| Arctic
Grayling
In 1994, USFWS determined that listing was warranted but precluded, because there were species with a higher priority, like bull trout and westslope cutthroats. Since then the grayling is considered a “candidate species” and its status reviewed on an annual basis. MT Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MTFWP) is working on a “candidate conservation agreement with assurances” it hopes will eliminate the need for listing by encouraging landowners to protect stream-side habitat, leaving more water in streams and establishing grayling populations in other areas. Stocking in the Ruby, Sun, lower Beaverhead, Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson has given little evidence of natural reproduction of self-sustaining populations as yet. MTFWP believes that listing would drive a wedge between conservationists and ranchers whose land borders arctic grayling waters. In May, 2004, when normal flows are around 410 cfs, flows dropped to 15 cfs, then 6 cfs in the middle reaches of the Big Hole River. That year, the federal Natural Resources & Conservation Service (NRCS) offered ranchers on the Big Hole from $40 to $60 per acre (totaling $1 million) not to irrigate their hay meadows and pastures. The goal was to have more water in the upper Big Hole, home of the last native stream-living population of grayling in the lower 48 states, and aid in its survival. On Friday, June 18th, the river was dewatered to 30 cfs. A total of 15 ranchers accepted NRCS’s offer for not irrigating and days after shut-off water levels rose to 159 cfs. Ensuring a minimum of 60 cfs for the long term is necessary to protect a self-sustaining, healthy population of arctic grayling. In March, 2005, NRCS told the ranchers that they were not going to keep paying them every year to shut down irrigation for short-term, temporary water.
The Arctic grayling is a fish of the north Russia. The only grayling in the lower 48 is in Michigan and in the upper Missouri headwaters. Having evolved in the Arctic where food is scarce, the grayling attacks food with abandon and is easy pray for anglers. By the late 1970s, the only remaining fluvial grayling in the lower 48 states was in the Big Hole River. Those in the Ruby, Sun and other tributaries died out due to dams preventing their migration, siltation (smothers eggs), logging, cattle grazing and competition from introduced species. In the drought of 1988, some upper reaches of the Big Hole went dry and grayling numbers plummeted from 100 per mile to 22 per mile. In response, MTFWP restricted grayling on the Big Hole to catch and release. Environmental groups then petitioned to list the grayling for protection under the Endangered Species Act. To forestall ESA listing, MTFWP agreed to continue grayling conservation work it had begun on the Big Hole and to restore grayling populations on other rivers. Using state and federal funds, 20 cattle watering wells have been drilled, so river water did not need to be diverted for cattle and hay. Also planting of willows on tributaries and fencing out cattle have been tried. Jon Marvel, Executive Director of Western Watersheds Project says: “The lethargic process developed by FWP and MTFWP is turning into a death sentence for grayling.”
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The
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) will determine
by April of 2007, if the fluvial arctic grayling
should be protected under the Endangered Species Act
(ESA). The Center for Biological Diversity in Arizona
sued the USFWS and forced them into looking into a
protected status. They will go through the process of
evaluating the grayling’s status. (See below article on
EA.) The USFWS has not done much to protect the
river-dwelling fish that has been reduced to a single,
self-sustaining population in a stretch of the Big Hole
River. Once the fish was found throughout the upper
Missouri River drainage, but now it’s on the brink of
extinction. The grayling needs the safety net of the ESA
to survive.