Quarterly wildlife meeting held

THOMPSON FALLS – County commissioners and regional wildlife experts assembled for their quarterly wildlife meeting last week at the county courthouse.

Representatives from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks and the United States Forest Service were on hand to meet with the commissioners and discuss the state of local wildlife in Sanders County.

The quarterly meeting began with a discussion on the unseasonably warm temperatures experienced by the county over the past couple of weeks.

Fish Wildlife and Parks Fisheries Biologist Ryan Kreiner noted the heat wave had raised temperatures in area waterways and led FWP Region 2, covering eastern portions of Sanders County, Mineral County and Missoula, in addition to Region 3 around the Bozeman area to implement “hoot owl” fishing restrictions.

According to the FWP’s website the preferred water temperature for rainbow and brown trout is around 55-65 degrees.

Temperatures of 73 are stressful for rainbow and brown trout.

Native species of trout, bull and westslope cutthroat, find temperatures in the mid-60s as stressful.

Kreiner explained the process that goes into determining “hoot owl” restrictions.

“Basically any trout stream in Montana if the temperatures hits 73 degrees for three days in a row then we have authority to put restrictions on,” Kreiner said.

He added the area river, which normally gets close to the 73-degree mark is the Thompson River.

However, according to Kreiner, temps in the Thompson River have stayed below that point so far.

“So far, especially the lower river hasn’t really come close to that,” Kreiner said.

He added the milder weather of last week helped to cool down the temperatures in the county’s creeks and rivers.

“The past few days have really cooled off water temperatures,” Kreiner said.

Following the discussion on water temperatures Kreiner moved on to the fish ladder at Thompson Falls Dam, which has seen a record number of fish this year.

The biologist noted the lack of a big runoff of snowmelt in the spring has probably contributed to the high numbers seen at the fish ladder explaining even if the ladder isn’t shut off the increased water current makes it difficult for fish to utilize the ladder during those conditions.

“This has been the highest year so far for fish,” Kreiner said.

He noted this year’s tally at the fish ladder was approaching 10,000 fish.

Not all species of fish are allowed to pass through the ladder as walleye and lake trout are species that are detained and not allowed to pass through the final portion of the 48 level fish ladder.   

Representatives of the United States Forest Service from the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District also provided the county commissioner’s with a quarterly update.

Dave Wrobleski and David Hattis made up the Forest Service contingent and ran the commissioners through a number of topics including prescribed burns.

Wrobleski stated that because of the short window for spring burning most of the prescribed burns in the Lolo National Forest have taken place in the fall season.  

Hattis also took some time to thank the commissioner’s for moving to Stage 1 fire restrictions during the first week of July.

“That was timely. That was great,” Hattis said.

The final wildlife official to present at the quarterly meeting was FWP Warden Troy Hinck.

Hinck noted there had been several bear issues due to the summer’s warm weather.

“I have been dealing with plenty of bear issues with the warm weather,” Hinck said.

Hinck hoped the ripening huckleberry crop would help offset trouble with bears.

He was cautiously optimistic about the prospects of huckleberry season.

“It’s not a great crop but maybe better than I thought it would be,” Hinck said.

The warden added animal problems in town, especially those related to deer have decreased.