The challenges for the next century may prove to be just as daunting. The demand for opportunities to fish, hunt and otherwise interact with wildlife are growing as are the costs of conserving habitat, providing access and addressing the needs of federally listed species. Our financial resources are stretched to the limit.
The growing demand for warmwater fishing on Fort Peck Reservoir combined with addressing the needs of listed species and species of concern, like pallid sturgeon and sauger, are indicative of the issues we face. Fort Peck Reservoir, the state's largest water body, provides important warmwater fisheries for walleye, sauger, northern pike, and smallmouth bass, as well as for chinook salmon and lake trout. Fort Peck is also home to prehistoric paddlefish. While this species of special concern is abundant in Fort Peck and the Yellowstone River, its very limited distribution in the remainder of its historic range once prompted an ESA listing petition.
The angling use on Fort Peck is increasing steadily. Prior to becoming Director of this agency, I was the Chief of the Fisheries Division. In 1985, I completed the first warmwater fisheries management plan for Montana. Since completion of that plan, the fishing use on Fort Peck Reservoir has tripled (Attachment 1). You can see by the testimony before you today and the interest in this project that angling is an important component of this area's economic base.
Fort Peck Reservoir has never been an easy reservoir to manage for fisheries. Water level fluctuations, particularly during drought years, coupled with the need to provide navigation water downstream, has made managing the reservoir for spawning and rearing very difficult. The primary substrate in Fort Peck, bearpaw shale, is unsuitable for walleye spawning. To provide a sport fishery we must annually stock large numbers of walleye into the reservoir (Attachment 2).
Montana has long carried the financial burden of managing this fishery, stocking a variety of species into Fort Peck Reservoir since 1942 (Attachment 3). In the early years, the state lacked the capability to produce large enough numbers of warmwater species to support or sustain a viable sport fishery. In 1983, the state acquired the federal Miles City Warmwater Fish Hatchery from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The facility was falling apart, however, it provided the opportunity to establish one cornerstone of our warmwater fish program. In 1985, the Department began renovation of the Miles City Hatchery and over a period of 14 years we invested more than 6.5 million dollars to renovate that facility and bring it to full capacity (Attachment 4). Today, 75% of the production of the Miles City Hatchery goes to stock a single reservoir -- Fort Peck Reservoir. While Fort Peck could utilize even more walleye, the rest of the state does not have its needs met. Nor is there the capacity to meet future warmwater fishing needs. Fort Peck will require additional fish to enhance the walleye, sauger, and chinook fisheries.
The sauger, a native cousin to the walleye living primarily in free flowing rivers, has shown significant declines in the Missouri as well as in the Yellowstone river systems. It is a species of special concern. and aggressive management efforts are needed to keep the sauger off of the endangered species list. We are looking at enhancing sauger populations in a variety of ways including increased hatchery capacity for sauger to supplement natural populations. We currently have no capacity at our Miles City Hatchery to raise sauger.
The pallid sturgeon, a federally endangered species, is found in the Missouri River above and below Fort Peck. They are in a precarious situation resulting from unsuccessful reproduction for the last 55 years. The construction of the Missouri River dams and resulting reservoirs, including Fort Peck, are believed to be directly responsible for the plight of the pallid sturgeon. This hatchery would also give us the capability to raise pallid sturgeon to supplement the existing population and prevent extinction. The Miles City Hatchery is not equipped to propagate pallid sturgeon.
When the Montana Legislature last met in 1999, they were made aware of the need to construct a multi-species hatchery at Fort Peck. HB 20 was passed, authorizing the construction of the Fort Peck Hatchery and established a warrnwater fisheries stamp to assist in funding this project (Attachment a). During the debates recognition of the need for an additional hatchery was tempered with a strong feeling that the hatchery was a federal responsibility.
Montana concluded it was a federal responsibility in part due to unfilled promises related to Pick - Sloane legislation. The Fort Peck project was integrated into Pick-Sloane federal legislation with other federal water projects (Clark Canyon, Canyon Ferry, Yellowtail, and Tiber dams) in Montana. Pick-Sloane was to provide Montana with low cost power, irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancement, all intended to provide economic development to offset impacts from these federal water projects. To date there have been few projects developed under the obligations identified in Pick-Sloane. Montana has seen the development of irrigation systems equivalent to only 5.75% of that obligation and only 6.5% of the power allocated for pump irrigation (Toston, Lower Yellowstone, Savage, and Intake). Agricultural land development (800,000 acres) and the economic benefit for Montana that should have occurred with those irrigation projects identified under Pick-Sloane have never been realized. The little development that occurred (46,000 acres) was centered around Canyon Ferry Reservoir, Clark Canyon Reservoir, and along the lower Yellowstone. Therefore, federal obligations under Pick-Sloane have never been fulfilled in Northeastern Montana or anywhere else in Montana.
The use of water for and the recreational benefit derived from fish produced in a Fort Peck Hatchery would meet the criteria identified in Pick-Sloane. A hatchery at Fort Peck would result in economic development in eastern Montana based on increased recreational opportunity and enhanced fisheries in Fort Peck Reservoir.
Both the Pick-Sloane and the "Federal Project Recreation Act" provide the rationale for the State of Montana to request federal funding for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of a multi-species hatchery at Fort Peck (Attachment 6).
Montana also believes that we have contributed fairly to recreational fish and wildlife management and development that have benefited Fort Peck over the past 53 years. Senate Bill 2027 recognizes this contribution by allowing Montana to use as its match for construction of the hatchery costs the state has borne for managing the fishery of Fort Peck Reservoir since 1947. We have only been able to accurately track costs back to 1983. However, since that time Montana has spent over $11 million dollars in managing the fishery of Fort Peck. These costs include propagation and stocking of walleye, bass, northern pike, and chinook salmon as well as other projects related to fisheries and recreational access to the reservoir (Attachment 7).
The other issue is who pays how much for the ongoing operation of the hatchery. The annual costs for the state to rear and stock fish in Fort Peck include those associated with: collecting eggs from walleye, sauger, chinook and pallid sturgeon and transporting them to the hatchery; operational costs for the hatchery itself including personnel, utilities, fish food, maintenance; and cost to distribute the fish to the reservoir. When the Fort Peck Hatchery is completed both Miles City and Fort Peck will be used to stock Fort Peck Reservoir. We estimate that the annual costs to rear and stock fish in Fort Peck once the Fort Peck Hatchery is completed will be $750,000. (Attachment 8). This includes the costs for the egg collection, the operational costs of Fort Peck and 75 percent of Miles City, and the cost to stock the fish.
Montana will pay for the collection and transportation of the eggs, all the operational costs associated at the former federal hatchery at Miles City, and the costs for fish distribution which amounts to $395,000 annually. In addition, revenues from the warmwater fish stamp are estimated to produce $100,000 to $125,000 annually for the Fort Peck Hatchery. The legislature limited by statute Montana's contribution for the Fort Peck Hatchery to the dollars generated from the stamp. Collectively, expenditures by the state equate to two-thirds of the cost to stock and rear fish for Fort Peck. We believe this is a fair contribution, and that the federal portion or one-third of the cost would go to fund day-to-day maintenance and operational expenses for the Fort Peck Hatchery. In addition, the state is spending over a quarter million dollars per year on work related to the endangered pallid sturgeon, sauger restoration, and other related fish management programs.
In closing I would like to reiterate Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks support for the Fort Peck Hatchery. We appreciate the hard work by Senator Burns and his staff and others in the delegation. We have made significant financial commitments to develop a reservoir fishery over the last half century. We will continue to bear a significant part of the load, and we applaud Congress and the Corps of Engineers for stepping forward to pick up the federal obligation. The people of eastern Montana and our many out-of-state guests will surely benefit from this legislation well into the next century.