MONIANA. 



Of the Six Montana fisheries restoration districts shown above, 

 Districts One, Four and Six are now in operation. 



They will outline sound and substantial planting programs; will ex- 

 ecute needed restoration measures such as habitat improvement, rough 

 fish control, creation of new fishing waters, and acquisition and de- 

 velopment of fishing areas for public use; and will formulate adequate 

 and needed regulations. 



Two noteworthy examples of work done by the district biologists 

 will be given, the first entailed a local problem of a rearing pond 

 and the second a local problem on a popular stream. 



Smith Lake is an artificial body of water in Flathead County, and 

 prior to any developmental work, the lake bed was marshy with a 

 slow moving stream passing through. In 1931 the Works Progress 

 Administration financed the building of a dam and a wooden gate. 

 The purpose of the impoundment was for the rearing of trout. In 

 1948 the Montana Fish and Game Department replaced the wooden 

 structure with one of concrete and built a concrete structure above the 

 pond in order to divert the inlet stream around the lake. The size of 

 the impoundment is 15.7 acres and the deepest part is eight feet. 



The usual procedure of releasing the fish is to open the gate and 

 flush the fish down a stream one mile into Whitefish Lake. When the 

 pond is drained, the planks are replaced, the lake is filled with water, 

 and fry cutthroat trout are again planted. 



A total of 1,707 cuttroat trout and four eastern brook trout were 

 taken out of the pond in 1951. Thirty thousand cutthroat trout and 

 no eastern brook trout had been planted in 1950. The average length 

 of the 1,707 fish were 6.0 inches with a range of 2.8 to 9.2 inches. Their 

 total weight was 143.94 pounds. 



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