Montana Ranchers Recruited to Aid Arctic Grayling

WISDOM — Cal Erb would rather put his energy into managing his Big Hole ranch than arguing about what's best for the future of arctic grayling in front of a federal judge.

And he's hoping a new program designed to help Big Hole ranchers develop conservation plans will stave off that possibility, as well as the potential listing of arctic grayling under the Endangered Species Act.

Private landowners in the Big Hole Valley who live upstream of Dickey Bridge can sign voluntary agreements with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to implement land and water conservation measures on their property.

In exchange, landowners will receive assurances that if the grayling is listed, they will not be asked to do anything more.

It's the first time the federal Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances program has been tried on such a large scale. Nearly 300 landowners with property covering more than 380,000 acres are eligible to participate in a program that could give many some peace of mind.

But the clock is ticking and no one's ready to predict what the future holds for the last remaining population of steam-dwelling arctic grayling in the lower 48 states.

Years of drought have knocked down their numbers, although biologists say the Big Hole's population of grayling appears to be stable. But snowpack in the surrounding mountains is dismal this spring.

Last year, the Center for Biological Diversity, headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., sued the federal government in an effort to force the government to list the grayling as endangered. That case is still in the courts and it's anyone's guess on when it will be resolved.

"Everything is a bit fuzzy right now," said Jim Magee, FWP's grayling biologist. "The grayling could wind up being listed tomorrow or maybe it might be 10 years from now." Meanwhile, landowners working with state and federal officials, have been taking steps to protect the fish. Last year, the Natural Resources Conservation Service came up with $1 million to pay landowners willing to turn off their irrigation ditches in order to keep more water in the Big Hole River and its tributaries.

That program opened people's eyes to just how serious the grayling issue has become, said Magee.

Now landowners in the upper Big Hole — the stronghold for the arctic grayling — are stepping up to learn more about the new federal assurances program. It allows landowners who voluntarily implement conservation measures on their property to be immune to new regulations that could come down the pike should the grayling be listed.

And that means a lot to ranchers like Erb.

"The way I see it, you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees trying to fight and still not be sure of the outcome," Erb said. "Or we start working together and are able to say that we've worked really, really hard to find solutions." A judge is going to consider those efforts. It could mean the listing of the grayling is delayed or stopped entirely. Avoiding litigation is important to everyone, said Erb.

"I've seen a lot of litigation in my time," said Erb, a longtime Dillon lawyer. "Nobody ever wins." The conservation efforts will focus on four areas: improving stream flows, improving riparian and stream habitat, removing barriers to grayling migration and addressing the issue of grayling going into irrigation ditches.

Landowners will be able to develop a plan for their operations at no cost.

"The only cost to them is the time it will take to walk their ranch with us," said Magee. "That's the beauty of this. It's ground-level-up management. We're going to work with ranchers to find solutions that (are) good for the resource and make sense for their operations." "We're not going to out there and tell them this is what they have to do," said Peter Lamothe, the state's assurances program coordinator. "We want to come up with multiple solutions to address the issues." Some landowners may already have management practices in place that are good for grayling.

"All we're going to want to do in that case is document those," said Magee. "If the grayling is listed, it becomes a legal situation and so it's very important that everything is documented." The Natural Resources Conservation Service has set aside $500,000 this year to help producers in the upper Big Hole install conservation measures to aid in the grayling recovery effort. The agency is accepting applications for the funding Monday through April 15.

Conservation measures will run the gamut from diversion dams that allow fish passage to off-stream watering facilities to riparian fencing.

"We want to offer practical, reasonable options that are good for the producer and good for the grayling," said Dave White, a state conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.


Story by Perry Backus of The Montana Standard.