FWP reports Labor Day fish kill in Beaver Creek

Havre Daily News staff 

            Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported a fish kill occurred in Beaver Creek sometime over Labor Day weekend. 

FWP fisheries personnel estimate that several hundred fish were killed in Beaver Creek from Bear Paw Dam at the upper lake downstream to Rotary Falls, impacting approximately a half mile of the creek.

FWP, which operates Bear Paw Lake, reports it was notified Sept. 1 that water was not flowing from the dam at the second lake downstream to Beaver Creek Reservoir on the north edge of Beaver Creek Park.

The outlet was clogged with dense algae, a release from the department said. The gates were opened to increase the outflow, resulting in algae and warm, poorly oxygenated water being released downstream.

The combination of no apparent stream discharge due to the algal obstruction, along with low dissolved oxygen present in the water released with the algae, likely contributed to the fish kill, FWP said in its release, adding that, at this time, no one factor has been identified as the primary source of the fish kill.

The fish kill in that stretch of Beaver Creek was severe but was not a complete kill, the release said.  Fisheries crews electrofished approximately 800 feet of Beaver Creek Wednesday between Bear Paw Dam and Rotary Falls and observed at least two rainbow trout and saw decent numbers of white suckers, longnose dace, mountain suckers and mottled sculpin.

While trout density likely will be low in that part of Beaver Creek for some time, the release said, fish moving up and down the stream will likely repopulate the section fairly quickly.