‘Rock snot’ algae blooms hurting Kootenai River fishery
As the sun sets, Jim Dunnigan, Libby Dam mitigation coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, tosses a mesh bin into the Kootenai River in preparation for a night of electrofishing surveys. (Sarah Mosquera photo)
Photograph of Didymosphenia geminata (didymo) on the bottom of the Kootenai River below Libby Dam. (Ryan Sylvester / Montana FWP)
Dunnigan and his team set up a mobile lab on a stationary boat at the river’s edge. Two other teams collect the fish and return them to Dunnigan. (Photo courtesy Sarah Mosquera)
Fisheries technician Chad Gabreski stands in the Kootenai River near a mesh container full of fish. When Dunnigan is ready, Gabreski will use a net to lift fish out of the container to be measured. (Photo courtesy Sarah Mosquera)
A wall of Didymosphenia geminata, or “rock snot,” samples stored at FWP’s Libby area office. FWP has been monitoring rock snot in the Kootenai River since 2009. (Photo courtesy Bowman Leigh)
On an overcast day in mid-June last year, Jim Dunnigan, dam mitigation coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, stood on a concrete embankment overlooking the Kootenai River near Libby.
The high, gray wall of Libby Dam loomed to his left and a steep slope of boulders descended to the water in front of him...
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