Fish barrier work planned at two Glacier sites

A fish barrier improvement project below Quartz Lake and a fish barrier removal and bridge replacement project on Rose Creek have been approved in Glacier National Park.

The Quartz Creek Fish Barrier Modification and Improvement Project recently was approved by the National Park Service’s Intermountain regional director.

There were 15 comments submitted on the project, 14 of them supporting it. 

The fish barrier was installed 100 yards below Middle Quartz Lake after lake trout were discovered in the lake in 2005. Completion of the barrier was suspended until options to control lake trout could be reviewed.

Since then, a lake trout gill-netting project has gotten under way on the lake, and the decision was made to finish the barrier to prevent future lake trout encroachment.

The barrier construction work is expected to take up to two weeks in the low-flow period late this summer and early fall. 

At about the same time, work will get under way to remove an abandoned dam on lower Rose Creek just above Rising Sun Campground on Glacier’s east side. The unwanted dam has been an impediment to native fish passage; it is expected to take about two weeks to remove. 

Demolition of the nearby Rose Creek bridge will start in fall 2013. The bridge’s abutments are showing signs of deterioration that would require extensive maintenance. 

Instead, a new 85-foot-long bridge with concrete girders and no footings or pilings in the stream channel will be installed.