Fish moves between rivers after breach of Milltown Dam

MISSOULA – A rainbow trout moved from the Clark Fork River into the Blackfoot River and traveled upstream for the first time since a dam was built a century ago, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Wednesday.

The trout’s movement into the Blackfoot was noted Wednesday by a technician aided by telemetry that helps the state agency study how the ongoing removal of Milltown Dam affects fish, said FWP spokeswoman Vivaca Crowser.

The dam near the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers is being dismantled this year and next. Breaching of the dam on March 28 allowed the two rivers to begin flowing freely for the first time in 100 years.

“Certainly there could be other fish, and probably are other fish, that are making that biological connection to the other (Blackfoot) riverway,” Crowser said.

Removal of the dam that anchors the nation’s largest Superfund site is part of a $120 million environmental cleanup.