KALISPELL – A survey has found a steep reduction in the number of bull trout spawning beds in streams in the Swan River Basin.
Workers with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks counted 378 spawning beds this year.
That’s down from the 15-year average of 669.
Biologists tell the Daily Inter Lake that non-native lake trout may be the reason for the decline.
Lake trout were first found in Swan Lake in 1998, and later studies found a growing population in the Swan River system.