to undergo energy development. The purpose of this study was to 

 gain a better understanding of the ecology of sauger and walleye in 

 the lower Yellowstone River system in order to predict potential 

 impacts from energy related development. 



One of the major potential impacts of energy development is 

 the removal of vast amounts of water for energy conversion 

 facilities such as coal generation and gasification plants. The 

 historic average annual discharge of the Yellowstone River near its 

 mouth was 11 to 12 million acre-feet (MAF) . Present use has 

 reduced that to 8.8 MAF. With the number of requests for large 

 volumes of Yellowstone River water drastically increasing, 

 particularly from the industrial sector, the 1973 Montana 

 Legislature established the Montana Water Use Act which recognized 

 the value of fish and wildlife. This act allowed the Montana 

 Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (DFWP) to file for instream 

 flows. On December 15, 1978, largely on the basis of research 

 conducted by the DFWP and supported by numerous cooperators, the 

 Board of Natural Resources granted an instream flow reservation of 

 5.5 million acre feet (MAF) for the Yellowstone River near its 

 mouth (this includes an instream flow request by the Montana Board 

 of Health) (Peterman 1979) . Section 85-2-316 paragraph 7 of the 

 Montana Use Ace stated: 



The board shall, periodically but at least once 



every 10 years, review existing reservations to ensure 



that the objectives of the reservation are being met. 



Where the objectives of the reservation are not being 



