BITTERROOT VALLEY, Mont. — Two years ago, a barrier was removed at the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge to help spawning fish.
Now, MTN checked in to see how this action transformed the area.
"This project opened up two and a half miles of potential spawning habitat," Trout Unlimited project manager Christine Brissette said.
WATCH: Here's what we learned about the project
Trout Unlimited, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Trapper Peak Job Corps, Jackson Contractor Group and local students came together to make a change.
"We were hoping to open up passage for migratory fish, fish that were trying to move from the Bitterroot River into the Burnt Fork. There was a pair of standpipes that had blocked that migration that fish need in order to reproduce and spawn that had been in place for at least 50 years," Brissette told MTN.
“There was just a trickle of water down below and then flooding behind, sometimes the parking lot, sometimes back into the trees. People now know that this is a stream and it's an active stream," said Amy Lisk, Lee Metcalf's acting manager.
Once the barrier was taken out, an immediate difference was noticed.
"Within weeks of having that barrier removed, we had fish spawning on the refuge and on neighboring properties upstream," Brissette said.
While an exact fish count hasn’t been taken, Trout Unlimited has noticed a higher frequency of traveling fish and an increase in spawning reds over the past two years.
"If you pull the barrier out, the fish will come in and use that habitat," Brissette said.
Not only was connectivity restored, but an improved walking trail and riparian habitats too.
"If you look across here, what you'll really see is a lot of reed canary grass. It's an invasive non-native grass species. And so we pretty quickly identified the opportunity to be able to come out here, plant a bunch of native trees and shrubs in the hopes of adding cover both for fish and for those migratory songbirds," Brissette said.
Planting was done in part by high school students from Corvallis and Hamilton.
"My biggest goal of this class is to give them those hands-on authentic experiences," Hamilton Classrooms Without Walls teacher Vanessa Haflich said.
"We basically planted 50 riparian trees and put protectors, little fences around each of them. So, we spent about half a day out there, and at the time it was kind of just a big mud hole because they were in the process of changing that over," she continued.
Haflich says the hands-on work is already inspiring some students to study environmental science in college.
"Just to see how much it's changed and that we were a part of that change is pretty rewarding," Haflich said.
