Trout returning

By Justin Post, of The Montana Standard - 10/17/2007

Don Skarr and Cathy Eakin from the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks shock fish recently in an area 3 miles west of Butte in Silver Bow Creek. Recently, FWP employees found populations of live trout in the creek, once considered a dead stream. The brook trout was found in Silver Bow Creek west of Butte. Photos courtesy of Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Eight years of remedi-ation work on Silver Bow Creek appear to be paying off.

Recently, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ employees found populations of live trout in the creek, once considered a dead stream.

The inventory revealed a larger presence of trout — including westslope cutthroat — than has been in Silver Bow Creek for about 120 years, Joel Chavez, who is managing the massive restoration project on the creek for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said in a Tuesday news release.

“We have a long way to go before we have a viable trout population, but the presence of these fish is evidence that the cleanup effort is showing positive results,” he said in the release.

Among the fish found: a 5-inch brook trout at mile 7, three 8- to 12-inch brook trout along Lower Area One in Butte and 50 more brook trout along mile 15 downstream of German Gulch. Also found were four westslope cutthroat trout along mile 15 downstream of German Gulch.

The findings were applauded by area residents, environmental officials and anglers such as Tony Schoonen, who has lived near the creek in the Ramsay Flats since 1970.

“It’s been dead ever since we’ve lived here,” he said of the creek when contacted by The Montana Standard Tuesday. “I think it’s fantastic. It’s nice to see fish back again and sooner or later, as time goes on and vegetation takes over, that creek will get more purified and boy, that will be great.” The fact that a westslope cutthroat was found is especially promising, said Schoonen, a longtime fishing guide in southwest Montana.

“They are a more sensitive species than the others,” he said. “That is a good indication that eventually the whole stream may come back.” Schoonen said he’s also seen geese, ducks, beavers, muskrats and a wide variety of birds return to reclaimed areas of the creek in recent years.

FWP, on behalf of the DEQ and the Department of Justice Natural Resource Damage Program, used electrofishing to survey fish populations along portions of the creek during the inventory.

All fish caught during the study recovered and were returned to the stream, Chavez said in the release.

The recent findings mark the greatest improvement in terms of numbers of fish and diversity of species since surveys began five years ago, said Don Skaar, FWP fish management bureau chief.

“There are abundant fish upstream of Butte in Father Sheehan Park and the habitat is getting better in Silver Bow Creek, so we are hopeful about the future of the stream,” he said.

Schoonen, an avid fly fisherman, agreed.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s only a five-minute walk from my house.” Since the late 1800s, tailings and other mine wastes have been discharged into the creek during flood events, eliminating any aquatic life.

In 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency listed the Silver Bow Creek/Butte area as one of the multiple Superfund sites in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin. DEQ, as the lead agency, and EPA are coordinating the cleanup of the creek with the resource damages program.

Money from DEQ's and NRDP's legal settlement with ARCO are combined to pay for the cleanup and restoration. Completion of the internationally recognized project is expected in 2011.

— Reporter Justin Post may be reached via e-mail at justin.post@lee.net or by telephone, 496-5572.