Park taking comments on fish barrier

Glacier National Park is soliciting public comments on a proposal to improve a barrier downstream from Quartz Lake that is aimed at preventing non-native fish from entering the lake.

The park is proposing to “complete, modify and improve” the fish barrier that was partially installed in 2005 after lake trout were detected in the lake.

Located on the park’s west side and connected to the Flathead River system, Quartz Lake is one of the last remaining west-side lakes with intact bull trout and westslope cutthroat populations.

The barrier was aimed at preventing competing non-native lake trout from entering the lake, and in recent years, gill netting has been employed to remove lake trout that already have occupied the lake.

“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,” a park press release states.

“Non-native fish can affect native fish populations through predation, hyrbidization and competition and are imperiling populations of bull trout, which are federally listed as threatened and the native westslope cutthroat trout, a state-listed Species of Concern.”

Of the 17 lakes on the park’s west side that support native species, nine have been compromised by lake trout and another has been compromised by brook trout.

An environmental assessment outlining the fish barrier proposal is available online at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/QuartzCreek