What are in-stream flows really for?

Sifting through all the wild claims made by our state Water Compact team, the one club they repeatedly beat us with is the “In-Stream Flow” rights of the tribes — on and off the reservation. These flows are intended to be used to support “fisheries.”

We have been living with “interim” in-stream flows for a couple decades now, to support the “endangered” bull trout. It turns out that these fish are NOT endangered anywhere else that they exist — only here in Western Montana, maybe. 

The threat is that if we don’t accept the current version of the “compact” for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, those interim flows will be increased — taking water from the irrigation project.

Well... in January the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks issued their completed bull trout study for 2014 for Region 1. That’s us, up here in the northwest corner of the state. It covers the Clark Fork, Flathead and Kootenai drainages. Mark Deleray, manager, says, “In FWP Region One waters, bull trout redd numbers appear stable in all basins, being very similar to 10-year averages.” It turns out, this years count is running consistent with the 10-year average and the fish are doing fine with the water they have.

Interesting. Why would we need to “increase” the in-stream flows (and TAKE water from the irrigators) if the fish are reproducing and meeting the expected goals? Something smells fishy. See the report for yourselves:

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/newsReleases/fishing/nr_0878.html

Are we increasing in-stream flows to promote fish or increase revenue from water — the blue gold? —Michael Gale, Ronan