Hungry Horse Dam, completed in 1952, blocked access from Flathead Lake on 363 miles of tributary reaches and 85 miles of the South Fork Flathead River, effectively eliminating 40 percent of the spawning and rearing habitat for bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout from Flathead Lake. To mitigate for these losses, managers proposed a combination of operational and nonoperational actions (MFWP/CSKT 1990). The Northwest Power Planning Council voted unanimously on November 12, 1991 (amendment 903(h)) to approve loss statements presented in the Mitigation Plan and directed the agencies to develop a Mitigation Implementation Plan to mitigate for losses of 65,000 juvenile westslope cutthroat trout, 250,000 juvenile bull trout, and 100,000 adult kokanee salmon. On March 10, 1993, the Council conditionally approved the Mitigation Implementation Plan (MFWP/CSKT 1993) and directed the emphasis be placed first on habitat restoration and a five-year kokanee stocking test in Flathead Lake, with experimental work in the propagation and/or supplementation of native species. These directives were incorporated into the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program under Sections 10.3A, 10.3A.11, and 10.3A.12 (NWPPC 1994).

During the years 1993 through 1997 over 5 million kokanee salmon of various sizes were outplanted from Creston National Fish Hatchery into numerous locations in Flathead Lake and Flathead River. Biological objectives of 30% first-year survival of stocked salmon and 10% survival to adulthood were not met, and a fishery failed to develop.  Final monitoring activities were completed in 1998 (Fredenberg, et al. 1999).  Results clearly indicated that kokanee survival in Flathead Lake was severely limited by predation from high population levels of lake trout.

Due to the need to better understand the changing fish species interrelationships and food web of Flathead Lake, the Hungry Horse Implementation Group decided against hatchery fish stockings to the Flathead Lake and River system and made an adaptive management decision to redirect hatchery based mitigation efforts to offsite waters, as so instructed by the Hungry Horse Mitigation Plan, (MFWP/CSKT 1991) beginning in 1998. The mitigation program has created popular alternative fisheries in areas that are not suitable for native species restoration, such as Rogers and Lion Lakes, (MFWP, Kalispell-open file reports) and may redirect angling pressure away from sensitive native populations being recovered elsewhere in the contiguous Flathead system.

This proposal represents a continuing effort to satisfy a portion of the loss statement incorporated into the Council Program under amendment 903(h).  Also, they follow the 1994 Fish and Wildlife Program directives under Sections 10.3A.10, 10.3A.11, and 10.3A.12,  which call for enacting the actions set forth in the Hungry Horse Implementation Plan. Under the Plans guidelines, if kokanee reintroduction is determined not to be successful, we are directed to proceed with native species restoration and enhancement (hatchery stocking) of offsite fisheries in the Flathead Subbasin.

This proposal also satisfies the objectives of the Flathead River Subbasin Summary (Ducharme 2000). Under Objective 5 for interconnected and closed basin lakes, strategy 1 states: "Utilize hatchery production to stock closed basin lakes" in order to increase angler opportunity. By diverting fishing pressure away from weak but recoverable wild native populations--which are under catch and release only regulations--this project will help aid the overall subbasin goal to "restore and protect the abundance, productivity, and diversity of biological communities and habitats, particularly those containing native fish and wildlife populations."

Project Summary

Current project objectives include acquiring eggs, hatching, and rearing up to 100,000 westslope cutthroat and rainbow trout annually for offsite mitigation in closed basin waters of the Flathead River system.  Due to budget constraints, the current funding level will only allow the production of 50,000 westslope cutthroat trout.  Monitoring and biological evaluations are the responsibility of the receiving management agencies.  The exact number of fish and annual stocking locations may change slightly due to monitoring results, return of creel analysis and subbasin fishery objectives.