DIVIDE — Just below the surface of the Big Hole River, a Montana scientist has submerged a water quality monitoring device which will collect important data that will hopefully explain the drop in trout numbers in this and other area rivers.
“Really it’s like going to your doctor and getting a checkup. They do some basic things: Do you have a high temperature? You’re sick. Well, if we have really high water temperatures, that’s a stressor for the fishery. We’re going to measure the oxygen, they do the same thing at the doctor’s office,” Lead Scientist Kyle Flynn said.
Flynn was hired by Save Wild Trout, a group of outfitters and anglers who commissioned an independent study to collect data that may explain the decrease in trout numbers in waterways in the Jefferson Basin. Flynn recently places sondes or water monitors in the Big Hole to measure water temperature, oxygen levels, and other information in the water.
“You can’t manage what you don’t know, so it’s really critical that we start gathering this data and start working toward solutions that will provide longevity for our wild trout populations,” Quincey Johnson of Save Wild Trout said.
Flynn has submerged eight monitors at points along the Big Hole, Jefferson, Ruby, and Beaverhead rivers to collect data throughout this year and next year.
“What I’d like to see done is a weight-of-evidence approach, so what do we think, if anything, is impacting the fishery and then the next step is what can be done about it,” Flynn said.
This data will be shared with FWP which is also conducting its own studies on the waterways.
“We’re happy to collaborate with them and work together. This is a group effort and it takes a village to save our fisheries,” said Johnson.
As a Montanan and outdoor enthusiast, Flynn says this is a personal mission for him.
“It’s personal for all of us, right? We all want healthy fisheries, we all want to recreate, that’s why we all live in Montana, made that choice, so I think it’s personal for everybody,” Flynn said.
