Tuesday-night meeting considers lake proposal

One of three Western Montana meetings on netting lake trout from Flathead Lake will be Tuesday from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel Kalispell.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks also are holding a Monday night meeting at the KwaTaqNuk hotel in Polson and a Wednesday meeting at the Wingate hotel in Missoula.

Both the Polson and Missoula meetings also will be from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

The format for the scoping meetings involves opening remarks from state and tribal officials, a technical presentation from the tribes, a question-and-answer session, and comments to be taken in small groups.

The tribes have proposed a gill netting pilot project on Flathead Lake to further reduce the non-native lake trout population to benefit native bull trout and cutthroat trout. So far, the proposal has been met with controversy.

Comments from the initial meetings will be considered in developing a draft environmental assessment, which then will be the subject of another round of public comment this year.