Big Creek -- Cooperation Yields Water for Cutthroat Trout

Big Creek Water Restoration – Cooperation meets Vision

In 1988, Patrick Byorth, then a graduate student at Montana State University conducting cutthroat spawning studies on the Yellowstone River, set up fish traps on Big Creek. He was dismayed by the results, finding only about a dozen cutthroat spawners over the course of the entire spawning season. Returning the following year, he found the same disappointing results, with virtually no fry production.

The primary problem was the timing and amount of irrigation withdrawals. All too often the lower stretch of Big Creek was completely dewatered for a significant portion of July and August, killing any cutthroat fry born in the stream before the fish could migrate downstream into the Yellowstone River. Byorth calculated that if the Big Creek cutthroat were to survive and thrive, a way had to be found to maintain a minimum stream flow of 11 cubic feet per second (cfs).

 Figure 1. Andy Brummond, Water Rights/Streamflow Specialist, FWP, measures water flows on Big Creek, Summer 2016.

In 1995, landowners along Big Creek decided to act. Dick Kendall, a partner in Big Creek Ranch, remembers, “When we applied for the funding under [Montana’s] Future Fisheries Improvement Program, there had never been a project of this size undertaken under the law. My neighbor, Bruce Malcolm, and I put together the application, and over some long days and a lot of coffee, we talked our neighbors into going along with the idea.”

The Future Fisheries Improvement Program provided funding to improve irrigation projects and keep more water in the streams for fish. With the state program sharing approximately half the cost and the landowners committing the rest, Big Creek Ranch and the Malcolm Ranch upgraded their irrigation systems, moving from traditional ditch/flood irrigation to pipeline, gravity-feeds, and pivot irrigation. The improved system saved labor costs and cut water consumption in half; 50% less water was needed to irrigate three or four times more acreage. Most important for the ecology of Big Creek, and as a requirement for the state cost-share, the landowners agreed to guarantee a minimum of 11 cfs in the stream year-round -- water saved through irrigation efficiency and landowner cooperation would remain in the creek to permit trout fry to migrate to the Yellowstone River in July and August.

Today, the three cooperating ranches, including Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, work with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks regularly throughout the irrigation season. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks routinely monitors creek flows. When flows begin approaching the 11 cfs mark, the ranches agree to take turns shutting down on their collective use. “I’ve gotta say, the ranchers on both sides of the creek have just been wonderfully good at compromise and cooperation,” Kendall notes. “We have never had a harsh word. We work together to manage the water levels to insure the fry can return to the Yellowstone River.”

Figure 2. Pat Byorth points out a redd on Big Creek, July 2016

Today Big Creek exceeds its potential as a major cutthroat spawning tributary for the Yellowstone River. Originally it was hoped that 5-6 years into the project, some 35,000 fry would be produced – a survey documented 40,000 cutthroat fry, not including the rainbow trout and brown trout spawn. Bill Taylor, another partner in Big Creek Ranch, sums the project up: “For conservationists, the Big Creek Water Restoration Project is a good example of how private landowners can work together with each other, with land trusts, and with the State to get a result that benefits everyone. This project is relatively inexpensive, and produces a long-term benefit to the fishery and to the private landowners, as well as the next generation.”

In 1988 Pat Byorth counted a total of 27 spawning beds (redds) on lower Big Creek throughout the entire spawning season. On July 1, 2016 Pat Byorth joined staff from Mountain Sky Guest Ranch to walk the creek from its confluence with the Yellowstone River to the point of Mountain Sky’s water diversion (1.2 miles upstream). A total of 137 redds were counted. “We observed redds over every suitable stretch of gravel,” observed Whitney Tilt, Lands and Wildlife Director for the Arthur Blank Family Foundation. “I can only guess at the number of fry produced, but I can’t think of a clearer indicator of the success for Dick and Malcolm’s vision.”

What’s a redd? 1. A clear pit of 3-5 inch gravel with a tail-spill of 0.5 – 2.5” gravel immediately downstream, with a bright appearance (absence of silt in contrast to adjacent undisturbed gravel); or 2.  Suitable-sized gravel although lacking other components, not likely a result of hydrological scour, and presence of emergent fry (less than 1-inch long) nearby.

Project history from Big Creek Water Restoration Project, Montana Land Reliance 2013 Annual Report, pages 13-15.