brown trout

Briefs: Polson medical center expansion will double primary care services; Montana launches teacher apprenticeship program; Public comment opens on proposed BLM oil and gas leases; FWP urges anglers to kill and report brown trout caught on the Flathead River.

State biologists have been tagging trout across southwest Montana to better understand the population’s health after years of declines. They report encouraging signs, but populations are still below average due in large part to an extended drought.

Trout populations in the Big Hole river increased slightly after hitting historic lows last year, according to preliminary estimates released by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks.

The director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) committed the full resources of the department in response to a historic population crash in some of southwest Montana’s most iconic trout fisheries.

Outfitters, conservationists and citizens have been sounding the alarm about rapidly declining trout numbers in southwest Montana’s Upper Missouri Headwaters for years. But demands for the state to dedicate more resources to studying the problem largely fell on deaf ears.

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife officials in Montana are seeking feedback on a proposal to expand fishing restrictions to protect declining brown trout…

Montana officials say they recently discovered dead fish in the Yellowstone River and are waiting on test results to know if they were killed by the same…