Montana Trout Unlimited
Missoula, MT
NW Montana Native Fish
Project location: NW Montana
$15,000 2008

The mission of Montana Trout Unlimited (MT-TU) is conservation, protection and restoration of Montana's coldwater fish and their watersheds.  

Montana Trout Unlimited’s conservation agenda falls under five primary areas:

• Protection of water quality

• Protection and enhancement of instream flows

• Conservation and restoration of populations of Montana’s native coldwater fish, including bull trout, westslope and Yellowstone cutthroat trout, fluvial arctic grayling, interior redband trout and mountain whitefish.

• Promotion and defense of progressive wild fish management

• Defense of traditional public access to Montana’s rivers and lakes.

Funding from the Confluence Fund are directed toward the NW Montana Native Fish Project with the goal of securing and expanding existing populations of native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. The Flathead and Swan River watersheds in NW Montana are two of the most important strongholds remaining for these fish, however, the occupied habitat for both species has shrunk to a fraction of their historical ranges due to the fragmentation and modifications caused by dams, barriers at road crossings, logging, agricultural practices, development and climate change.  Another significant challenge to survival of both species result from the presence of introduced species likely originating from illegal stocking. 

This project combines effective grassroots advocacy with the best available science as well as public outreach and education to ensure that disappearing native trout populations in the Swan River and upper Flathead drainages are secure from threats posed by habitat and water quality loss, as well as genetic and competitive interactions from introduced non-native species.  

Strategies used to accomplish project goals include:

• using Rotenone, a short-lived organic chemical that eliminates the hybrid fish, but does not have a long-lasting effect on other aquatic organisms
• stocking lakes repeatedly with pure-strain cutthroats in an attempt to "swamp" hybrid gene species
• limited commercial netting. 
• working with other organizations to organize anglers to pressure MT policy makers to work with the Canadian interests to either abandon development plans or severely scale them back.