Experts see decline in trout population in SW Montana

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Along the Jefferson Basin you can find wild trout in Southwest Montana.

But now the fish are in trouble as experts saw an impactful decline in the trout population.

Normally there would be between 1,800 to 2,000 fish per mile, now those numbers are down to 400 to 500.

NBC Montana spoke with Guy Alsentzer with the Upper Missouri Waterkeeper to find out what is behind the alarming numbers.

“The big notable issue this year is the idea that we have no recruitment of what are called young of year. Which is to say the spawning class of the young fish. If we don’t have population recruitment, it means we’re going to have a crashing population number,” said Guy Alsentzer, executive director of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper.

Alsentzer said if the trout population continues to tank, it can impact the local economy for Southwest Montana.

“We’re talking about 1,400 plus jobs directly related to outdoor recreation on our river. To the extent that we ignore the writing on the wall which is to say massively historically low trout numbers. We’re essentially giving up on the jobs, those local businesses and we’re giving up on our outdoors heritage,” said Alsentzer.

Alsentzer said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists identified over a decade ago there was a statistical decrease in the trout population, and it continued to sink year to year.

We reached out to the Bozeman FWP and wanted to ask what could’ve been done to prevent the trout population from plummeting and what the necessary steps are right now to try and recover those numbers.

We’re still waiting on a response.

Alsentzer believes Montana’s elected leaders need to step up to invest into scientific solutions to protect and conserve the wild trout population.

“The most important emphasis now is leadership from our elected leaders and the allocation of resources so that we can develop management solutions to again build viability, build resiliency, in the face of massive population decline,” said Alsentzer.

We will continue to follow this story and let you know what plan of action is next to help raise the wild trout population.