The last century of land use in the northern Rocky Mountain region has too often been characterized by negative impacts to the biological health of watersheds. Regardless of impact source, this legacy of environmental degradation should, we feel, be met with concerted and cooperative restoration efforts.

Global warming (more info below) is expected to eliminate half (or more) of Montana's wild trout habitat within the next century. The "piling on"effect of global warming and both historic and ongoing habitat impacts underscores the need for restoration of habitat as the key to the future of wild trout in this area. Wild trout habitat restoration, in turn, benefits many plant and animal species while reclaiming and expanding our natural environment.

Limited habitat restoration funds and resources often slow the process of repairing affected watersheds. As a regional, independent not-for-profit organization, Trout Conservancy can procure and administer grants and donations unavailable to others. These funds are generally for restoring degraded wild trout stream sections. Funds secured by Trout Conservancy cover projects, or portions of projects, that are developed in cooperation with our partners. The funds and resources we procure go to professionals in stream habitat restoration, with the exception of a small percentage we keep to cover administrative costs. These professionals design and implement the stream restoration projects we undertake.

Within the next several decades, Montana may lose much of its trout habitat if only  because late summer water temperatures will be above tolerable limits. Other variables, including increased risks of flash flooding followed by low stream flows, come into play, but stream temperatures alone will be sufficient to pose serious challenges to trout.

For example, global warming could spell doom for the region's populations of native bull trout (photo, below right) in less than a century  by raising stream temperatures and causing reductions in viable habitat(see insert, below left). Genetically-pure native cutthroat trout, generally now reduced to high-elevation  streams beyond the range of interbreeding rainbow trout (an introduced non-native), may run out of habitat where habitat still exists. Temperature-tolerant brown trout, a European import, may become the dominant (and perhaps only) trout species in many Montana waters within 100 years.

Scientists are just now creating models incorporating multiple variables that predict how global warming will affect the northern Rockies' trout with geographic precision. Responding to predictive models is a risky business, but waiting until everything is known about global warming will likely be too late for this region's trout - especially native species. In fact, many trout fisheries we now take for granted could become habitat for warm water fish such as bass or catfish. The fantasy image of standing in a cold mountain stream fly fishing for trout may well be gone in many places within 3 or 4 generations. And that is the rosy projection.

Many variables figure into the viability of trout habitat, including a stream's elevation, aspect, riparian cover, groundwater inputs, and the amount of forested cover in the watershed. Global warming will result in snowpack accumulation being much reduced and occurring over much briefer periods in years to come. Drought intensity may worsen considerably, and with it the frequency and severity of wildfires. So, not only is late summer air temperature expected to increase by several degrees, but so are the wildfires that remove forests and riparian growth. The cumulative effect of so many affected variables means that, according to the best scientific analysis, the outlook is pretty bleak for the ability of many Montana trout streams to still support trout.

If Montana's wild trout resources are to be preserved for future generations, we must act now to make sure the trout habitat we have is of the highest quality possible. That means protecting stream flows through leases and purchases of water rights, providing adequate in-stream structures, removing impediments like entraining ditches and fish passage barriers, and in other places creating barriers to protect native trout from exotics like rainbow or brook trout. And, over the near future, there is an urgent, pressing need to identify areas that are strategically vital for trout and so target habitat restoration and enhancement.