Study finds increased bull trout spawning

Fri., Nov. 3, 2006

Susan Gallagher Associated Press

HELENA – Bull trout, a threatened fish whose well-being has driven court cases and changed industrial projects, may be coming back in some areas of Montana, a new survey suggests.

The number of bull trout spawning beds, or redds, added up to five-year highs in a survey of selected streams in northwest Montana near Glacier National Park.

Agency biologist Tom Weaver said the increases are not a definitive indication of bull trout’s strength, but are encouraging.

Workers counted about 1,300 of the rocky nests, often the size of a pickup truck bed, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 25.

Researchers are not entirely sure why the number of redds has increased. But conditions for counting improved between this year and last, and streamflows increased since the 2005 survey, Weaver said. The flows allowed more bull trout to reach spawning areas, he said. They also impeded the beaver dams that obstruct fish, he said.

The redds were found in tributaries to the North, South and Middle Forks of the Flathead River and tributaries to the Swan River, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said.

Bull trout were put on the federal threatened-species list in 1998. In the United States, they exist in Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho, as well as in Montana west of the Continental Divide. Bull trout once were in Northern California as well.

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