Anglers wait for channel’s impact

Montana fish biologists and anglers alike are keeping their fingers crossed as crews begin digging a channel to bypass the Clark Fork River around the soon-to-be-removed Milltown Dam upstream from Missoula.

The dam on one of Montana’s top trout fishing streams has backed up sediments ripe with toxic waste from Butte-area mining operations.

“The reservoir is drawn down and contaminated sediment is coming into the river,” said Pat Saffel, regional fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.

“We’re not seeing impacts to the fish in this cold water, but last summer we had impacts when the sediments came down, stressed the fish and then the warm water triggered mortality in the fall.”

Impacts were significant down to the confluence with the Bitterroot River, but few impacts are expected downstream from Superior, he said.

“We’re monitoring and learning,” Saffel said. “We know there will be short-term impacts, but it will be better than in the past when a flood every 10 or 12 years killed fish downstream from the dam. The fishery would build back only to be knocked back again.

“Removing the dam will have a short-term impact, but this will be the last time.”