Blackfoot River Research Articles

Evaluating Target Levels of American White Pelican Abundance to Achieve Management Objectives for Adfluvial Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

AbstractRecent declines in abundance of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in the upper Blackfoot River drainage in Idaho coincided with establishment of a nearby nesting colony and increased abundance of American white pelicans Pelecanus erythrorhynchos (hereafter, “pelicans”). Published pelican predation rates have been estimated to be as high as 70% on Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the Blackfoot River. Consequently, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game established management objectives for pelicans of less than 350 breeding pairs or 700 adults. However, a thorough assessment has not been conducted to evaluate if the pelican abundance objective would reduce predation to an extent that would allow Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout to recover to levels that meet minimum objectives for abundance. A Bayesian state‐space model that integrated survival and abundance data was used in this study to evaluate the effects of local pelican abundance on survival, abundance, and population growth rate of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout. Survival of both juvenile and adfluvial adult Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout decreased as pelican abundance increased, and there was a positive relationship between survival of both life stages and population growth rate. If the current management objective for abundance of 700 breeding pelicans was met, the probability of meeting or exceeding the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout objective was 0.44 and declined substantially as simulated pelican abundance increased beyond 700. Results of this study suggest that if pelican abundance can be maintained at or below the current management objective, there is a reasonable chance of meeting the management objective for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.

Metal contamination and food web changes alter exposure to upper trophic levels in upper Blackfoot River basin streams, Montana

Reduced invertebrate abundance and diversity are common responses to metals contamination in mining-impacted streams. The resulting changes in community composition may have implications for metals accumulation and transfer through the food web. We investigated how changes in invertebrate community composition (abundance, species richness, and food web complexity) influence metals bioaccumulation and exposure risk to upper trophic levels along a contamination gradient in the upper Blackfoot River Basin, Montana. Invertebrate species richness exhibited the strongest decline with increasing sediment metals concentrations, driven by the loss of metals-sensitive taxa. These changes in invertebrate community composition resulted in a decline in the proportion of invertebrates in the scraper functional feeding group, likely influencing dietary metals exposure to the invertebrate community. Additionally, invertebrates with a strong propensity-to-drift increased with sediment contamination, potentially facilitating metals transfer to fish and higher trophic levels through predation. Using invertebrate exposure values (invertebrate abundance × metals concentrations), we found that moderately contaminated sites in our study area produced both the highest invertebrate exposure values and the highest fish tissue metals concentrations. Considering both changes in invertebrate community composition and metal concentrations is an important step towards understanding and evaluating potential toxic effects to upper trophic levels in mining-impacted streams.

Multiscale Prediction of Whirling Disease Risk in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana: a Useful Consideration for Restoration Prioritization?

AbstractHabitat restoration for inland trout (family Salmonidae) is common across western North America, but planners rarely consider disease risk when prioritizing restoration sites. Whirling disease is a parasitic infection caused by the invasive myxosporean parasite Myxobolus cerebralis and has been implicated in declines of wild trout populations across western North America. For planners to consider disease, disease risk needs to be predictable across the landscape and influence restoration outcomes. We collated the history of whirling disease infection severity scores on the MacConnell–Baldwin scale from sentinel cage studies for hatchery Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in the Blackfoot River basin from 1998 to 2009. At these same sites, we performed reach‐scale geomorphic assessments, derived landscape variables from GIS data layers, and assembled fish composition data. We examined relationships between the severity of infection and several landscape‐scale and reach‐scale variables for 13 basin‐fed streams in the Blackfoot River basin of west‐central Montana using classification and regression tree analyses. In our data set, valley slope and forest cover were the best predictors of fine sediment. Both spring creeks and gently sloping alluvial basin‐fed tributaries to the Blackfoot River basin with higher proportions of fine sediment (particle size < 0.85 mm) were associated with a high severity (≥ grade 3) of infection. Additionally, we explored differences in trout species composition (i.e., susceptible versus resistant species) before and after the whirling disease enzootic using seven basin‐fed streams and two spring creeks. We did not detect trout community shifts from susceptible to disease‐resistant salmonids in basin‐fed disease‐positive streams. However, spring creeks showed a negative trend in disease‐susceptible salmonids after the whirling disease enzootic. Disease risk appears to be predictable across the landscape and may limit possible restoration outcomes by influencing species composition in spring creeks.

Predation by American White Pelicans on Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the Blackfoot River Drainage, Idaho

AbstractExpansion of the American white pelican Pelicanus erythrorhynchos colony on Blackfoot Reservoir, Idaho, and the associated declines in adfluvial Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri in the upper Blackfoot River drainage has generated concern about the impact of pelican predation on this native trout stock. During a 4‐year study, 4,653 wild Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout were tagged using a combination of radiotelemetry and PIT tags. Annual predation rate estimates were made by recovering Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout tags from the nesting islands of American white pelicans. On‐island tag recovery rates were corrected for ingested tags that went undetected during island searches and for tags that were deposited away from the nesting islands. American white pelicans consumed tagged Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout ranging from 150 mm to 580 mm TL and showed no size selection within that range for their prey. Predation rates on adult and juvenile Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout generally exceeded 20%, and the highest values were above 60%. Our independent methods (telemetry and PIT tagging) for estimating pelican predation on adult Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout produced similar results. Annual river flow conditions varied markedly and may have contributed to some of the observed range in predation rate estimates. Predation by the pelican colony appears to be a likely contributor to the recent collapse of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the upper Blackfoot River drainage. In the past, overexploitation by anglers severely reduced the trout population and was remedied by implementing catch‐and‐release regulations. The current predation impact poses a greater management challenge, namely, finding a balanced approach for conserving both the native trout stock and the pelican colony.Received April 29, 2014; accepted February 5, 2015

Does Whirling Disease Mediate Hybridization between a Native and Nonnative Trout?

AbstractThe spread of nonnative species over the last century has profoundly altered freshwater ecosystems, resulting in novel species assemblages. Interactions between nonnative species may alter their impacts on native species, yet few studies have addressed multispecies interactions. The spread of whirling disease, caused by the nonnative parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, has generated declines in wild trout populations across western North America. Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi in the northern Rocky Mountains are threatened by hybridization with introduced Rainbow Trout O. mykiss. Rainbow Trout are more susceptible to whirling disease than Cutthroat Trout and may be more vulnerable due to differences in spawning location. We hypothesized that the presence of whirling disease in a stream would (1) reduce levels of introgressive hybridization at the site scale and (2) limit the size of the hybrid zone at the whole‐stream scale. We measured levels of introgression and the spatial extent of hybridization between Rainbow Trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout in four disease‐positive streams and six disease‐negative streams within the Blackfoot River basin of Montana. In addition to disease status, we considered habitat quality, stream slope, distance from the confluence, temperature, and elevation. Whirling disease presence was not associated with either the level of introgression at a site or the size of the hybrid zone. Temperature, elevation, and stream slope were all influential in determining levels of introgression at the site scale. Stream slope was the most influential factor determining the size of the hybrid zone, as longer, steeper streams contained smaller hybrid zones. Stream slope is a driver of many habitat characteristics that may provide refuge from invasive species in the coming decades. Although the multispecies interactions examined in this study did not alter the impacts of invasion on native species, community assemblages will continue to change with the spread of nonnative species, requiring continued assessment to determine their impacts on native species.Received May 15, 2014; accepted January 7, 2015

Instream Habitat Restoration and Stream Temperature Reduction in a Whirling Disease‐Positive Spring Creek in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana

AbstractAnthropogenic warming of stream temperature and the presence of exotic diseases such as whirling disease are both contemporary threats to coldwater salmonids across western North America. We examined stream temperature reduction over a 15‐year prerestoration and postrestoration period and the severity of Myxobolus cerebralis infection (agent of whirling disease) over a 7‐year prerestoration and postrestoration period in Kleinschmidt Creek, a fully reconstructed spring creek in the Blackfoot River basin of western Montana. Stream restoration increased channel length by 36% and reduced the wetted surface area by 69% by narrowing and renaturalizing the channel. Following channel restoration, average maximum daily summer stream temperatures decreased from 15.7°C to 12.5°C, average daily temperature decreased from 11.2°C to 10.0°C, and the range of daily temperatures narrowed by 3.3°C. Despite large changes in channel morphology and reductions in summer stream temperature, the prevalence and severity of M. cerebralis infection for hatchery Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss remained high (98–100% test fish with grade > 3 infection) versus minimal for hatchery Brown Trout Salmo trutta (2% of test fish with grade‐1 infection). This study shows channel renaturalization can reduce summer stream temperatures in small low‐elevation, groundwater‐dominated streams in the Blackfoot basin to levels more suitable to native trout. However, because of continuous high infections associated with groundwater‐dominated systems, the restoration of Kleinschmidt Creek favors brown trout Salmo trutta given their innate resistance to the parasite and the higher relative susceptibility of other salmonids.Received February 3, 2014; accepted May 3, 2014

A test of the compensatory mortality hypothesis in mountain lions: A management experiment in West‐Central Montana

ABSTRACTMountain lions (Puma concolor) are widely hunted for recreation, population control, and to reduce conflict with humans, but much is still unknown regarding the effects of harvest on mountain lion population dynamics. Whether human hunting mortality on mountain lions is additive or compensatory is debated. Our primary objective was to investigate population effects of harvest on mountain lions. We addressed this objective with a management experiment of 3 years of intensive harvest followed by a 6‐year recovery period. In December 2000, after 3 years of hunting, approximately 66% of a single game management unit within the Blackfoot River watershed in Montana was closed to lion hunting, effectively creating a refuge representing approximately 12% (915 km2) of the total study area (7,908 km2). Hunting continued in the remainder of the study area, but harvest levels declined from approximately 9/1,000 km2in 2001 to 2/1,000 km2in 2006 as a result of the protected area and reduced quotas outside. We radiocollared 117 mountain lions from 1998 to 2006. We recorded known fates for 63 animals, and right‐censored the remainder. Although hunting directly reduced survival, parameters such as litter size, birth interval, maternity, age at dispersal, and age of first reproduction were not significantly affected. Sensitivity analysis showed that female survival and maternity were most influential on population growth. Life‐stage simulation analysis (LSA) demonstrated the effect of hunting on the population dynamics of mountain lions. In our non‐hunted population, reproduction (kitten survival and maternity) accounted for approximately 62% of the variation in growth rate, whereas adult female survival accounted for 30%. Hunting reversed this, increasing the reliance of population growth on adult female survival (45% of the variation in population growth), and away from reproduction (12%). Our research showed that harvest at the levels implemented in this study did not affect population productivity (i.e., maternity), but had an additive effect on mountain lion mortality, and therefore population growth. Through harvest, wildlife managers have the ability to control mountain lion populations. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Westslope Cutthroat Trout Movements through Restored Habitat and Coanda Diversions in the Nevada Spring Creek Complex, Blackfoot Basin, Montana

AbstractIn the Blackfoot basin of western Montana, the recovery of migratory Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi requires landscape conservation as well as restoration of spawning tributaries. Westslope Cutthroat Trout are now increasing in the Blackfoot River and several streams, including Nevada Spring Creek, where natural channel, flow, and temperature regimes have reestablished aquatic habitat and migration corridors. To examine whether restoration has improved corridors for migration, we tracked the movements of 14 adult Westslope Cutthroat Trout from wintering areas in lower Nevada Creek (downstream of Nevada Spring Creek) to spawning and summering areas. Ten fish moved through Nevada Spring Creek upstream a median distance of 7.7 km (range, 7.6–16.9) to spawning sites at the headwaters of Wasson Creek through stream reaches where channels were reconstructed, instream flows enhanced, and grazing practices improved. Eight of the 10 fish that entered Wasson Creek spawned in a concentrated area upstream of two experimental diversion–fish screen structures located in the main channel of Wasson Creek. Prespawning movements of the remaining four radio‐tagged fish were much farther than those of Wasson Creek spawners (median, 51.8 km; range, 44.9–63.1). These four fish moved downstream through Nevada Creek into the Blackfoot River and then ascended upper Blackfoot River before entering two separate spawning tributaries. This telemetry study indicates that restoration can improve migration corridors which, in turn, promote the recovery of migratory Westslope Cutthroat Trout, and that spring‐influenced tributaries like Nevada Spring Creek provide important overwinter habitat for Westslope Cutthroat Trout that spawn and summer elsewhere in the basin.

Adaptive Water Law

U.S. water law can be static, rigid, and fragmented, using legal arrangements to give a false sense of security against change. These characteristics are maladaptive to changing conditions and sudden disturbances, as illustrated by conflict in the Colorado River system over decreasing water quantities, tensions between groundwater management and private property rights in Texas, and litigation over nutrient runoff in the Mississippi River basin. Water law must become more adaptive if aquatic ecosystems, legal institutions, and society itself are to be resilient under conditions of change and disturbance. This article applies a relatively new “adaptive law framework” to the field of water law in order to promote social-ecological resilience in water governance. In particular, the article explores three features of an adaptive water law system: 1) shared risk among the system’s stakeholders; 2) conditional and flexible standards, instead of rigid rules, to govern water rights and permits; and 3) integrated water governance. Several examples of watershed planning and governance illustrate various aspects of an adaptive water law system emerging from system participants’ efforts to address water insecurity and rapid transformation of aquatic conditions. These examples include the Santa Ana Watershed Project in California, the Blackfoot Challenge in Montana’s Blackfoot River basin, state-mandated watershed planning in the State of Washington, adaptive management of Kentucky’s Green River, and watershed restoration and regulation in the urban-suburban Anacostia River watershed of Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Response of Wild Trout to Stream Restoration over Two Decades in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana

AbstractAnthropogenic degradation of aquatic habitats has prompted worldwide efforts to improve or restore stream habitats for fisheries. However, little information exists on the long‐term responses of salmonids to restoration in North American streams. To recover wild trout populations in the Blackfoot River in western Montana, a collaborative approach to stream restoration began in 1990 to improve degraded stream habitats, primarily on private land. To assess the efficacy of various restoration techniques (channel reconstruction and placement of instream habitat structures, restoration of natural instream flows, installation of fish ladders and screens at irrigation diversions, and modification of grazing practices) in the recovery of wild trout, we examined long‐term (>5 years) trends in trout abundance on 18 tributaries treated between 1990 and 2005 and subsequently monitored between 1989 and 2010. At pretreatment conditions, average trout abundance was significantly lower in treatment versus reference sites (0.19 versus 0.62 trout/m; P = 0.0001). By 3 years posttreatment, trout abundance had increased significantly to an average of 0.47 trout/m across treatment sites (P = 0.01) and was no longer significantly different from the reference average (P = 0.12). These initial rapid increases were sustained over the long term (5–21 years) in 15 streams. However, trout abundance declined below pretreatment levels on three streams presumably due to the return of human impacts from heavy riparian grazing and detrimental irrigation practices. Although long‐term (12 year) average response trends were positive, trends varied spatially and native trout responded more strongly in the upper portion of the basin. Study results indicate that restoration should focus in the mid to upper basin and emulate features of natural channels to promote life history diversity and the recovery of native trout. Finally, long‐term monitoring led to adaptive management on most (10 of 18) projects, and thus proved vital to the overall sustainability of wild trout fisheries throughout the basin.

Seed size and provenance mediate the joint effects of disturbance and seed predation on community assembly

Summary Local plant community assembly is influenced by a series of filters that affect the recruitment and establishment of species. These filters include regional factors that limit seeds of any given species from reaching a local site as well as local interactions such as post‐dispersal seed predation and disturbance, which dictate what species actually establish. How these filters interact to influence recruitment into local assemblages, and whether they act differentially on individual species based on traits such as seed size or their provenance (i.e. native vs. exotic), has not been well examined. Such studies, however, are crucial for understanding community assembly and for making predictions about what species might be favoured under specific ecological circumstances. We added 20 native and 19 exotic species that varied in seed size to undisturbed or experimentally disturbed subplots in and out of larger rodent exclusion plots at ten grassland sites across the Blackfoot River drainage in western Montana, USA. Individually, exclusion of rodent seed predators and disturbance substantially increased cumulative (summed across all species) seedling recruitment. Exclusion of rodent seed predators enhanced recruitment to a greater extent in disturbed rather than undisturbed plots and for native species compared with exotics, while disturbance enhanced recruitment to a greater extent for exotics compared with natives. Examination of individual species responses indicated that results were generalizable across species within each group and not driven by the response of a few species. Seed size mediated these patterns. Notably, the positive effect of rodent exclusion on recruitment was greater for large‐ versus small‐seeded species, while the impact of disturbance on recruitment was more pronounced for small‐seeded exotics relative to other groups. Synthesis. These results reveal that local ‘filters’ such as post‐dispersal seed predation and disturbance can individually and collectively impose strong limitation on seedling recruitment into local assemblages. Seed size importantly predicts how strongly individual species are influenced by these local filters. Interestingly, in situ community filters have differential effects on native versus exotic species, suggesting that processes that limit native recruitment may not have the same inhibitory influence on exotics.

Spawning Behavior of Mountain Whitefish and Co‐occurrence of Myxobolus cerebralis in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana

AbstractTo assess the exposure of Blackfoot River mountain whitefish Prosopium williamsoni to the exotic parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, the cause of salmonid whirling disease, we investigated the spawning behavior of 49 adult mountain whitefish and their overlap with M. cerebralis within the Blackfoot River basin, Montana. A majority of the mountain whitefish radio‐tagged in the Blackfoot River migrated upstream (range, 0.1–79.0 km) to spawning sites located primarily in the main stem of the Blackfoot River. Spawning ranged from 31 October in the lower river to 9 November in the upper river and occurred across a range of substrate and channel types. Despite later spawning in the upper river, eggs hatched earlier under the warming influence of groundwater inflows. Here, a majority of wild mountain whitefish fry (65%) tested positive for M. cerebralis infection during the immediate posthatch period of mid‐April. Conversely, mountain whitefish fry from the lower river, downstream of the groundwater influence, showed no detectable infection. June exposure trials using surrogate rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in nine tributaries supporting mountain whitefish showed M. cerebralis infection rates ranging from 0% to 100% as well as a pattern of high triactinomyxon (TAM) exposure throughout the main‐stem Blackfoot River. For mountain whitefish, the co‐occurrence with M. cerebralis varied spatially across the basin and temporally within the main‐stem Blackfoot River at the most vulnerable early life stages. This variability appears to buffer age‐0 mountain whitefish from infectious conditions across large areas of the basin. However, continuous TAM release from groundwater‐influenced environments coinciding with mountain whitefish hatch and early rearing may impose pathogenic conditions on mountain whitefish in the upper Blackfoot River.

Spatial distribution of trace elements in floodplain alluvium of the upper Blackfoot River, Montana

The Mike Horse Mine tailings dam in western Montana was partially breached in 1975 due to heavy rainfall and a failed drainage bypass. Approximately 90,000 tons of metal and arsenic-enriched tailings flowed into Beartrap Creek and the Blackfoot River. The spatial distribution of trace elements As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn in floodplain alluvium of the upper Blackfoot River were examined along 20 transects in the upper 105 river kilometers downstream from the tailings dam. Trace element concentrations decrease with distance from the failed dam, with As reaching background concentrations 15 km from the Mike Horse dam, Cd and Pb at 21 km, Cu at 31 km, and Mn and Zn at 37 km. Distance from the Mike Horse tailings dam and mine area is the dominating factor in explaining trace element levels, with R 2 values ranging from 0.67 to 0.89. Maximum floodplain trace element concentrations in the upper basin exceed US. EPA ecological screening levels for plants, birds and other mammals, and reflect adverse hazard quotients for exposure to As and Mn for ATV/motorcycle use. Trace element concentrations in channel bank and bed alluvium are similar to concentrations in floodplain alluvium, indicating active transport of trace elements through the river and deposition on the floodplain. The fine fraction (<2 mm) of floodplain alluvium is dominated by sand-sized particles (2.0–0.05 mm), with Cu and Mn significantly correlated with silt-sized (0.05–0.002 mm) alluvium. Ongoing remediation in the headwaters area will not address metal contamination stored downstream in the channel banks and on the floodplain. Additionally, some trace elements (Cu, Mn and Zn) were conveyed farther downstream than were others (As, Cd, Pb).

Correlation of Fluvial Rainbow Trout Spawning Life History with Severity of Infection by Myxobolus cerebralis in the Blackfoot River Basin, Montana

AbstractTo assess the exposure of Blackfoot River rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss to the exotic parasite Myxobolus cerebralis, the causal agent of whirling disease, we investigated the spawning life histories of adult rainbow trout with respect to the distribution and severity of infection in spawning and early rearing areas in two distinct reaches of the Blackfoot River. Radiotelemetry confirmed that Blackfoot River rainbow trout express a fluvial life history and migrate from wintering sites within the Blackfoot River to spawning sites in the lower reaches of tributaries. Spawning peaked in late April, and fry emergence was estimated to occur within a narrow window of time in early July during the known period of high parasite exposure. However, the severity of infection varied between study reaches. Spawning of lower Blackfoot River rainbow trout was dispersed among the lowermost reaches of smaller, colder, higher‐gradient tributaries, most of which fell below our ability to detect infection. By contrast, a majority of the telemetered rainbow trout in the middle Blackfoot River spawned higher in the drainage and within a single, low‐gradient stream where fry emerged under infectious conditions. For fluvial rainbow trout, the risk of infection varies from the tributary to the subbasin scale and relates to the geographical arrangement and properties of the tributaries, the longitudinal relationship of the pathogen to spawning and early rearing areas, and the rate and timing of dispersing age‐0 fry to downstream parasite‐positive waters. Before the introduction of M. cerebralis, the middle Blackfoot River was identified as having recruitment limitations caused by winter mortality and anthropogenic activities. According to our results, riparian restoration and habitat enhancement with emphasis on migratory native fish within and upstream of the pathogen may buffer fish from the effects of the disease.

Effects of proposed dam removal on ice jamming and bridge scour on the Clark Fork River, Montana

Abstract The Milltown Dam, at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers in Montana, lies at the downstream end of the nation's largest Superfund Project. Since its construction in 1906, several hundred thousand tonnes of metal-contaminated sediment from upstream mining activities, primarily copper, have accumulated in the dam impoundment. A large amount of this sediment was scoured during a 1996 ice jam event on Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers and transported downstream. The EPA remediation plan calls for phased removal and off-site disposal of much of the contaminated sediment, and removal of the Milltown Dam and a smaller mill dam upstream on the Blackfoot River. As much as possible, the river channels will be restored to their pre-project natural morphology. This study assessed ice impacts associated with the restoration plan, specifically where ice jams and related ice jam scour might occur with and without the dams in place. Also addressed was the effect of dam removal on potential ice-related scour around the piers of five bridges that cross the Blackfoot River just upstream of the Milltown Dam. Because this type of problem is relatively new, relevant engineering guidelines are lacking. Shortcomings of the tools and methods used are discussed. It is hoped that the study described herein will assist those addressing similar problems in the future, and also point to areas where analysis methods and tools could be improved.

Macro- and Microscale Investigation of Selenium Speciation in Blackfoot River, Idaho Sediments

The transport and bioavailability of selenium in the environment is controlled by its chemical speciation. However, knowledge of the biogeochemistry and speciation of Se in streambed sediment is limited. We investigated the speciation of Se in sediment cores from the Blackfoot River (BFR), Idaho using sequential extractions and synchrotron-based micro-X-ray fluorescence (micro-SXRF). We collected micro-SXRF oxidation state maps of Se in sediments, which had not been done on natural sediment samples. Selective extractions showed that most Se in the sediments is present as either (1) nonextractable Se or (2) base extractable Se. Results from micro-SXRF showed three defined species of Se were present in all four samples: Se(-II,O), Se(IV), and Se(VI). Se(-II,O) was the predominant species in samples from one location, and Se(IV) was the predominant species in samples from a second location. Results from both techniques were consistent, and suggested that the predominant species were Se(-II) species associated with recalcitrant organic matter, and Se(IV) species tightly bound to organic materials. This information can be used to predict the biogeochemical cycling and bioavailability of Se in streambed sediment environments.

English

The of Montana will restore the confluence of Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers following the removal of the Milltown Dam and some of the contaminated sediments located there. The Restoration Plan for the Clark Fork River and Blackfoot River Near Milltown Dam - October 2005, describes the restoration actions that are currently being planned (WestWater Consulting et al., 2005). In order for the restoration activities to occur, a portion of the project needs to be integrated with the EPA Superfund remedy for the Milltown Reservoir Sediments Operable Unit (USEPA, 2004). EPA, the State of Montana, ARCO, Northwestern, and Envirocon all participated in this integration process through the negotiation of the consent decree and it's attachments, principally the Statement of Work, which outlines who will implement various aspects of the remedial and restoration actions (Envirocon, 2005). The integration limits full restoration of all the natural river processes, but this is a concession that is outweighed by the benefits and cost savings of integration. All river and stream restoration projects have site constraints, e.g., landownership, roads, property lines, etc. The Milltown restoration project's integration with remediation results in additional constraints beyond the typical ones: legal constraints required by a consent decree, contaminated material remaining within the restoration work area, geographic limits to the project area, and negotiated actions. In order, to be successful the State and the other natural resource trustees have established goals and objectives for this project that considers the integration.

Troubled Intimacies: A Life in the Interior West by David Axelrod, and Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone by John Daniel

b o o k R e v ie w s 2 2 7 Troubled Intimacies: A Life in the Interior West. By David Axelrod. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2004. 186 pages, $18.95. Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone. By John Daniel. Washington, DC: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2005. 352 pages, $26.00. Reviewed by Kathleen Boardman University of Nevada, Reno Some years ago, two young men went west and became poets. In the mid1960s , John Daniel traveled from Washington, DC, to Reed College in Port­ land. After dropping out, he stayed on the West Coast, experiencing life as a draft-resister, logger, railway clerk, and rock climber— eventually settling into a place (western Oregon) and vocation (writing) that suited him. In 1980, David Axelrod left rural Ohio, home of his family for generations, in order to enter the University of Montana’s creative writing program. In Montana and, eight years later, in northeastern Oregon’s Grande Ronde Valley, he wrote, planted gardens, taught English, kept bees, gathered wild fruit, and observed the impact of human carelessness upon the natural environment. In their latest prose works, Axelrod and Daniel explore the nature of soli­ tude, reflect on their lives and the complexities of human attachment, and evoke the natural world in superbly crafted sentences. Each combines the perspective of the non-native outsider with an intense, intimate knowledge of the natural environment in his part of Oregon. Both urge more sanity and self-discipline in humans’ interactions with that environment. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to place the two books on a shelf under the label “Nature Writing: Oregon.” Not only do they transcend that category, but they are also quite dif­ ferent from one another in purpose, tone, and form. Troubled Intimacies: A Life in the Interior West is a collection of fourteen personal essays, some previously published. These are essays in the classic sense: Axelrod interweaves everyday observations of bees, nests, and blackberry-pick­ ing with his reading, philosophical reflection, and impassioned argument. He draws on experiences in Montana and Oregon to illuminate topics of impor­ tance in environmental literature: the definition of wilderness, the healing of environmental violence, the problematic legacy of Romanticism, and the re­ formation of community in a mobile and fragmented society. In “Going Wild,” a brief introduction to key themes of the collection, Axelrod says, “Wilderness is not a status we grant the landscape. It is earth’s only way of being as it chooses. What it chooses to be is alive, and if cut to the quick, to knit itself again into a whole” (6). Axelrod finds this self-renewing wildness in abandoned orchards and kitchen gardens, not in visions of self-sufficient solitude in a pristine Eden. He blames Romanticism for the “impossible, loathsome longing for a ‘virgin’ world” (5), a habit of mind that paradoxically results in strip mining, clear 2 2 8 W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n L it e r a t u r e S u m m e r 2 0 0 6 cutting, careless hunting, and obscenely large “McMansions” whose picture windows vie for “unspoiled” views. In “Sane as the Mind That Makes a Nest” and “Notes on the Erotic Life of the Household,” Axelrod excoriates art that encourages the Romantic attitude: from “nominally realistic” paintings of wild animals, which he terms “a hideous form of nostalgia” to the “Egotistical Sublime” of early nineteenth-century German painter Caspar David Friedrich (whose name Axelrod anglicizes to Casper Frederick) (106, 107, 83). Axelrod scrutinizes his own life as well, criticizing himself in “Habits of Mind” for insisting on living one winter in an isolated house above the Big Blackfoot River, then leaving his wife and child behind each afternoon and evening while he took a perilous cliff trail to and from work. “For me,” Axelrod writes, “the cliff kept an unwanted world at a distance, so that I could pretend to inhabit an infinitely lovely and harsh kingdom of my own,” while, for his wife, the same cliff suggested exile and potential disaster (31). Axelrod describes other kinds of western exile—being regarded as an “interloper” by the locals...

Selenium in the Blackfoot, Salt, and Bear River Watersheds

Nine stream sites in the Blackfoot River, Salt River, and Bear River watersheds in southeast Idaho, USA were sampled in May 2001 for water, surficial sediment, aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, and fish. Selenium was measured in these aquatic ecosystem components, and a hazard assessment was performed on the data. Water quality characteristics such as pH, hardness, and specific conductance were relatively uniform among the nine sites. Of the aquatic components assessed, water was the least contaminated with selenium because measured concentrations were below the national water quality criterion of 5 microg/L at eight of the nine sites. In contrast, selenium was elevated in sediment, aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, and fish from several sites, suggesting deposition in sediments and food web cycling through plants and invertebrates. Selenium was elevated to concentrations of concern in fish at eight sites (> 4 microg/g in whole body). A hazard assessment of selenium in the aquatic environment suggested a moderate hazard at upper Angus Creek (UAC) and Smoky Creek (SC), and high hazard at Little Blackfoot River (LiB), Blackfoot River gaging station (BGS), State Land Creek (SLC), upper (UGC) and lower Georgetown Creek (LGC), Deer Creek (DC), and Crow Creek (CC). The results of this study indicate that selenium concentrations from the phosphate mining area of southeast Idaho were sufficiently eleated in several ecosystem components to cause adverse effects to aquatic resources in southeastern Idaho.

Selenium in Water, Sediment, Plants, Invertebrates, and Fish in the Blackfoot River Drainage

Nine stream sites in the Blackfoot River watershed in southeastern Idaho were sampled in September 2000 for water, surficial sediment, aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, and fish. Selenium was measured in these aquatic ecosystem components, and a hazard assessment was performed on the data. Water quality characteristics such as pH, hardness, and specific conductance were relatively uniform among the nine sites examined. Selenium was elevated in water, sediment, aquatic plants, aquatic invertebrates, and fish from several sites suggesting deposition in sediments and food web cycling through plants and invertebrates. Selenium was elevated to concentrations of concern in water at eight sites (>5 μg/L), sediment at three sites (>2 μg/g), aquatic plants at four sites (>4 μg/g), aquatic invertebrates at five sites (>3 μg/g), and fish at seven sites (>4 μg/g in whole body). The hazard assessment of selenium in the aquatic environment suggested low hazard at Sheep Creek, moderate hazard at Trail Creek, upper Slug Creek, lower Slug Creek, and lower Blackfoot River, and high hazard at Angus Creek, upper East Mill Creek, lower East Mill Creek, and Dry Valley Creek. The results of this study are consistent with results of a previous investigation and indicate that selenium concentrations from the phosphate mining area of southeastern Idaho were sufficiently elevated in several ecosystem components to cause adverse effects to aquatic resources in the Blackfoot River watershed.