An annual stream survey of native bull trout in the Swan River drainage revealed a continued decline in reproduction, while the number of spawning trout in the North Fork Flathead Basin also fell below average.

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On January 13th, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released a new critical habitat designation for bull trout throughout the Northwest, including western Montana. The new draft — offering four-to-six times more protected waters than a previous proposal — includes 21,694 miles of stream habitat and 533,426 acres of reservoirs and lakes in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Nevada.

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KPAX has an overview. The Daily Inter Lake posted some additional details.

U.S. government scientists studying the Flathead River watershed straddling the B.C.-Montana border say they’ve discovered the prime spawning site for a threatened species of trout – on the Canadian side of the system, and in the very shadow of a proposed mountaintop coal mine that drew fire from U.S. president-elect Barack Obama during his drive to the White House.

Biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Montana state Wildlife Department say the findings pinpoint the mouth of Foisey Creek in southeastern B.C. – near the planned site of a controversial open-pit coal operation proposed by Toronto-based Cline Mining Corp. – as a “critical” site in the life-cycle of the protected bull trout, which often migrates from U.S. waters to Canada to reproduce.

It’s a discovery, the scientists say, that adds to previous evidence showing threats to the watershed’s population of cross-border cutthroat trout, and which should clinch the environmental case against the mine.

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A controversial Canadian coal mine, proposed high in the headwaters above Glacier National Park, would be built atop the most productive bull trout spawning habitat in the entire river basin.

“That site, immediately below the proposed mine site, is incredibly important bull trout habitat,” said Mark Deleray, a fisheries biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

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(Link updated on 30 November. The darn Missoulian sometimes changes the link when they archive articles.)

An annual survey of bull trout spawning activity has found higher redd counts in the North Fork Flathead Basin, and counts below average in the South Fork Flathead and Swan River drainages.

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This year’s count found that Trail Creek was the biggest producer in the North Fork drainage, with 49 redds. Coal Creek continues to be the drainage’s least productive stream, with only two redds.

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