Flathead Lakers (Montana, USA) Home Page

NEW Caption Catchim’s News from the Field column. You’ve heard Mark Ward on the Montana Outdoor Radio Show. Now you can read him online.

What Are Your Chances of Sighting the Monster? Loch Ness has nothing on Flathead Lake, according to Laney Hanzel, retired fisheries biologist. Laney's fascinating history of sightings — sober & otherwise — on Flathead Lake is a must read.

Tips for Lake Stewards. Practical advice for property owners.

Interactive satellite imagery of Flathead Lake. A work in progress, but also a work good enough for you to enjoy right now.

Streamflow & lake levels information for the Flathead basin and adjacent environs. Links to realtime data for local streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; links to the U.S. Geological Survey, National Weather Service, and other agencies. Part of our lake levels section.

Stillwater Riverbank Restoration. Just east of Kalispell’s vocational-agricultural school, the Stillwater River was moving its west bank westward. Stakes that a science teacher placed near the water disappeared in a year or two. Something had to be done — and was. An ongoing story, with photographs.

Minimum flows and drought years. Hydrographs for Flathead Lake, the Flathead River below Kerr Dam, the south fork of the Flathead River below Hungry Horse Dam, and Article 56 minimums, for drought years from 1926 through 2003. Annual means for Flathead Lake. Graph displaying annual average elevations for water years 1908-2005.

What’s New

Field trip 2009 NEW Spring/Summer 2009 Newsletter now online (PDF 779 KB). Annual meeting details, inside story of Aquatic Invasive Species Act's passage, impact of huge budget cuts on Flathead water quality monitoring, critical lands update, a new beach at Polson, some heart warming photographs, and more.

NEW New Links. We've added Captain Catchim's News from the Field column, the popular feature on the Montana Outdoor Radio Show, to our collection of favorites (left). The Flathead Lake Biological Station's latest State of the Lake Report is up on the station's website.

NEW Useful documents on septic systems. The Tri-State Water Quality Council’s report on Septic System Impacts on Surface Waters (PDF) (link fixed). And, the MSU extension service’s Septic System Inspection & Trouble-shooting Guide (PDF).

Zebra Mussel SUCCESS! SB-343, the Montana Aquatic Invasive Species Act was signed by Governor Schweitzer on May 4. Our thanks to Sen. Jackson, Rep. Taylor, and all of the Flathead Basin legislators who worked so hard and well to move this vital legislation through the legislature. Now the action shifts from the halls of the capitol to the rivers and lakes of Montana. They’re still free of zebra and quagga mussels — and we’re going to keep them that way.

Greg and Rose examine algae NEW Lakers Annual Report for 2008 now online. Wondering what the Lakers did last year? We did plenty — and here are the details. Annual Report 2008 (PDF). Left, Greg McCormick and Rose Schwennesen examine a jar of toxic algae collected from Middle Foys Lake. Larger image.

NEW $1 million North American Wetland Conservation grant will fund critical lands conservation. The money will be administered through the Flathead Land Trust. For more information, please see Jim Mann’s story in the March 18, 2009, InterLake.

NEW Lake refill expected to commence on April 16. As of March 13, the lake level was 2883.68 and slowly decreasing. The outflow from Kerr dam was approximately 7,000 cfs. PPL MT (press release; PDF) predicts the end of March lake level will be 2883.00 to 2883.40, which is on the lower bound of normal for 1965–2008 (online graph, and PDF graph for printing). The current April through July forecast for inflow to Flathead Lake is 85 percent of average.

Elna Darrow — 1944–2009

Elna Darrow unexpectedly died on February 26 — and the Flathead lost one of its most generous and effective citizens, and the Lakers family lost a wonderful leader and friend. Continue reading.

Winter 2009 newsletter. Includes stories on legislative priorities, critical lands, and biographies of our newest board members.