Two Medicine, Badger and Birch Creeks — trib- 

 utaries of the Marias River. 



On these streams, trees and other protective 

 vegetation were stripped from miles of stream- 

 banks and later deposited as piles of debris. 

 Tons of gravel and sediment carried by the 

 torrents tore up stream channels and filled in 

 pools which had been the lair of lunker trout. 

 Three-foot wide stream channels were extended 

 to 100 feet or wider as overflowing streams 

 chewed up their flood plains. Too often the 

 receding flood left streams in new channels 

 far from their original beds. 



Restoration and stabilization of such stream 

 channels is costly. Work so far has been lim- 

 ited almost entirely to waters on Lewis and 

 Clark National Forest. These include tributaries 

 of Sun River in the Bench Mark area and trib- 

 utaries of Teton River. This work was accom- 

 plished by the Forest Service. Fish Division 

 personnel gave technical assistance. Consider- 

 ably more work should be done on both pub- 



lic and private lands if funds ever become 

 available. 



Except for the washing out of Swift Dam 

 on Birch Creek and Two Medicine Dam on 

 Two Medicine Creek, the effect of the flood 

 on lakes was less dramatic than on streams. 

 The most common problem was excessively 

 muddy water carried in by sediment-laden trib- 

 utaries. For example, during a normal spring 

 prior to the flood, turbidity from inflowing 

 streams extended only halfway down Flathead 

 Lake and soon cleared. In 1964, after the flood, 

 muddy water extended from one end of the 

 lake to the other. The lake did not entirely 

 clear that year but did return more nearly to 

 normal in 1965. In 1966, two years after the 

 flood, spring high water still carried in an un- 

 usually large amount of sediment from flood- 

 damaged Middle Fork of Flathead River. 



Highly turbid water blocks off the sunlight 

 essential for growth of tiny plants and animals 

 at the lower end of the food chain of game fish. 



A fisheries crew lifts gill nets ofter an 



light set in Fort Peck Reservoir. 



