In July 2023, we helped FWP re-stock native Arctic grayling and Westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) into the French Creek drainage on the Mount Haggin Wildlife Management Area (in Southwest Montana). This effort was the culmination of many years of involvement and investment by BHWC and partners to prepare the area for these fish!

The French Creek drainage now hosts one of the largest interconnected populations of WCT in the upper Missouri River and the only population of fluvial Arctic grayling in the absence of non-native fish. In 2019, FWP installed a concrete fish barrier to prevent non-native fish from swimming upstream. They then removed all non-native fish from over 40 miles of stream.

Last year, FWP stocked the tributaries with 23,000 WCT and about 12,000 grayling. In this video, we helped stock 8-inch grayling (6,000), 8-inch WCT (2,000), and 1.5-inch WCT (10,000).

The grayling are from the Big Hole brood in Axolotl Lake, and the WCT are from the Big Hole brood in Cherry and Granite Lakes, so they are all genetically "from" Big Hole. FWP plans to stock the stream for 3 consecutive years; after that, the fish will reproduce on their own and be self-sustaining!

Thanks, @tom_attwater, for capturing this moment for us!

To learn more about the Big Hole Watershed Committee's work in the French Creek drainage, click here: https://bhwc.org/project/lower-french...