The Stream Feed

For years Trout Unlimited would salvage and move fish back into the Bitterroot. There would be thousands of trapped fish, many in the 20-inch range, and many native Westslope Cutthroats.

The City’s purchase of the water utility not only ensured that future generations would have access to clean, affordable and reliable water, but set the stage for the removal of the lower Rattlesnake Dam and the historic renovation of the entire water system including water mains, wells, tanks, and the defunct system on Rattlesnake Creek, including the dams on the wilderness lakes.

Our efforts to restore Nevada Creek, the largest tributary to the middle Blackfoot River began almost ten years ago. Thanks in part to the continued support of the generous WestSlope Chapter of Trout Unlimited board members and donors, this past summer we began the fourth phase of Nevada Creek where just over 7,000 feet of habitat was restored.

Bull trout traditionally inhabited Flathead Lake and its drainages. In 1953, the US Bureau of Reclamation built the Hungry Horse Dam. This blocked approximately 40% of the Flathead drainage. Find out what Leo and his team are doing about it.

You may have seen a group of people in waders, with nets and stadia rods, wandering in Rattlesnake Creek over the last two years. That would be the Watershed Education Network’s (WEN’s) volunteer citizen science group, Stream Team.

There has always been a prevailing thought that Montana’s high mountain lakes should have fish. It’s kind of our heritage to hike or pack into wild and remote places, to camp and fish.

The City of Missoula acquired ten dams on eight mountain lakes in the Rattlesnake Wilderness Area during the 2017 acquisition of the Mountain Water Company. Currently, the wilderness dams have not been used for water delivery in more than 30 years, suffer from a lengthy maintenance backlog and are largely nonoperational.

Fishing and Floating in an Alpaca raft. That's his job. Monitoring Westslope Cutthroat trout means population studies to compare to past data. It's a wilderness. That means no electrofishing or motors allowed. So, how do they do it?