News

Be A Boat Inspection Station Pro

by Bill Pfeiffer

This August 2-8, we’re celebrating the first ever Watercraft Inspector Appreciation Week with our partners at Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and Protect Our Waters Montana. Thanks to our inspectors, aquatic invasive species (AIS) spread is being reduced in our waterways, and we owe them our gratitude and our courtesy when we pull through the station. We know it’s tough to be patient at the boat check when you’re excited to get out on the water, so here are a few tips to make your inspection a breeze.

Clean, Drain, and Dry your gear and watercraft after every use!

Thanks to the magic of self-serve carwashes, this step is easier than ever! Find the closest wash bays near your home (most take credit cards now) and make cleaning out your boat part of your chores at the end of a day on the water. The best time to wash everything is right before you put your boat into dry dock. Pull the plugs on your vessel and allow all water to drain out of your bilge, live wells, bait wells, and motor. Store your boat with the motor in the down position. All inspectors check your motor and if it’s already empty, you just saved yourself a few minutes waiting for it to drain.

Make sure your anchor and anchor rope are clean of mud and vegetation.

If you’ve got some mud and weeds on there, clean them off and also mind your anchor rope to make sure it’s also clean and dry. It’s easy for small bits to get stuck in pulleys, cleats, and fasteners. Anytime you pull your anchor up off the bottom of the lake or river, make sure to get it clean before you put it back in the boat. Makes cleaning up later even easier. This also goes for removing weeds from your lure. Keep the weeds in the water, not in your boat.

Ask yourself “Where and when did I go boating last?”

If you know you’re about to hit the check station, run through your memory banks before you pull in. Inspectors will always ask where you were, how long it’s been, and where you plan to go next. If you’ve recently been in a waterbody with AIS concerns, know that you’re going to get some extra scrutiny. It helps if all your gear is clean and dry!

Get an Inspection Passport for Each Boat and Keep them Handy

If you’re a “frequent flyer” ask your inspector for a Boat Passport for each vessel. Keep them in the glove box of the car you use to tow. Then you’ll always have them for the inspectors when you pull through.

Be courteous!

No body likes a grumpy person. When you remain polite and courteous to your watercraft inspectors, they will get through your inspection faster, guaranteed. The only thing you get out of making a fuss is a longer inspection. Be prepared, answer the questions you’re asked, follow instructions, and they’ll get you on your way as quick as they can.

 

 

 

News

How to Fish Responsibly This Summer

by Bill Pfeiffer

Montana is currently in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave and drought and our wild trout populations are feeling the heat. Many streams around the state are already under “Hoot Owl” fishing restrictions or full closures, earlier than we’ve ever seen these emergency regulations in the past. In this difficult time for our fisheries, it’s more important than ever that all anglers do what we can to limit our impact on this shared resource. We’ve complied a list of recommendations to help you decide when, where, and how to fish until things cool down.

Why is water temperature important?

Trout are cold blooded animals with a metabolism that depends directly on the temperature of the external environment. They also rely on highly oxygenated water and the warmer water gets, the less dissolved oxygen it can hold. Most trout species’ optimal temperature range is 55F-65F for maximum growth and health. For native bull trout that range is even colder. When water temperatures rise into the high 60s, trout begin to experience stress and hooking mortality rates increase. If temperatures remain above 70F for an extended period of time, trout begin to die, especially if they are caught and released.

What can I do to help our fisheries?

There are a number of ways you can fish responsibly this summer and protect our trout fisheries. Here’s just a few:

  • Check the MT FWP website every time you go fishing for “Hoot Owl” restrictions and river closures. On rivers with “Hoot Owl” closures, fishing is only permitted  between midnight and 2pm when water temperatures are coolest. New emergency regulations are coming out almost daily. Stay informed!
  • Use a stream thermometer when you fish, available at your local fly shop. Water temperatures change throughout the day with the coldest water occurring in the early morning. Take the temperature frequently throughout the day and when water temperatures rise above 67F, stop fishing. Here’s a short video we produced showing you how to properly take a water temp:

  • Always keep fish wet and release them quickly. Save your “grip and grin” photo sessions for the fall, when conditions improve.
  • Use heavier tippet and land fish quickly. Prolonged fight times in warm water place a high amount of stress on the fish and increase hooking mortality. This isn’t the time to see if you can break your personal best on your trusty 3wt.
  • Consider exploring high mountain streams and mountain lakes, where water temperatures stay cooler and give the big river fish a break.
  • Take the time to do some warm-water fishing. Carp, bass, and northern pike are fun to target on a fly rod!
  • Consider taking a break from fishing during this hot weather and find other ways to enjoy the Montana outdoors. Floating, swimming, hiking, biking, and more are just out your door. Take some time this summer to learn a new skill or pastime.

These are just a few suggestions to help you protect our trout this summer. If we all do our part and fish responsibly, we’ll have more fish to chase once conditions improve. MTU works hard year-round to do what we can to mitigate the effects of our warming climate, from stream restoration projects on tributary streams to finding new ways to increase flows and put water back into the river. If you’d like to make a donation to support this work, click the link below. Thanks for all you do to further our mission!

 

News

2020 Annual Report

by Bill Pfeiffer

This past year was a challenging one for everyone but we stayed true to our mission to conserve, protect, and restore Montana’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.

News

CSKT Water Compact Passes Congress

by Bill Pfeiffer

by Clayton Elliott, MTU Conservation and Gov’t Affairs Director

After years of negotiations, MTU celebrates the recent passage of the landmark Montana Water Rights Protection Act, S. 3019.

This bill finally provides Congressional ratification of the negotiated water compact and settlement between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the State of Montana, and the United States. Congress noted that the $1.9 billion CSKT water compact is the largest water rights settlement in history between the federal government and a federally-recognized tribe. Foremost, the legislation finally settles on and off reservation-based water rights thereby avoiding decades of costly litigation that would create tremendous uncertainty for nearly all water users in western Montana.

As part of recognizing and ratifying CSKT’s water rights, the settlement will provide millions of dollars in renovation and restoration funds to the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project that will deliver benefits to coldwater fisheries important to Westslope cutthroat and bull trout in western Montana.

The bottom line is that this legislation is good for Montana’s coldwater fisheries and their habitat. This bipartisan agreement inks into law a robust partnership for the future cooperative management of water in Western Montana. In addition to resolving for all time the legitimate, legal, and considerable water rights claims of the Tribes, saving decades of costly litigation and uncertainty, it also will inject millions of dollars into collaborative restoration of our wild fish and their habitats while upgrading aging irrigation infrastructure critical to the Tribes and agricultural users.

Here are some more details about why the MWRPA is good for Montana and our trout populations:

  • The Compact resolves for all time the very legitimate, legal and considerable water right claims of the Tribes on and off the reservation. As such, it will benefit owners of water rights in all of Montana west of the Divide, as well as in the upper Missouri and Yellowstone basins, because it obviates the needs for the Tribes from filing water right claims – as they are otherwise legally entitled to do – on the reservation and within their aboriginal territory. This will save water right owners and the State of Montana millions of dollars in litigation and court-related costs that come with defending claims in water court and other jurisdictions. By not adding thousands of new claims in water courts, Montana’s general adjudication of water rights can advance in a judicious and much less expensive fashion. If the Compact doesn’t get ratified, the Water Court estimates adjudication of water rights in Montana could take another two decades, at least.
  • The Compact protects current irrigators on the reservation, including within the Flathead Indian Irrigation Project (FIIP), by ensuring they continue to get water they have been legally entitled to in the past. It provides legally guaranteed water deliveries to FIIP irrigators in perpetuity – a guarantee that few, if any other water users in the State have. The Compact also protects all non-irrigation water rights from a tribal call on water, and it protects existing rights on and off the reservation by limiting tribal rights.
  • The Compact will make available up to 90,000 acre-feet of stored water from Hungry Horse Reservoir for future development in the Flathead Basin. Up to 11,000 can be used in Montana, off the reservation. This water can be used to supplement irrigation, residential or fishery needs, or to mitigate the effects of new development on existing water rights. This water cannot be used out of state.
  • Passage of the Compact will benefit water users on the reservation by triggering state expenditures of $55 million for improving irrigation infrastructure, paying for pumping costs and water measurement, and investing in stream habitat restoration. Additional federal funds will also be made available for infrastructure that will benefit both tribal and non-tribal water users. These activities will have beneficial values to coldwater fisheries on and off the reservation.
  • The Compact tangibly benefits fish and wildlife. Specifically, it includes enhanced protections for instream flows for important trout populations on the Flathead Indian Reservation and for the upper Clark Fork River. It also helps protect current streamflow guarantees off-reservation in the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Flathead, Swan and Kootenai River basins.
  • All off-reservation water rights granted to the Tribes in the Compact are either subordinate to, or parallel to existing water rights or dam license conditions held by the State of Montana and the federal and private utilities.
  • Upon ratification, the CSKT will be giving up forever any future claims to water everywhere in Montana, saving decades of costly litigation and uncertainty for water users and coldwater fisheries.
  • Implementation of the agreement will produce new and productive partnerships that will focus on the common objective of making water go farther for more uses – an important objective in the face of a shifting climate.

We’d like to extend a special thank you to our entire congressional delegation and all our partners in this long process. Because of your efforts, we will finally have certainty in these watersheds and the cold water fisheries of Montana will be better for it, now and in the future. Happy New Year!