LOLO \u2014 It\u2019s a Montana moment in late August, and the smell of decaying whitefish, suckers and crawdads dominates the last mile of a dusty creek bed in western Montana. Pools of standing water linger, but they\u2019re drying up too fast to offer more than a dead end to the remaining fish. Vultures are circling overhead.<\/p>\n
His boots crunching across the streambed, Jed Whiteley noted it\u2019s certainly not the first time Lolo Creek has run dry before reaching the Bitterroot River. As of Tuesday, the creek petered out just past the Highway 93 bridge in a patchwork of shallow water, fish carcasses and exposed streambed. But it’s the worst he’s seen since at least 2017, the year of the Lolo Peak Fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get a big dry-out like this, and you\u2019ve just wiped out an entire year\u2019s class of fish and macroinvertebrates,\u201d said Whiteley, the stream restoration director for the Clark Fork Coalition. \u201cWe always wonder, how long does it take for the creek to reboot?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n People are also reading\u2026\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jed Whiteley, the stream restoration director for the Clark Fork Coalition, walks through Lolo Creek\u2019s dried up streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n
SHANNA MADISON,Missoulian<\/p>\n
For trout in the Bitterroot, the creek’s disappearance also cuts off an avenue of retreat to colder waters. Historically low flows and soaring water temperatures on the river have prompted \u201choot owl\u201d restrictions<\/a> on fishing since mid-July in an effort to protect heat-stressed trout.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really important they can escape \u2014 they come here for their refuge,\u201d Whiteley said. \u201cNow that they\u2019re disconnected, they\u2019re stuck in the Bitterroot.\u201d<\/p>\n Over time, the problems on Lolo Creek have shown up in the form of lower populations of native fish on the main stem of the Bitterroot. That’s according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks Fisheries Biologist Ladd Knotek.<\/p>\n \u201cAs we get these low water years, they\u2019re more suitable for those nonnative species, like bass and pike,” Knotek said. \u201c… It\u2019s a stressful environment. It gets really warm, it\u2019s a tough place to be a trout for three months out of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n An unusually wet July helped somewhat. That month, 1.4 inches of rain fell at the Missoula airport, according to the National Weather Service \u2014 more than any July in almost a decade. But those showers didn\u2019t erase a more than 2-inch precipitation deficit created over the prior three months. And that followed a poor mountain snowpack, a fast melt-off and ever-growing demands for surface and groundwater.<\/p>\n Jed Whiteley, the stream restoration director for the Clark Fork Coalition, walks through Lolo Creek\u2019s dried up streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON,Missoulian<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought this would\u2019ve happened about two weeks ago, and that\u2019s what those rainstorms saved,\u201d Whiteley said. And he noted it’s not just the fish that suffer. “Whether it’s insects, spiders, bats, birds, riparian vegetation. Our riparian corridors are by far our most diverse, productive areas in all of Montana.”<\/p>\n Lolo Creek is the third-largest source of water for the Bitterroot, after the river\u2019s east and west forks. Those headwaters merge upstream of Darby, 70 river miles to the south. Whiteley noted Lolo is one of many\u00a0struggling tributaries that drain the Bitterroot Mountains to the valley’s west.<\/p>\n For the most part, those creeks run fast and cold through tight canyons underlain with bedrock, and don\u2019t lose much water. But reaching the valley floor they encounter river rocks extending dozens of feet underground, where they lose much of their water. Whiteley describes the valley floor as \u201ca big colander\u201d that helps recharge the Bitterroot River and aquifer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really exacerbates the problem,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need a lot of water to keep the creek going.\u201d<\/p>\n It also means groundwater withdrawals add to a vacuum that\u2019s dragging those creeks below the surface. With new developments in the area, municipal demand for groundwater around Lolo has grown, along with the number of unregulated \u201cexempt\u201d wells.<\/p>\n A crawfish crawls next to a dead fish on Lolo Creek\u2019s streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian<\/p>\n Pointing fingers<\/p>\n But those water withdrawals are just one piece of the puzzle, according to Whiteley and Clark Fork Coalition Policy Director Andrew Gorder. Like most streams and rivers in Montana, Lolo Creek is \u201coverallocated\u201d \u2014 meaning the legal rights to water from the basin exceed the supply.<\/p>\n \u201cLolo Creek is not an exception \u2014 that is basically the rule in all these major tributaries,\u201d Gorder said. \u201cThere\u2019s more water rights than there is physical water in the stream, even in a good year.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Gorder and Knotek credited local irrigators with voluntarily reducing the amount of water they\u2019re pulling from the creek. The biggest diversion on Lolo Creek is a couple miles upstream of Lolo, where the Lolo-Maclay Ditch\u2019s users collectively have the right to about 35 cubic feet per second from the creek \u2014 which, as of Wednesday, would have been the entire creek.<\/p>\n Dead fish lie on Lolo Creek\u2019s streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian<\/p>\n Irrigators have become a target for people upset about the creek running dry, said Nels Larson, who manages the ditch. But he argued that ignores the multitude of other pressures the creek faces. And he added that in recent years irrigators have sunk time, money and effort into measures that improve habitat \u2014 including a fish ladder: a series of fish pools and a large screen in 2020 that local biologists credit with saving thousands of fish each year.<\/p>\n Larson said that he and the other irrigators that use the ditch\u00a0have been ratcheting down their use to less than half of their legal right, which the Clark Fork Coalition confirmed on a recent visit to the ditch diversion. The rest of that water, voluntarily sent downstream, has a cost.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s second and third cutting of hay that won\u2019t happen, so you\u2019re going to have to go buy that hay,\u201d Larson said, noting he\u2019s heard quotes on hay prices in excess of $180 per ton this year. \u201cYou can\u2019t just point at me and say, \u2018Turn off your water\u2019 and you\u2019ll fix Lolo Creek. That\u2019s fine, then whatever\u2019s left of my business is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Jed Whiteley, the stream restoration director for the Clark Fork Coalition, walks through Lolo Creek\u2019s dried-up streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian<\/p>\n A \u201cfix\u201d for Lolo Creek won\u2019t happen overnight, Gorder said.<\/p>\n Unlike some other basins around the state<\/a>, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks doesn’t hold any water rights to preserve in-stream flows.\u00a0Gorder’s organization has acquired some small water rights it can use, but it’s not nearly enough to keep the creek flowing in a year like this one. They can lease water rights from irrigators who are willing to forgo some of their water at crucial times of year, but that\u2019s expensive. Meanwhile heat, drought, poor snowpack and a history of damage to the watershed add to the pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got this perfect storm of problems,\u201d Gorder said, \u201cand then this is the end result.\u201d<\/p>\n Vegetation loss and the historic rerouting of Lolo Creek to build Highway 12 limit its ability to retain water. Beavers historically dammed up large portions of the creek, creating a natural storage system and maintaining fish habitat during driest parts of the summer.<\/p>\n Returning beaver dams to the landscape could help, and groups like Trout Unlimited and the Clark Fork Coalition are working to restore the creek channel<\/a> farther upstream.<\/p>\n Dead fish lie on Lolo Creek\u2019s streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian<\/p>\n Change, drought or \u2018weirding\u2019?<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s another factor not everyone loves to talk about.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it\u2019s an indicator of what we\u2019re going to be seeing on a more regular basis under a changing climate,\u201d Gorder said. \u201cWe can use the word \u2018drought.\u2019 We can use the word \u2018climate change.\u2019 It\u2019s all the same thing when it comes to the impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n In Montana those impacts are observable as higher temperatures and less precipitation \u2014 at least during the months when it goes the furthest, according to top climate experts. Record high temperatures have become the norm in Montana and across the globe, but how precipitation patterns will change is a lot harder to predict.<\/p>\n Still, annual data shows that in Montana, the summer months have gotten drier and will continue to do so under even the rosiest climate change projections, according to\u00a0the\u00a02017 Montana Climate Assessment<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 one of the most comprehensive examination of climate effects on the state.<\/p>\n Dead fish lie on Lolo Creek\u2019s streambed on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON, Missoulian<\/p>\n Kathy Whitlock, a globally renowned climate scientist who was the report’s lead author, also\u00a0testified<\/a> during the state\u2019s closely watched \u201cHeld v. Montana\u201d climate trial in 2023 that\u00a0peak runoff in the state is already happening 10-20 days earlier than a century ago.<\/p>\n By the end of the century it could be happening more than a month earlier due to worsening snowpack levels and hotter spring temperatures, she testified.<\/p>\n In public statements, Montana\u2019s leaders have pushed for mining and burning more coal<\/a> while dismissing climate science as \u201cpropaganda<\/a>\u201d or attempts to limit carbon emissions as \u201cwoke<\/a>.\u201d But when the issue went to court, the office of Attorney General Austin Knudsen, representing the administration of Gov. Greg Gianforte, didn\u2019t dispute<\/a> that burning more fossil fuels will continue to warm the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n For local irrigators, the reality of a warming climate isn\u2019t easy to ignore, whatever you want to call it.<\/p>\n \u201cMuch of this is a warm-up for whatever\u2019s to come in the future,\u201d Larson said. \u201cSome would call it ‘global climate weirding.’ I enjoy that phrase. And it\u2019s only going to get weirder.\u201d<\/p>\n Pools of water hold the last of the fish in Lolo Creek on Tuesday, Aug. 26 near Lolo.<\/p>\n SHANNA MADISON,Missoulian<\/p>\n Sam Wilson is the outdoors and environment reporter at the Missoulian.<\/p>\n You must be logged in to react. Be the first to know<\/p>\n Get local news delivered to your inbox!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Click any reaction to login.<\/p>\n