Project History

The 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 native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout from Flathead Lake. To mitigate for the loss of native fish, resource managers proposed a combination of operational and non operational 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 Hungry Horse Dam Mitigation Plan and directed the managing agencies to develop a Fisheries 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 propagation techniques and/or supplementation of native species. These directives were incorporated into the 1994 BPA 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 distributed 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 an increased fishery for kokanee failed to develop.  Monitoring activities were completed in 1998 (Fredenberg, et al. 1999) and results indicated that kokanee survival in Flathead Lake was severely limited by predation from high population levels of lake trout. After four years of a proposed five year trial, the stocking of kokanee salmon in Flathead Lake ceased.

Due to the need to better understand the changing fish species interrelationships and food web dynamics of Flathead Lake, the Hungry Horse Implementation Group decided against direct 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. This mitigation program has created popular alternative fisheries in closed basin systems that do not conflict with native species restoration, such as Dollar, Lake Five, Spoon, Whitefish and Peterson Lakes among others (MFWP, CSKT file reports). This effort is aimed to provide recreational fishing opportunities so as to redirect angling pressure away from sensitive native populations being recovered elsewhere in the contiguous Flathead system.

This project maintains the commitment within the Hungry Horse Dam Fisheries Mitigation Plan, to mitigate for fish loses from the construction and operation of Hungry Horse Dam by restoring lost resources or by replacing them elsewhere in the subbasin.  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 these directives, if kokanee reintroduction was determined not to be successful, managing agencies were directed to proceed with native species restoration and enhancement activities (hatchery stocking) of offsite fisheries in the Flathead Subbasin.

This proposal further 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 no catch or 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."  It also meets the Tribal Subsistence and Angler Harvest Objective (HAR1).  This objective is to provide, maintain or increase harvestable sport fish while protecting the long-term persistence of native species populations and create alternative harvest opportunities in offsite lakes through hatchery production and maintain angler interest in aquatic species conservation.

Project Summary

Current project objectives include acquiring genetically pure eggs, hatching, rearing, and stocking requested numbers up to 100,000 westslope cutthroat and 100,000 rainbow trout annually for offsite mitigation in closed basin waters of the Flathead River system.  Fish stocking locations, monitoring and biological evaluations are conducted by the receiving management agencies. Numbers of fish and stocking locations may change annually due to monitoring results, return to creel analysis, subbasin fishery objectives, changing priorities and managing agencies adaptive management decisions.  Fish managers during any given year may request variations in species and numbers to meet changing management objectives.  

In 2023 Creston National Fish Hatchery will be stocking all sterile Rainbow Trout.  Creston will also continue expanding efforts toward Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout Recovery.