The Firehole River, along with the Gibbon and Madison rivers in Yellowstone National Park, has been placed under hoot-owl restrictions to alleviate stress and pressure on fish. Photo by Jim Peaco/NPS
by
Sophie Tsairis
As locals
and visitors in Greater Yellowstone converge on area rivers for hot-weather
reprieve, fisheries across the area are feeling the heat.
Since
the early 2000s, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has been enforcing what are
known as hoot-owl restrictions and closures on rivers to alleviate stress
caused by angling pressure on fisheries impacted by warming river temperatures
and lower streamflows. FWP typically enacts these closures in late July or
early August, which are typically the hottest weeks of summer.
.
This
year, the combination of a below-average snowpack and record-breaking
temperatures across the West in July has prompted earlier-than-usual
restrictions on 17 western Montana rivers. Some areas in northwest Montana that
have never required closures are also experiencing dangerously high water
temperatures.
“This year we began restrictions early, in the first few weeks of July, and they are likely to continue through the rest of the summer.” – Pat Saffel, Region 2 fisheries manager, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
On
July 24, FWP implemented hoot-owl restrictions on the North Fork of the Flathead
River, marking the first time that restrictions have been applied in the
Flathead River drainage. These restrictions, which prohibit fishing from 2 p.m. until midnight—when water
temperatures peak—aim to give fish much-needed relief from warmer water and
angling pressure.
National
Weather Service data shows temperatures in northwest Montana soared as much as
10 degrees above average in July, with minimal precipitation.
Pat
Saffel, Region 2 fisheries manager for FWP, told Mountain Journal that
water temperatures are typically warmest in Montana from the third week of July
to mid-to-late August. “This year we began restrictions early, in the first few
weeks of July, and they are likely to continue through the rest of the summer,”
Saffel said. “Once we implement restrictions, we usually keep them in place;
otherwise, we end up chasing our tails with weather systems moving
through.”
Hoot-owl
restrictions were placed on most rivers in southwest Montana in the first two
weeks of July due to rising temperatures affecting rainbow and brown trout.
“Fish
become stressed as water temperatures rise,” Saffel explained. “Being
cold-blooded animals, they have specific temperature preferences. We use different
criteria for implementing restrictions depending on the river and the species.
For trout, that’s 73 degrees for three consecutive days.”
Rivers that drop below the fifth percentile of their average flow will also be
closed to fishing.
In a July
12 press release, Yellowstone National Park announced fishing closures on three
rivers inside the park—the Madison, Firehole and Gibbon—along with their
tributaries in order to protect native and wild trout fisheries as water
temperatures exceed 68 F.
Anglers can find a complete list of Yellowstone
National Park river closures and restrictions on the National Park Service
website. Montana river closures and restrictions are listed on the FWP website.
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About Sophie Tsairis
Sophie Tsairis is a freelance writer based in Bozeman, Montana. She earned a master's degree in environmental journalism from the University of Montana in 2017.