Big Hole drops

By Nick Gevock of The Montana Standard - 06/26/2007

The Big Hole River has dipped to one-sixth its normal flow at the Wisdom Bridge for this time of year, the result of a snowpack that is already gone coupled with ranchers pulling water from the channel to irrigate

hayfields.

The river — throughout its length — is flowing at half its normal rate as of last weekend, prompting calls for irrigators to cut off or cut back on irrigation weeks earlier than in past years of drought.

The river, as of Monday, was flowing at 23 cubic feet per second at the Wisdom bridge, a paltry 13 percent its normal flow for this time of year and an ominous sign that this will be a tough summer for stream flows. The sharp decline in the river’s flow has prompted the Big Hole Watershed Committee to ask irrigators to cut back on the water they are taking out of the river.

Committee Chairman Randy Smith said while the river’s flow is not the worst he’s ever seen, summer prospects look bleak.

“The difference this year is it doesn’t appear that there’s any weather coming, no snowpack or no relief in sight,” he said. “It’s sort of alarming from everybody’s aspect.”

The committee, in calling for the voluntary cutbacks, is leaning on its drought management plan, the document

See BIG HOLE, Back Page

that guides how to cope with low flows and higher water temperatures. The plan was developed in an effort to keep fluvial arctic grayling off the federal Endangered Species List.

But this spring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would not list Big Hole grayling as endangered. The move angered conservationists who for years have said the remnant population in the river will perish without more protections to help ensure that the river’s flow remains adequate to protect the fish during drought conditions.

Yet Dick Oswald, Dillon fishery biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said nothing has changed following the decision. He said ranchers in the valley have for years given up irrigation water they’re entitled to and are continuing to do so.

And since the FWS decision, two larger landowners have signed on to the program to help keep water in the river.

“I don’t see any effect from the recent decision here,” he said.

Oswald added that the river’s flow is the result of a complete lack of snowpack at a time when ranchers need to irrigate their hayfields. Add to that a forecast that doesn’t predict any rain for the next week and the river could drop even farther.

He said cutting back on irrigation is the only way to keep the river from dropping farther. If that happens, FWP would institute fishing closures as laid out in the drought plan.

“If things don’t improve by early next week, then I think we’ll be looking at a closure no matter what,” he said. “There’s no major precip on the horizon to help us out, so cutbacks on the irrigation ditches are where we’re at.”

Frank Stanchfield, a Wise River outfitter and former committee member, said he’s hopeful ranchers will agree to cut back on irrigation because the first crop of hay is already done and being cut. He said the hot, dry conditions are already affecting fishing for the summer.

“My bookings for August are abysmal,” he said.

Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached via e-mail at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.