Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Montana Fishery
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Trout fisheries in Montana are valued at more than $750 million/year representing more than 20% of tourism spending in Montana. Southwestern Montana, including the upper Missouri and upper Yellowstone River basins, supports some of the most well-known rainbow and brown trout fisheries in the world and provide a significant portion of the statewide economic benefits to the economy. This project will lead to the development of a method for estimating different types of river use. That information will be used to inform public processes related to managing recreation to balance trout population management with recreational opportunity. Concerns exist over accurately quantifying recreational use on these rivers. The objective of this project is to develop methods to estimate the quantity of use by different recreational user groups, and apply these methods on the Beaverhead, Big Hole, Madison, Ruby, and upper Yellowstone rivers. This information will be used to inform public processes related to managing recreation to balance trout population management with recreational opportunity.