reation. aquatic life (including fish), agricul- 

 tural and industrial. A considerable portion of 

 the biologist's time is spent working with new 

 industries on their pollution abatement prob- 

 lems. To date the major effort has been on the 

 Clark Fork of the Columbia Drainage. 



Pulp mill wastes often have a high dis- 

 solved oxygen demand and may contain 

 caustic compounds. Note foamy condition 

 of water. 



Fisherman Access 



Obviously no fish management measure is 

 worthwhile unless fishermen can get to the 

 water. The stand might be taken that Montana 

 has no great access problem at this time so it 

 should be of no concern. Such an attitude is 

 folly, for access problems are steadily growing 

 and it can be anticipated that in ten to fifteen 

 years Montana will be in the same situation as 

 more heavily populated states — in desperate 

 need of fishing access but faced with "house 

 lot" prices. The approach today is to secure 

 access through public lands whenever possible. 

 Since 1951 a survey of state and federal lands 

 to determine their value for fi.shing access has 

 been in progress. As a result, to date the Bu- 

 reau of Land Management has been requested 

 to retain 99,000 acres and the Slate Board of 

 Land Commissioners has been requested to 

 retain an additional 152,000 acres so waters 

 bordering these lands will be acce.ssible to the 

 public. It would be desirable if sites with high 

 value as fishing access could be actually set 

 aside for this purpo.se. There would be no cost 

 involved. The lands would be administered by 

 the same agency as at present, and leased for 

 agricultural u.se, but they could not be .sold. 



Some of the finest agricultural land in the 

 state is along river bottoms. Lake frontage has 

 always been desirable real estate. As a result 



many important fishing waters are completely 

 on private land. During the biennium five 

 tracts comprising 3-3 4 miles of stream front- 

 age have been purchased. Also, 1.1 miles of 

 frontage was purchased on three lakes. These 

 lakes have a total of 150 surface acres. Such 

 purchases are handled by the Departmen*. 

 Lands Agent. 



Water Purchase 



Through a joint agreement between the 

 Montana Fish and Game Commission, the 

 State Water Conservation Board, the Western 

 Montana Fish and Game Association, and the 

 Ravalli County Fish and Game Association. 

 5.000 acre feet of water will be available an- 

 nually to the Fish and Game Department from 

 the West Fork Dam in Ravalli County. The 

 water which was purcha.sed in early 1958 is in 

 excess of agricultural needs. It will be released 

 into the Bitterroot River during summer 

 months when heavy irrigation draws the 

 streams to a dangerous low for fish. This is 

 the first time in Montana that water has been 

 specifically reserved for fishing. The need 

 arose because there is no provision in the state 

 laws for minimum stream flows to preserve 

 fish life. 



Creel Census 



In fish management the "proof of the pud- 

 ding" is in the creel. The statewide creel cen- 

 sus shows that in 1957 the average angler 

 contacted by State Fish and Game Wardens 

 caught about 1 fish per hour, while the aver- 

 age for fishermen voluntarily filling in the 

 department's Fisherman's Log was 3 fish even,' 

 two hours. On the basis that a fish every 2 

 hours is good fishing — fishing in Montana can 

 be considered excellent. 



The statewide creel census has been in 

 operation since 194K. Information gathered by 

 wardens, guides and outfitters, and received 

 from sportsmen in Fisherman's Logs is tabu- 

 lated by electronic business machines. This in- 

 formation is used by the District Fisheries 

 Managers in managing the State's waters. 



I III; >i()M v\ V I isi! ii\i< HI K^ 



.SVSIF.M 



Cost of fish production has become of 

 prime concern to fish culturists us well as to 

 sportsmen. Departments of the various states 



.30 - 



