

 believed and their dxstnbutxon fu rthe r p ^ ^ eff±ci t 

 previously found using nets, .^f^,^^/^ the upper canyon will be 

 and further investigations using SCTIBA gear in 

 necessary to study the sturgeon. 



to contact me, 

 Sincerely, 



Patrick J. Graham 

 Flathead Basin Study 

 Project Leader 



PJG:ns 



CC: Jim Posewitz 



