Yellowstone
Angling meetings address park fishing regulations and native fish restoration
Published
6 years agoon
Posted By
Outlaw PartnersBy Jessianne Wright EBS Contributor
BOZEMAN – Recently Yellowstone National Park biologists held their annual angling meetings in area communities to address the ongoing efforts to keep the park’s fishery healthy.
Todd Koel, a fisheries biologist in Yellowstone, traveled to Bozeman, West Yellowstone, and Jackson and Cody in Wyoming, to lead a discussion with anglers and other stakeholders about efforts to eradicate lake trout in Yellowstone Lake, restore grayling and Yellowstone and westslope cutthroat trout, and prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
“The last thing we need is more [aquatic invasive species] showing up,” Koel said during the Bozeman meeting on April 30, to an audience of nearly 40 people at the Hilton Garden Inn.
This year, felt-soled boots will be banned from Yellowstone National Park for the first time in the park’s history as a preventative measure against the spread of aquatic invasive species.
“The goal isn’t to make fishing more difficult or to make walking more difficult,” said fisheries biologist Brian Ertel during the meeting.
“It’s really to protect the waters and what we have. The last thing we want to see is a shoreline filled with zebra mussels or quagga mussels,” he said, adding that studies have found that felt takes a long time to dry, allowing for small organisms to survive and possibly be carried to other bodies of water.
“Right now, we’re pretty fortunate in the park. We do have whirling disease, we do have New Zealand mud snails, but so far we’ve been able to avoid these guys, the zebra mussels and quagga mussels,” Ertel said.
Zebra and quagga mussels are prolific non-natives that remove nutrients from the water, clog pipes, and outcompete native species. They are now widespread throughout the U.S., notably in Colorado and Utah. On April 23, zebra mussels were identified on a boat stopped in Anaconda, Montana, traveling from Ohio to Washington’s Puget Sound.
To further prevent the spread of AIS, the park has instituted boating seasons and inspection stations at boat launches this summer. These areas will be barricaded to keep watercrafts from entering the waters without having been inspected first.
While preventative measures are in full force against the tiny mussels, efforts to eradicate a once well-established and very large non-native are also ongoing.
In 1994, lake trout were first discovered in Yellowstone Lake, after likely being illegally introduced sometime in the ’80s.
“Those fish get really big. The record lake trout out of Wyoming is out of Jackson Lake and was over 50 pounds. To get that big, you have to eat a lot of fish,” said fisheries biologist Pat Bigelow, adding that lake trout prey on cutthroat, which are considered a keystone species for their significant role in the ecosystem.
“Because there are fewer cutthroat in the tributaries running into the lake, the grizzly bears switched their early protein consumption more to elk calves,” she added. “We have this bumper sticker that says, ‘lake trout kill elk.’”
After more than 20 years of removal efforts, which include a mandatory fish kill for park anglers who catch lake trout and extensive gillnetting by commercial fishing companies, abundance models show that population growth is starting to slow down.
“I’m really excited that we’re making measurable progress in reducing lake trout,” Bigelow said, but she added that there is still much work to be done. “It’s important to remember that there are still big fish out there, there’s a lot of lake trout out there. There’s a huge threat still and we need to keep this pressure up.”
To keep up the heat, park employees have begun to target lake trout on the front end by suppressing their eggs.“It turns out the best method we’ve used so far is putting [lake trout] carcasses on top of the spawning material,” said Bigelow. “What we think happens is the decomposition of the carcass material drops the dissolved oxygen so far that the embryos actually suffocate. And then the carcasses eventually get washed away or decay.”
Employees will continue to target lake trout eggs this summer, utilizing shredded lake trout caught in the gillnets to suffocate the eggs. According to Koel, they will also try using pellets made of organic material this fall.
In addition to suppressing threats to the fishery, biologists are continuing their work to restore native populations.
Park staff have removed nonnative species like rainbow and brook trout from a number of creek systems. Generally, this process includes the construction of an upstream barrier to prevent the unwanted spread of nonnative fish, a treatment of the piscicide rotenone, and reintroduction of the desired native fish species—either grayling, westslope cutthroat or Yellowstone cutthroat.
This year, the lower Gibbon River will be treated with rotenone from Virginia Cascades to Little Gibbon Falls in August, according to biologist Jeff Arnold.
There will also be sampling on Specimen and Grayling creeks to assess the success of westslope and grayling reintroduction efforts.
The fishing season in Yellowstone opens Saturday, May 26. For more information about fishing regulations, fisheries science, and fish conservation in Yellowstone is available at go.nps.gov/fish.
The Outlaw Partners is a creative marketing, media and events company based in Big Sky, Montana.
Upcoming Events
march, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before 9/10/2024:
more
Event Details
Children turning 5 on or before
9/10/2024: Kindergarten
enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year can be completed by following the
registration process now.
Children
born on or after September 11, 2019: 4K enrollment is now open for
families that have a 4-year-old they would like to enroll in our program for
the 2023-2024 school year. Please complete the 4K Interest Form to
express your interest. Completing this form does not guarantee enrollment into
the 4K program. Enrollment is capped at twenty 4-year-olds currently
residing within Big Sky School District boundary full time and will be
determined by birth date in calendar order of those born on or after September
11, 2018. Interest form closes on May 30th.
Enrollment now is critical for fall preparations. Thank you!
Time
February 26 (Monday) - April 21 (Sunday)
Event Details
My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy
more
Event Details
My Barking Dog is a nightmare comedy that tells the story of Toby and Melinda, two lonely people whose lives are forever changed the night they encounter a starving coyote at their apartment building. Over time they grow to expect him, leaving ritual offerings to entice the coyote every night. Toby and Melinda forge a connection over this visitor and share curiosity and concern about his presence in the city. The coyote expands their world–until, one night, their world is shattered. Their lives are pushed suddenly into uncharted territory, sending them on a surreal odyssey that changes their city–and the world–forever.
Directed by LX Miller. Starring Max Schneider and Denise Hergett
Verge Theater is continuing their mission to provide accessible theater to our community. Tickets for My Barking Dog are Pay What You Wish with a suggested price of $35. Audience members are offered the opportunity to select the price point that is comfortable for them when purchasing tickets.
My Barking Dog runs March 15-17, 22-24, 28-30
Performances on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays begin at 7:00 p.m., with Sunday matinees offered at 3:00 p.m.
Suitable for ages 16 . No animals are harmed in the staging of this production.
Tickets are available online at www.vergetheater.com
Time
15 (Friday) 7:00 pm - 30 (Saturday) 8:30 pm
Location
Verge Theater
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm We will combine the heart-opening powers of cacao with the transcendental powers of breathwork and sound. Together, these practices will give us the opportunity for a deep
more
Event Details
Saturday, March 23rd 6:00-8:00pm
Time
March 23 (Saturday) 6:00 pm - April 23 (Tuesday) 8:00 pm
Location
Santosha Wellness Center
169 Snowy Mountain Circle
29mar3:00 pm4:00 pmGood Friday Mass: St. Joseph Catholic Mission3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Event City:Big Sky
Event Details
Friday of the Passion of the Lord St. Joseph Catholic Mission
Event Details
Friday of the Passion of the Lord
St. Joseph Catholic Mission
Time
(Friday) 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm