Giving Montana fish a needed lift

River life is one exhausting obstacle course after another for wild trout in
Montana.

Montana’s wild trout face many barriers that can impede their natural migratory patterns and block upstream passage, from old weirs and channel modifications to dams and bridges.

But with a lift from PPL Montana, that hard, tail-swishing migratory life for bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout and other fish species will get a bit easier on the Clark Fork River in northwestern Montana.

This elaborate stairway to the top of the dam opens up for these rare species of trout safe passage into hundreds of miles of their native spawning waters on the upstream Clark Fork River.

“If upstream migrating fish can readily find, enter and pass a fish ladder at a dam, they can reach their native habitat,” said Jon Jourdonnais, PPL Montana’s director of hydro licensing and compliance. “That’s why fish ladders like the one planned for Thompson Falls are important when you consider the positive effect they have on access to Montana’s fish habitat.”

The project is part of PPL Montana’s federal operating license in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. The bull trout is a federally listed threatened species, and the westslope cutthroat trout is a species of special concern, he said.

When dam construction began in the northwestern United States in the late 19th century, fish were plentiful.

But as development limited habitat and dams blocked migration of native fish, it became apparent that measures were needed to protect fish stocks — some of which were sliding toward extinction.

“The key is balance,” Jourdonnais said. “There can be fish, power and other resources available to the public, if there’s good river science and management. Construction of this fish ladder is an important way to sustain valuable fisheries resources.”