A History Montana's Fisheries Division from 1945 to 2000
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FGHISTORY1945-2000workcopy1.wpd DRAFT 2/17/01 Note: This document replaces FGhist1943-85workcopy3.wpd and FGhist1986-2000workcopy2.wpd which have been combined into this document and expanded. A HISTORY MONTANA’S FISHERIES DIVISION FROM 1945 TO 2000 “A River is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it.” – Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. “Only an idle little stream, Whose amber waters softly gleam, Where I may wade through woodland shade, And cast a fly, and loaf, and dream. “Only a trout or two, to dart, From foaming pools, and try my art: ‘Tis all I’m wishing -- old fashioned fishing, And just a day in Nature’s heart.” - - - Van Dyke In: Biennial Report of the Montana Fish and Game Commission, 1925-1926. Note: Information that has yet to be included in this history: 1. Additional Fisheries issue papers listed below: Habitat Clark Fork River reclamation, recovery, lawsuit w/ARCO - Glenn Phillips Future Fisheries Improvement Program - Glenn Phillips River Restoration Program - Glenn Phillips Pallid Sturgeon - Bill Gardner Fish Management (Hatcheries): Hatchery renovation and reconstruction - Tim Gallagher & Gary Bertellotti Fish Management: Fisherman Log program - Bob McFarland Angler Surveys - Bob McFarland Bitterroot River efforts - Chris Clancy Canyon Ferry fishery - Ron Spoon Electro fishing development - Dick Vincent Fish population estimates methods development & use - Dick Vincent Madison River - Dick Vincent Whirling disease - Dick Vincent Flathead Lake fishery - Mark Deleray Fort Peck fishery - Bill Wiedenheft Hauser/Holter reservoirs - Steve Leathe Montana Fish Records program - Margie Peterson Mysis shrimp/Kokanee in Flathead Lake - Mark Deleray Paddlefish program - Jim Liebelt (Yellowstone)/ Kent Gilge (Missouri) Pallid sturgeon program - Bill Gardner Scale mounting lab in Bozeman - Wayne Black Fishing regulations historical trend, special regs, etc. - Karen Zacheim Public Involvement (Angler forums, conflict resolution) - ? Cisco introductions - Bill Wiedenheft (Fort Peck)/ Bill Hill (Tiber) Database management (GIS & MRIS) - Janet Hess-Herbert Fishing Access: Crossing the barriers program for persons with disabilities - Tim Gallagher Aquatic Education: Con Ed is supposed to complete the chronological part of the Aquatic Education element of the history based on the draft left with him in September 2000. There were no Issue Papers planned for this element of the history. Dave Hagengruber is the contact person in Con Ed. 2. Additional chronological history, as appropriate, to be extracted from the above issue papers once they are completed. 3. Questions remaining that are shown in bold type throughout the Word Perfect document on pages 10,14, 15, 17, 18, 28, 49, 69, 72, 74, 77, 79, 80, 82, 85, 87, 89, 135, 150, 151, 153, 156, 157, 164, 167, 173, 180, 232, 237, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251. 4. Missing names of personnel and/or their employment dates in the ORGANIZATION section at the back of the document. 5. Additional oral histories. Note: Sibb Melee-Ligas makes reference in the Hatchery section to photos she found to use in the hatchery history (Photos referenced in bold type in the text). She indicates they were included on a diskette. I did not find any photos on the diskette I had to work with. Liter Spence Page 2 of 248 CONTENTS Forward Acknowledgments Introduction Administration 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s Habitat 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s Fish Management (Hatcheries) 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s Fish Management 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s 77The 1980’s The 1990’s Fishing Access 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s Page 3 of 248 Aquatic Education 1945-1950 The 1950’s The 1960’s The 1970’s The 1980’s The 1990’s Appendix (List the items when they are all completed) Fisheries Issue Papers Index Page 4 of 248 FORWARD As it moves from the mountains to the hills to the plains to the sea, a river sings. It is a siren song, falling softly on the ear and heard gently in the heart of those fortunate few who are attuned to hear it. These are the anglers and to them is given not only the ability to hear the voice of the river in their hearts but knowledge of the tongues with which it speaks . There are many who love rivers but do not hear its voice, but anglers have it always in their sound; it is for them the river sings, for them it is never silent. ---- Charles R. Brooks, The Living River. In 1991, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks published A History of Montana’s Fisheries Division from 1890 to 1958 written by Bill Alvord, a long-time employee of the Department’s Fisheries Division. In this publication, an attempt was made to report the highlights of fisheries management in Montana in a general chronological order. The Forward of the document states “Important information has no doubt been overlooked and some details of minor importance have been excluded in the interest of brevity. Its primary value will be as a reference.” Alvord’s history primarily chronicles the principal fisheries “management” method in use during the period - - the use of hatchery fish to provide fishing in the state’s waters. Although there were early investigations of some state waters, those investigations were mainly for the purpose of determining locations for hatcheries and finding sources of fish and eggs for use in hatchery operations and the subsequent planting of fish. In the 1940’s, it was realized that biological factors should be a bigger consideration in fisheries management. Serious investigations of streams and lakes for purposes other than fish planting began in 1947, when the state’s first fisheries biologist was hired. This was followed by the hiring of other biologists to assist in gathering management information on waters in the state. In this current history, some of the information from 1959 through 1985 is taken from a draft of the division history from 1958-1985 also written by Bill Alvord that was not previously published. Some of Alvord’s information was used as he wrote it and some of it was expanded to more fully discuss the activities conducted by the division during those years. Because 1945 was considered a reasonable transition period between emphasis on hatchery production and the advent of biological investigations in fisheries management, the Fisheries Division decided to have this current history begin in 1945, even though it overlaps part of the previous Alvord history. Primary sources of information were the Department’s biennial and annual reports. The early-day biennial reports were written in great detail, discussing the Department’s philosophies and activities during the reporting periods. Beginning in the late 1970’s, these reports began to contain less information, making history compilation more difficult. The Department’s official publications, Montana Outdoors and its predecessors Sporting Montana and Montana Wildlife, were also information sources. Additional sources were Department correspondence files and activity reports, hatchery records and oral interviews with hatchery personnel, oral interviews of some fisheries biologists and managers, and papers written on specific subjects by division personnel specifically for the history. In 1999, as part of the Department’s strategic planning process, the Fisheries Division published its own strategic planning document entitled “Fisheries Beyond 2000”, to cover the period 1999-2010. This document discusses the planning process in four elements: Habitat, Fish Management, Fishing Access and Aquatic Education. It was decided that the 1945-2000 history would be outlined to cover these same Page 5 of 248 four elements. Fish hatcheries are included under the Fish Management element in the planning document and, therefore, here also. In addition to the chronological history, issue papers were written by Department personnel covering the principal programs, actions and events that occurred during the period. These are contained in the back of the document. Where appropriate, Information was extracted from these papers and added to the chronological history under the appropriate elements. Page 6 of 248 PREFACE Specific activities of the Fisheries Division are included in this history in a chronological order beginning in 1945 and ending at the turn of the 20th century. As part of its centennial celebration, the Department published in its bimonthly, full color publication, Montana Outdoors, a Special Centennial Issue entitled “A Century of Conservation”. Written by Dave Books, magazine editor, it was carried in the November/December 1999 issue of the magazine. Books compiled the Department’s history in 10-year periods from 1900 to 2000. In this history, he summarized important events which occurred in the Fisheries Division and the Division felt it appropriate to include as the Preface to its own history what Books wrote about the Division during the period of time covered in this document. 1941-1950 In December of 1941, in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II. Many young Montanans, Department employees included, went off to war, prompting this pledge in the foreword to the Commission's 1941-1942 Biennial Report: "No matter how curtailed the personnel of the Department or its facilities, there is an obligation that will not be broken. Wildlife must be so managed that when the boys who are fighting for us return, they will be able to again enjoy the pleasures and the solace of the out-of-doors and the wild things that are so much a part of it. We can certainly do no less." Fisheries work, too, gained impetus as wartime restrictions were lifted; several hatcheries were expanded and improved, including those at Anaconda, Arlee, Emigrant, and Lewistown.