Projects to Expand Arctic Grayling Distribution into Historically Occupied Waters. French Creek is a tributary to Deep Creek which flows into the Big Hole River. A fish barrier was constructed in 2019 which isolated over 40 miles of habitat for native fish restoration. Non- native fish removal occurred in in 2020 and 2021 followed by xXXX testing in 2022 and 2023, which indicated that non-native fish had successfully been removed the watershed. Restocking of the stream with Arctic grayling and westslope cutthroat trout began in 2022. About 10,500 Arctic Grayling were introduced into fishless reaches of tributary streams to French Creek in the fall of 2022. A small proportion of these fish were age-1 fish. Subsequent visual surveys in California Creek in early summer 2023 found age-0 fish which appeared to be grayling. The presumed presence of age-0 grayling suggests the age-1 fish stocked the previous year successfully reproduced in the stream. There were no other fish species present in the stream in this reach so the fish were presumed to be grayling. Electrofishing done in the mainstem of French Creek in 2023 verified that the grayling stocked the previous year had survived the winter. This electrofishing effort occurred in early summer which was too early to detect any naturally produced age-0 grayling. Subsequently, 4,408 additional grayling were stocked into French Creek and its tributaries with suitable habitat. Stocking of French Creek will likely continue for 2 or 3 years. To date only age-1 (7-inch) and age-0 (3-inch) grayling have been stocked in French Creek. In 2024 it is anticipated that remote stream-side incubators will be used to stocked eyed eggs. The overarching goal of this project is to establish a self-sustaining population of grayling upstream of the barrier.
Projects to Expand Arctic Grayling Distribution into Historically Occupied Waters. Beginning in 2017, attempts to create a Centennial Valley grayling genetic reserve were initiated in Handkerchief Lake in the South Fork Flathead River drainage. Initial attempts used the progeny of Red Rock Creek grayling, but numbers thus far have not been sufficient to establish a population with adequate genetic variation of Centennial origin. To supplement these initial stocking efforts, FWP began a spawning project at five mountain lakes containing self-sustaining populations of grayling with Centennial Valley ancestry. In 2022 and 2023, an additional 150,000 grayling were stocked in Handkerchief Lake. These fish were the progeny of 919 grayling spawned at these mountain lakes over two years. This effort will be repeated in 2024. Once the Centennial Valley genetic reserve is established, this source will be available for grayling repopulation efforts in the valley.
