2.4 million hatchery salmon lost in flood

FISHING – All 2.4 million fall chinook salmon fry at the Fallert Creek Hatchery on the lower Kalama River were lost when floodwaters inundated the facility last week, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday.

The Kalama fish died after a wave of water, mud and trees swept down on the hatchery during a heavy rainstorm Dec. 8, overtopping rearing ponds and hatchery raceways, agency officials said.

The Kalama Falls Hatchery farther upstream was not affected by the flood and is currently raising 4.9 million fall chinook – known as tules – for release in June.

The 2.4 million fry lost at Fallert Creek represented about 15 percent of the total fall chinook production by Washington hatcheries below Bonneville Dam.

Those fish will be missed, particularly in the ocean fishery, officials said.

Cabinet Wilderness

mine study finished

WILDS – A proposed silver and copper mine beneath northwestern Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness cleared a significant hurdle Tuesday with the completion of an environmental study in the works for adecade.

A final decision on the Montanore mine near the Montana-Idaho border could come by February, said Craig Jones with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The U.S. Forest Service gave a preliminary OK in March.

Spokane-based Mines Management, Inc. is proposing to remove up to 120 million tons of ore from the underground mine, which would disturb more than 1,500 acres just outside the wilderness area.

State regulators and U.S. Forest Service officials must approve the project.

Environmental groups sued the federal government in June over concerns that mining would harm federally-protected grizzly bears and bull trout. They say they will file more lawsuits if the project is approved.

The groups are particularly concerned about the potential cumulative effects of the Montanore Mine and the proposed Rock Creek Mine that would be based on the opposite side of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. The Rock Creek Mine project was acquired this year by Hecla Mining Co.

The Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem on the Montana-Idaho border is one of six areas in the continental United States where biologists are seeking to restore grizzly bear populations.

Montana draws

line on walleyes

FISHING – Montana it trying to fight back against “bucket biologists” who’ve been raising havoc with fisheries for years.

Most recently, Montana has ordered anglers to turn in walleye caught in Swan Lake and River, according to the Flathead Beacon.

After discovering illegally introduced walleye in the Swan River and Swan Lake, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission passed a rule on Dec. 10 requiring anglers who catch the non-native species in those waters to kill the fish, report the catch to the agency and turn in the carcass.