Park to make Rose Creek better for fish

Glacier National Park hopes to make Rose Creek at Rising Sun a little more fish friendly. The creek, which drains Otokomi Lake, has two places where spawning fish can't migrate beyond man-made concrete barriers.

Last week, Park officials released an environmental assessment on the removal of those structures and eventual replacement of the bridge over the creek.

The project is two-pronged in its scope. Under the preferred alternative, the Park would mechanically remove a concrete weir upstream from the campground. The weir was built to provide water for the Rising Sun Campground but is no longer in use after the Park drilled a well there decades ago.

Both westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout use the stream, but the structure inhibits passage to spawning habitat.

The Park also proposes removing concrete structures near the bridge and the bridge itself. A new 85-foot long clear-span bridge would be built in its place as part of the Going-to-the-Sun Road rehabilitation project.

The assessment finds the project will have no long-term impacts to Park resources, although short-term impacts will occur when the weir and bridge are removed.

Work could begin as early as the fall of 2013. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to fund the weir removal. The bridge replacement would be contingent on further Sun Road funding.

To learn more about the project or to submit a comment, visit online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov.