Montana Moving At-Risk Cutthroat From Burned Areas

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is rushing to relocate about 1000 Yellowstone cutthroat trout from two creeks south of Big Timber. The trout are threatened by the ash left over from this summer’s 200,000-acre Derby Mountain fire. As Susan Gallagher of the Associated Press notes, “The Derby Mountain fire did not appear to have any immediate, significant effect on fish, according to Fish, Wildlife and Parks. But because of the fire’s extent and severity, the steepness of the terrain and the nature of the soils, scientists have predicted that up to 19 tons of sediment per acre of land could slide into the streams.”