Fluvial Arctic Grayling and the Limits of Conservation

Abstract

The Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus), a member of the salmon family, historically inhabited only two areas within the coterminous United States: parts of Michigan and the upper Missouri River system, primarily in Montana. The species vanished from Michigan by the mid-1930s and the fluvial variety persists in but a tiny fraction of its range in Montana. Focusing on Montana’s Big Hole River (the last place in the Lower 48 where native fluvial grayling survive) and Michigan’s Au Sable River (once a prominent grayling fishery and today a renowned trout stream), this article examines how a combination of capitalist endeavors and climate change contributed to the fish’s decline and hampered efforts to preserve and reintroduce grayling populations. As overfishing, shifts in land use, and introductions of non-native salmonids visibly eroded the grayling populations of both states by the early twentieth century, government agencies and sportsmen’s groups counted on hatchery work to save the species. Although conservationists had successfully created and diversified recreational fisheries by propagating and stocking other species, this method bore little fruit when applied to fluvial grayling. Undercut by the profound transformation of waterways, fluvial grayling conservation and restoration efforts offer a humbling case study of the limitations of science and human agency.