Comments sought on wilderness lake plan

E-mail address for comments corrected

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The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission is seeking comment on a proposal to waive the daily and possession bag limits for Lena Lake within the Bob Marshall Wilderness area through Aug. 31.

The 74-acre lake is located at the headwaters of the Big Salmon Creek drainage. It is scheduled for rotenone treatment in September 2013 as part of the South Fork Cutthroat Conservation Plan. Once isolated by a fish barrier, lakes may be poisoned to remove all hybrid trout before being restocked with native fish.

The goal of the plan is to replace nonnative fish with pure westslope cutthroat in 21 lakes in the South Fork Flathead drainage to maintain genetic purity. Replacement involves either chemical treatment or genetic swamping (heavy stocking of pure westslope cutthroat to dilute the nonnative genes). Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say a number of lakes have been successfully treated to date.

Lena Lake is moderately popular with backcountry anglers, who have asked for bag limit waivers prior to previous rotenone treatments to allow more harvest of fish that would otherwise be killed when the lake is rehabilitated.

Comments must be provided in writing either by e-mailing fwpfsh@mt.gov or mailing them to Don Skaar, Fisheries Office, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, 1420 East Sixth Avenue, Helena MT 59620. Deadline is May 21. The commission will evaluate public comments and consider final approval of this proposal at their June 5 meeting.