Tippets: Montana’s Warming Rivers, Cutthroats Survive Colorado Wildfire, Bull Trout Suit Filed, Frank Moore Bill Advances in Senate

July 20, 2016 By: Erin Block

  • For the past 15 years, Montana’s rivers continue to break records for early snowmelts, too-warm water, and low flows. This is bad news for trout and opens doors for warmwater species such as bass. “What bass say about our rivers is spooky,” says Dan Vermillion, chairman of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission. Via The Economist.
  • A population of genetically distinct cutthroat trout have survived the Hayden Pass fire, which burned in Colorado’s Sangre De Cristo wilderness. “Some of the fish will be left where they were found. Others will be moved to different sections of the creek and a third group will be taken to an isolated hatchery to prevent any threat of extinction.” Via Colorado 9 News.
  • Montana-based environmental group The Alliance for the Wild Rockies has sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power over bull trout mitigation policies across the Columbia River basin. Via The Missoulian.
  • A bill that would protect more than 100,000 acres in Oregon recently passed through a mark-up in the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The Frank Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary Designation Act would protect some of the best wild steelhead spawning grounds in the Pacific Northwest.