to support the full compliment of life forms of native fish. These activities have altered the 

 composition and extent of the riparian zone along the creek and resulted in impaired function of 

 the stream channel and have reduced habitat quality for native salmonids. The numerous, small 

 side drainages have all been impacted by a variety of human activities. Instream habitat 

 conditions are impaired and connectivity has been reduced. Water quality eminating from these 

 streams is also reduced. No portions of the watershed are capable of functioning as refugia due 

 to the legacy of human settlement. 



Only subwatershed -01 is relatively unimpacted by human activities. Even this subwatershed, 

 located in the headwaters of Upper Willow Creek is dominated by exotic species. Most habitat 

 indicators are functioning appropriately, but large pools are lacking, access is impeded by 

 downstream irrigation diversions and water temperatures are too high. This subwatershed is 

 functioning at risk. A preponderance of non-functional calls for the habitat indicators, in 

 addition to the dominace of exotic fish species in the other subwatersheds, combine to the 

 integrated call functioning at unacceptable risk in -02, -03 and -04. The Upper Willow Creek 

 watershed as a whole is functioning at unacceptable risk due to these conditions. 



Westslope Cutthroat Trout 



Westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) are recognized as a Class A species by the State of 

 Montana. Class A species are defined as having limited numbers and/or limited habitats both 

 in Montana and elsewhere in North America; elimination from Montana would be a 

 significant loss to the gene pool of the species or subspecies. DNRC has entered into a 

 Statewide conservation agreement for westslope cutthroat trout. A Memorandum of 

 Understanding (MOU) and Conservation Agreement for Westslope Cutthroat Trout in 

 Montana was finalized by FW&P and signed by DNRC and other cooperators in May of 

 1999. This agreement was a collaborative effort developed by the Westslope Cutthroat 

 Steering Committee that is represented by numerous state and federal resource agencies, 

 conservation and industry organizations, sportsmen and private landowners. Under the 

 MOU, DNRC has agreed to protect all genetically pure and slightly introgressed (less than 

 10% introgressed) WCT populations. Protection includes maintaining or developing high 

 quality habitat to prevent extirpation. 



Wildlife 



Issue 1: Overstory cover and movement corridors 



The project area currently provides a high degree of canopy cover and connectivity to adjacent 

 larger blocks of U.S. Forest Service land. The western block of Forest Service land has a widely 

 dispersed road system and scattered harvest units. Between each harvest unit are relatively large 

 parcels of dense timber. East of Upper Willow Creek the school trust land in Section 16 received 

 harvest treatment in the mid 80' s. Forest Service and BLM land form a 12-mile long by 

 approximately 2-mile wide block of timber, which has only occasional low standard roads and 

 virtually no timber harvesting. Southeast of the project area is open grassland habitat. The 

 Upper Willow Creek riparian areas provide short overstory cover of deciduous vegetation, so that 



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