What’s Happening with Wild Trout in Southwest Montana?

You’ve likely seen the troubling news that trout populations in the Jefferson Basin including the Big Hole, Beaverhead, and Ruby Rivers, have crashed to 50-year lows. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ (FWP) own data show that brown and rainbow trout…

Two Years After Calling for a Cold Water Fisheries Task Force, Southwest MT Trout Populations Fall to Historic Lows

You don’t have to look far to see that Southwest Montana’s world-renowned wild trout fisheries have been on the decline for the past several years. A suite of troubling conditions – low snowpack and dewatered rivers, nutrient pollution driven noxious…

SW Montana’s Jefferson Basin Trout at Historic Lows; Recruitment Class Absent 

Governor Has Ignored Calls for Cold Water Fisheries Task Force Recent reporting from the Montana Standard exposed an emergency situation on the Big Hole, Beaverhead, Ruby, and Jefferson rivers.  Wild trout populations in these rivers have plummeted to 50-year+ historic…

Conservation Groups, Fishing Businesses, and Montanans Ask Governor to Prioritize Cold Water Fisheries

Gianforte’s Failure to Act and Forecast For Hot, Dry Summer Doesn’t Bode Well For Montana’s Wild Trout Fisheries Today, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a broad coalition of fly fishing businesses, conservation organizations, and…

Gianforte Has Yet to Address the Decline of MT’s Cold Water Fisheries

Reminder: 2021 Season Recap: Montana’s Cold Water Fisheries – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Facebook Live October 6th at 12PM On July 21, 2021 Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, alongside a coalition of over two dozen fly fishing businesses, outfitters,…

Coalition Calls on Governor Gianforte to Form Cold Water Fisheries Task Force

Today, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper submitted a formal letter signed by a broad coalition of Montana fly fishing, outfitters, and lodges, international fly fishing businesses Orvis and Patagonia, and conservation groups requesting Governor Gianforte immediately create a Cold Water Fisheries Task…