Gold Mine’s Workers Report Fish Kill

Sun., Nov. 17, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

The deaths of some fish, perhaps several hundred, in a southwestern Montana stream are believed to be a natural event brought on by changing river conditions.

Workers gathering routine water samples as part of the planning for a gold mine nearby found the dead fish Thursday in the Landers Fork, a tributary of the the Blackfoot River.

The company trying to develop the McDonald gold mine near Lincoln said its workers found 30 to 40 dead bull trout and cutthroat trout, and 200 to 300 sculpin, a bottom-feeding fish.

“There is nothing to indicate there was any other cause for their death than a natural event,” said Bill Thomas of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

McDonald spokesman Bill Snoddy said there is no way preliminary work on the mining project could have contributed to the deaths.

A preliminary study by the fish and wildlife agency suggests the fish froze to death when they got caught in a stretch of stream where water disappears from the surface, Thomas said. Further tests on some of the dead fish were planned.

Often, the cause of a fish kill cannot be determined unequivocally, Thomas said. He said a radio-tracked bull trout 6 to 7 years old was found dead under 8 inches of ice, at the same location, on Nov. 4.

The Seven-Up Pete Joint Venture’s proposed gold mine near Lincoln is between the Blackfoot River and the Landers Fork. The project is opposed by environmental activists, including some anglers who say the proposed mine is too close to sensitive waters.

Regardless of what caused the fish kill, “it points to how volatile and sensitive the water system in the area is,” said Andrew Dunn, of the Montana Environmental Information Center.

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