River Reach Four | CSKT | Division of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation, & Conservation

A healthy elk herd is now thriving adjacent to the Flathead River, where less than two decades ago, the animals were either scarce or nonexistent. The dramatic success of the herd began In the early 1980s when the Tribes created the Ferry Basin Elk Conservation Area (light yellow area on the map) and transplanted about 20 surplus elk from the National Bison Range in to the area. The Tribal Council then closed the area to elk hunting to build up the herd for tribal hunting and to provide elk for relocation projects elsewhere on the reservation.

The size (35,000 acres) and quality (excellent) of the Ferry Basin habitat and the protected status of the elk produced ideal conditions for rapid growth of the herd. By 1991, the elk population reached sufficient numbers that the area was opened to permit hunting by tribal members. Around 1996, the Ferry Basin herd numbered between 250 and 275 elk in the summer and as many as 500 wintered in the area. Those numbers have gone up and down somewhat since then, but are relatively stable today.

Dams on rivers often harm fish and wildlife. The term "mitigation" refers to measures taken to reduce the damages associated with the construction and/or operation of the dams. The power company that owns the dam or the federal agency that owns and operates it pays money to buy and/or restore habitats.

There are two dams that have hurt native fish and wildlife on the lower Flathead River: Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ Dam (what used to Kerr Dam) and Hungry Horse Dam. Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ Dam is located on the river at the outlet of Flathead Lake; Hungry Horse Dam is located on the South Fork of the Flathead River upstream from Flathead Lake. The dam owners and operators have provided funds to the Tribes to purchase lands to replace lost fish and wildlife habitat and to enhance fish and wildlife production. Once land is purchased, the Tribes write a plan for managing it specifically for fish and wildlife. To date they have expended millions of dollars for mitigation lands, some of which are shown in red on this map. Fish and wildlife and the humans who fish, hunt, and otherwise appreciate a healthy environment have been the big winners.

The Little Money Bighorn Sheep Conservation area covers about 7,700 acres. In 1979 the Tribes transplanted 14 Wildhorse Island sheep (nine ewes and five rams) into the Little Money drainage. The herd took off. By 1994, it numbered 640 animals. The herd expanded rapidly because the habitat is ideal. It features grasslands for feeding, timber for cover, and rocky cliffs that sheep require during lambing for safety from predators. Because the sheep wander back and forth across the reservation divide on to state land, they are managed jointly by the Tribes and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The Tribes and the state have managed the herd numbers through a combination of trapping and the hunting of ewes. But even with that, the population peaked again in 2007 at 670 sheep.

The Lower Flathead River Corridor (shown on the back-ground map in light blue or turquoise) includes all Tribal lands within one-half mile of each side of the river, from Kerr Dam to the Reservation Boundary. Within the corridor, the Tribes' goal is to preserve, for present and future generations, the natural and cultural values of the Corridor. Management gives priority to enhancing resource values associated with traditional cultural uses such as hunting, fishing, plant harvesting, and other cultural activities, and resource uses are managed to be compatible with the restoration and maintenance of the river's outstanding natural and aesthetic qualities.

Vegetation Type Descriptions
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Juniper-Only Forests
Salish: Punɫp
Kootenai: ʾakuk̓pⱡuⱡaⱡ

These forests, which make up about 1% of the river's riparian zone, often contain ponderosa pine.

Juniper varies from a bushy shrub to a tree 50-feet tall. The trunk is short and stout. The crown is generally dense, although the branches may become long, slender and drooping.

The wood has been used for lance shafts and bows, and the needles burned ceremonially. Tea can be made from the boughs and branches to treat colds.

Douglas-fir Forests
Salish: Cq̓ɫp
Kootenai: Ⱡu

Douglas-fir forests make up about 7% of the riparian zone. These forests often contain some ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper as well.

Douglas-fir is really not a fir at all. Many things about it are different than the true firs, especially the cones. Because of fire exclusion, this tree has greatly expanded its distribution. Shrubs in the understory include snowberry, Wood's rose, service-berry, Oregon-grape, ninebark, and ocean spray. Forbs include dandelion, common yarrow, spotted knapweed, and wild strawberry.

Ponderosa Pine Forests
Salish: Sʔátq͏ʷɫp
Kootenai: Himu

Ponderosa pine, pure stands of which occupy about 1% of the river corridor's riparian zone, is the state tree of Montana. It is a very important tree for lumber, growing from 50 to 180 feet tall. On the river it is found by itself, but it also grows with black cotton-wood and juniper and dense shrubs, including red-osier dogwood, serviceberry, and Wood's rose.

It has three needles or sometimes two in each bundle and they are usually 4-7 inches long in tufts at the end of the branches. The cones are 3-6 inches long, broadly rounded at base, tapered to the tip, short and squat; bright green, becoming reddish brown as they get older and armed with small spines. The bark is dark on small trees, cinnamon-brown to orange-yellow, thick and broken into large, flat, irregular “jig-saw puzzle-shaped” plates on old trees.

Paper Birch

Paper birch, which occupies about 1% of the river corridor's riparian zone, grows 60 to 80 feet tall and cannot tolerate shade. It takes over areas after fires and was used in the past to make canoes and baskets.

The leaves are oval or ovate, 2-5 inches long and 1-2 inches wide, usually rounded at the base with the margins toothed. They are dark green and shiny above, yellow-green below.

The bark is creamy white, separating into thin, papery layers, and marked by long, narrow, horizontal, dark, corky lines. The inner bark is orange.

Riparian Shrub Communities

Riparian shrub communities, which occupy about 6% of the riparian zone in the river corridor, are often found near the high water mark along the river.

They most often include sandbar willow, red-osier dogwood, Douglas hawthorn, Wood's rose, western snowberry and Bebb's willow. Willow and dogwood are often found together, and rose is frequently found with hawthorne, dogwood, and snowberry.

Grasses frequently found include redtop bentgrass, reed canarygrass, fowl bluegrass, Kentucky bluegrass, and quackgrass.

Other plants in this community include Canada thistle, hemp dogbane, black medic, Canada goldenrod, loosestrife and poison ivy.

Upland Shrub Communities

Upland shrub communities, which occupy about 22% of the riparian zone in the river corridor, can be found both near the high water mark and a considerable distance inland and above the high water mark.

Shrubs found in upland communities include big sagebrush, rubber rabbitbrush, antelope bitterbrush, oceanspray, and serviceberry.

Bluebunch wheatgrass, cheatgrass, prairie junegrass (Koeleria cristata) and Kentucky bluegrass are the most common grasses, and fringed sagebrush, arrowleaf balsamroot, spotted knapweed, and mullein are the most common forbs.

Dry Herbaceous Communities

Dry herbaceous communities, which occupy about 8% of the river corridor, are often found on steep slopes and rocky banks adjacent to the river. Many of these sites are adjacent to the riparian zone; few are contained within it.

The community includes three types of subcommunities: western wheatgrass with Idaho fescue; bluebunch wheatgrass with rough fescue; and Kentucky bluegrass with quackgrass (this last one is found on disturbed sites). Redtop bentgrass and Canada thistle are found on many of these sites, as is spotted knapweed, common timothy, baltic rush, and prickly lettuce.

Xeric Herbaceous Communities

Xeric means extremely dry, and xeric herbaceous communities are the driest on the river. They are usually found farther from the riparian zone or are on especially fine and dry soils. The dominant species in this community are needle-and-thread grass with red threeawn grass, spotted knapweed, erect cinquefoil, and sand dropseed. Cheatgrass, fringed sagebrush, goatweed, and Kentucky bluegrass are also common.

Many of these species have been introduced, and some are troublesome weeds. Fringed sagebrush is an indicator of intensive cattle grazing, Many of these communities are obviously impacted by grazing and some appear to have been heavily grazed in the 1930's and never allowed to recover. These areas are not significantly impacted by water levels, but are used by geese because of their forage value and proximity to the river.

Black Cottonwood Forest
Salish: Mulš
Kootenai: Kanuⱡ mamaⱡ aqpiʾk

Black cottonwood forests occupy about 2% of the riparian zone of the river corridor. The tree grows up to 120 feet high. It is the largest of our cottonwoods. When mature, its trunk is often free of branches up to one-half its height. It has broad, oval-shaped crowns when grown in open sites. It grows on moist soils along streams and rivers. The leaves are 3-7 inches long and 3-4 inches wide; broad, rounded at base. The bark is smooth and greenish on young stems; becomes gray and sharply furrowed, 1 to 2 inches thick as the tree ages.

Because of the way Kerr Dam was operated for many decades (major reductions in peak flows and rapidly fluctuating water levels), there has generally been a tremendous loss of species like black cottonwood and sandbar willow, which pioneer flooded areas like gravel bars. At the same time species ponderosa pine and Rocky Mountain juniper have expanded.

Cultivated Land

Cultivated land includes pasture lands (lands grazed annually by livestock, alfalfa, grainfields, and lawns. By curtailing peak flows, Kerr Dam has "dewatered" much of the floodplain, and that has led to a tremendous conversion of the riparian vegetation to agricultural land. In addition. many of the wetter shrub types have been changed to herbaceous vegetation because of overgrazing of the riparian zone,

Marsh Communities

Marsh communities on the river can be classified as tall and short. Tall marshes are made up of common cattail, flowering rush, hardstem bulrush, and reed canarygrass. Dominant species in the short marsh include water horsetail, common spikerush, arrowroot, beaked sedge, marestail and a combination of jointed rush and slender spikerush.

Marsh communities are vulnerable to water level fluctuations, yet are critical feeding sites for numerous shorebirds and fish, as well as geese in the late spring.

It is likely that the diversity of marsh habitat was greater on the river before regulation of water levels.

Mixed Forest Communities

Mixed forests are highly variable in the species they have, but birch and Douglas fir are common together, sometimes with black cottonwood, aspen, and/or Rocky Mountain maple as well. Black cottonwood and ponderosa pine are also frequently found together.

Because of the different species present, these forests are used by many wildlife species and have among the highest diversity of bird life.

Fire Occurrence

Areas within the Flathead River Corridor burned on average about once every 8.5 years prior to the days of fire suppression (the average was 8.5 years but actual fire frequency ranged between 5 to 25 years). Some of those fires were lit by Indian people to clear campsites and improve forage for horses and wildlife. The fires generally did not kill large, mature trees. They were brief, low intensity fires that burned mostly grass and shrubs.

It is difficult to control wildfires within the river corridor because the roads are poor and parts of the corridor don't have any roads. Fuels include grasses and native shrubs (sage and bitterbrush), and open stands of ponderosa pine and juniper. There are lots of important natural and cultural resources along the river, many of which benefit from frequent fires. Prescribed fire is the best way to assure protection and restoration of those resources.