| Glacier plans fish barrier near
border By MICHAEL JAMISON of the Missoulian WEST GLACIER - Glacier National Park officials have hatched a plan that would turn back foreign invaders near the Canadian border. The proposal would build a barrier, designed to block non-native lake trout from trespassing up Quartz Creek. Home to native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, Quartz Creek is considered the last drainage in the park that remains free of non-native fish. Fishery surveys in and around the park have shown non-natives outcompete the natives when it comes to both feeding and breeding, and interbreeding pollutes the native gene pool. That's of special concern near Quartz Creek, where work in adjacent drainages has revealed a near complete replacement of bull trout by invasive lake trout in the past three decades. Scientists have long advocated a barrier between Lower and Middle Quartz lakes to stem the spread of lake trout. In May 2003, park officials proposed just such a barrier, but a month later the plan was blown out of the water when heavy spring runoff raised concerns that the barrier, as planned, would not handle the high water flows. The original plan - to create a 4- or 5-foot waterfall from bundles of rock - was abandoned after a site visit showed the stream running out of its banks with spring runoff. Scientists estimated flows at more than 200 cubic feet per second, and the stream was braiding out across the floodplain in a number of channels. Fish, they decided, would simply swim around the barrier at high water, and the barrier itself would likely be blown away by the pulse of water in the main channel. The new plan uses that same pulse of water to the biologists' advantage. The idea is to build rock barriers extending from either bank toward the center of the stream. A gap in the middle would funnel water into the main streambed, increasing the river's force. Lake trout, scientists believe, would not be able to fight upstream against that current. If approved, the barrier would be built just above Lower Quartz Lake, which is known to already be infested with lake trout. It would protect pristine Middle Quartz and Upper Quartz lakes, as well as high-elevation Cerulean Lake. The Quartz Creek drainage is located in the park's remote northwest corner, its waters flowing out of Gyrfalcon Lake near the Continental Divide. From Gyrfalcon Lake, elevation 7,280, the water twists and turns about 41 river miles, dropping through 1,200 acres of lakes, to the North Fork Flathead River. Scientists have documented invasive lake trout throughout the Flathead River system, including the North Fork. Park officials say the barrier would be built with the help of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages threatened and endangered species such as bull trout. Comments on the plan must be received by Sept. 13, and can be forwarded to glac_public_comments@nps.gov. The public also can mail comments to Glacier National Park, Quartz Creek Fish Barrier, West Glacier, MT 59936. Copies of the plan are available at www.nps.gov/glac/plans.htm. Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com Return to Headwaters News |