Lolo Creek fish kills point to need for water conservation

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) The drought is bad in western Montana, but now, it’s causing streams to dry up and fish to die. So some people are highlighting the need for more drought plans and shared sacrifice.

Lolo Creek has run low before. But few times have been as bad as this. Recently, the lowest section between U.S. Highway 93 and the confluence with the Bitterroot River has dried up again. And that’s killed a lot of fish, said Jed Whiteley, Clark Fork Coalition project manager.

“The creek is incredibly low. I think we’re getting close to 30 (cubic feet per second) at the (Department of Natural Resources Conservation) gage above the MacLay diversion. The MacLay’s have 34 cfs of water rights, and they’re voluntarily taking half or less than that now. But there’s not much water making it even that far,” Whiteley said.

Below the Maclay diversion, water in the creek starts to naturally seep into the ground, causing further losses, leaving the lowest section without water. Beaver dams are the only spots where fish and frogs are able to still live. The result is that hundreds of fish have died since Thursday, trapped in the shrinking pools of water that remain.

“It’s a mix (of species): I saw brown trout, rainbow trout, a lot of whitefish. Even the crayfish – it looks like the mink and whatever else are having a field day. There are pieces of crayfish everywhere. It’s really tough, I’m sure it hurts the productivity of the creek because of all the (aquatic insects) dying off,” Whiteley said.

Lolo Creek has been reduced to puddles. (Lolo Watershed Gruop)

Lolo Creek has been reduced to puddles. (Lolo Watershed Gruop)

Even though a flood watch has been issued due to rain storms predicted on Wednesday and Thursday, Whiteley said that probably wouldn’t be enough to restore the creek flow. It’s going to take some large precipitation events up around Lolo Pass to send enough water down the creek. Last year, a few such events occurred in September, which helped several streams recover a bit.

Retired fisheries biologist Rod Pierce of the Lolo Watershed Group agreed that it will take some time before the aquatic life in the creek recovers from this year’s situation.

“What we’re seeing is the habitat base is shrinking right now. There’s going to be a lot of fish impacts. It’s probably going to hit the juvenile fish harder than the larger fish. The effects of this drought will express itself over time; I don’t think the effects will go away when the rain starts because of the fish kills,” Pierce said. “We’re very concerned about it, and we’re trying to communicate with people to go easy on the stream and use whatever water conservation measures that they can.”

Several streams across western Montana are running at historic lows. The Bitterroot River downstream of Lolo Creek is only 60% of what it should be at this time of year, which is much below normal, according to the US Geological Survey. The flows in the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers above Missoula and Rock Creek are also rated much below normal. Low flows are bad for fish, partly because they allow the water to warm faster.

It’s not just Montana streams that are suffering. In Washington, a significant portion of the Spokane River has run dry. The Spokane Waterkeeper said it’s due to the river’s connection with the aquifer and the high summertime demand on water.

“When aquifer levels drop, the river loses more water to the aquifer, leaving critical habitat for fish and wildlife high and dry, and transforming a flowing river into bare rock,” the Spokane Waterkeeper said in a social media post. “We need to act now to conserve water in the aquifer. Every gallon saved helps keep water in the river. Skip lawn watering, fix leaks, and use water wisely to protect the Spokane River’s flow, beauty, and life.”

A dry stretch of Lolo Creek. (Clark Fork Coalition)

A dry stretch of Lolo Creek. (Clark Fork Coalition)

The same issue of high water use is happening in the Lolo Creek watershed, Pierce said. Lolo Creek started the summer poorly because the mountain snowpack melted out so quickly, leaving little water to carry the stream through the summer. Then irrigators need water for hay and livestock. But there’s also been increasing withdrawals from the aquifer as people with unmonitored wells use increasing amounts of groundwater to water their parched lawns. That draws down the aquifer, worsening the effects of the drought, and now, people in the Lolo area are reporting that their wells are running dry.

South of Lolo, Liz Heaney reported that she can get only a few gallons out of her well every 8 hours and she’s not the only one.

“I’m in crisis mode now, and Dick at Bitterroot Pump tells me I’m not the only one in our area; a couple in their 90s, and other families,” Heaney told the Current on Wednesday.

Pierce said the Lolo Watershed Group would like to develop a drought plan to improve conditions for the Lolo Creek drainage in the future, but it will take time. He helped develop the drought plan for the Blackfoot River drainage and said it took years of working with all the stakeholders. There’s little that can be done about this year’s problems except to use it for education as to why water conservation is important, especially during extreme drought. That applies not only to the Lolo Creek watershed but all streams in Montana that are suffering from the drought.

“What it points to is the sensitivity of these river systems to extreme drought and the sensitivity of these systems to how people treat these streams,” Pierce said. “These extreme weather events are predicted to increase in frequency. So it would be good if people could get together in community conservation and work toward this idea of shared sacrifice. We all care about the watershed, we want to help this stream and we all can do something during these periods of extreme drought. That might mean reducing water use but it also means working toward solutions like irrigation efficiency, water leases, habitat improvement, fish passage, fish screens – all of that would help build resiliency into a stressed stream system.”

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.