Bull trout and cutthroats need your help in Glacier

If you detest lake trout and prefer native fishes swimming in Montana, you should definitely comment on a National Park Service recommendation to keep those non-native lakers out of Glacier National Park’s Quartz Lake.

Well, actually, some lake trout have already made it into the lake but their density is quite low right now, providing an opportunity to cull them from the population. But, if repairs aren’t made to an aging and archaic fish barrier, built in 2004, more fish could get into the lake, including non-native rainbows. Currently, Quartz serves as a bastion to threatened bull trout and native westslope cutthroats.

If you feel like reenforcing the fish barrier is valuable, you can comment directly to Glacier National Park by clicking here: COMMENT

Here’s a summary of the project.

National Park Service Summary of Proposed Work

Native fish populations in Glacier National Park have been severely compromised by the invasion and expansion of non-native fish species into the park’s lakes and streams. Non-native fish can affect native fish populations through predation, hybridization, and competition and are imperiling populations of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), which are federally listed as threatened, and the native westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), a state listed Species of Concern. Of the seventeen lakes on the west side of the park that support bull trout, nine have been compromised by non-native lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and a tenth has been compromised by the non-native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).

Quartz Lake, located in the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage and the park’s North Fork District, is one of the last remaining strongholds for bull trout in park waters west of the Continental Divide. Until recently, Quartz Lake was believed to be the largest lake on the west side of the park accessible to lake trout but not yet colonized by them. In 2005, lake trout were detected in Quartz Lake, threatening the long-term persistence of the Quartz Lake bull trout population. At that time, a fish passage barrier designed to protect the drainage from invasion by non-native fish was under construction on Quartz Creek, approximately 100 yards below Middle Quartz Lake, but completion of the barrier was suspended until options to control lake trout could be reviewed. The National Park Service (NPS) has since collaborated with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and others in an ongoing experimental program to remove lake trout from Quartz Lake to suppress the population. Experimental suppression has so far been promising, with identification of lake trout spawning areas and annual removal of spawning lake trout. Data suggests that the project is successfully removing a high percentage of spawning adults annually, which is expected to eventually reduce the lake trout population over time.

The NPS is proposing to complete, modify, and improve the existing Quartz Creek fish barrier. The purpose of the project is to support lake trout suppression efforts in Quartz Lake, reduce the potential for additional lake trout to enter the lake, and reduce the likelihood of invasion from other non-native species such as rainbow trout and brook trout, thereby better protecting the integrity of native fish populations in the upper Quartz drainage.