We Must Value and Restore Our Native Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat

In recent letters to local newspapers the value of native cutthroat and bull trout to the Flathead has been questioned. In fact, these fish have done more for us, just by fighting to survive than most people probably know.

I am not aware of any folks who live in the Flathead who are against keeping the North Fork of the Flathead free of oil and gas development in the U.S. and on the Canadian side of the border. Something most people might not know is that bull trout and westslope cutthroat played an important role in safeguarding this area we all value. The fact that bull trout and westslope cutthroat are important indicators of excellent water quality, which we cherish in the North Fork Flathead River, and the fact that these native fish use North Fork tributaries for their spawning runs in the U.S. and Canada provided important scientific evidence that the quality of these waters remains high and should not be diminished by oil and gas development that would degrade water quality throughout its length and through Flathead Lake. The fact that bull trout are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and the fact that westslope cutthroat are listed as a Species of Concern probably didn’t hurt either.

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Chris Schustrom,
President, Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited