Montana wildlife agency floats proposal to close East Gallatin to fishing from boats

It’s been decades since anglers have been able to fish one of the region’s most popular rivers, the Gallatin, from a boat. That’s due to a 45-year-old regulation designed to prevent user-group conflicts and preserve the wade-fishing experience that recreationists from Gallatin Valley and beyond enjoy.

Now, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking to implement a similar prohibition on fishing from vessels in the main stem’s low-flow cousin, the East Gallatin. The proposal is included in the 2027-2028 fishing regulations, which are currently open for public comment.

Some members of Montana’s angling community welcome the shift, describing it as a proactive effort to preserve spawning habitat along an important fishery. Others are wary of restricted access to one of the region’s sleepier rivers. They argue that the state should do more to address other East Gallatin threats, such as nutrient pollution and degraded habitat.

FWP Region 3 Fish Manager Mike Duncan told Montana Free Press that the agency is pursuing the change because shrinking streamflows and warming temperatures point to challenging conditions ahead for the area’s fish. He’s concerned that more anglers will find their way to the mellow, cottonwood-lined river northwest of Bozeman in search of uncrowded waters.

“Anglers, and recreationalists in general, are getting more creative with how they access and fish smaller streams,” he said. “We wanted to bring it up, have the discussion with the public — especially with the increased use and frustrations we hear (about) on some of the larger rivers, like the Lower Madison and the Yellowstone.”

Duncan added that while the Gallatin has generally maintained a robust trout population, area biologists are starting to see indications that numbers are starting to slip. The East Gallatin provides spawning habitat for fish that make the journey up from larger, mainstem rivers to the north and west, Duncan said. He argues that the change is consistent with the agency’s larger effort to minimize pressure on tributaries that have an outsized effect on mainstem rivers. “We’re not seeing as many bigger, adult fish like we used to,” he said. “We want to try to get ahead of any changes to use that could potentially further impact the river.”

The area’s hydrology and topography also played a role in the decision, Duncan said. He anticipates that the change will preserve the most popular form of angling on the East Gallatin, wade fishing, while minimizing harm to spawning habitat used by fish in the larger watershed.

“It’s not just an important spawning and rearing habitat for the East Gallatin, or even the Lower Gallatin, but these areas support fisheries across a much greater area,” he said, pointing to the Jefferson and Madison rivers as examples.

“We don’t have a lot of boat traffic yet. We just wanted to have the chat to see if this is something that would be worth getting ahead of,” he added. “If boat traffic were to increase — especially in years like this, where the East Gallatin had exceptionally low flows all winter — folks would be forced to drag boats across gravel bars, where we know there are a lot of brown trout spawning, and whitefish as well.”

The egg-trampling concern isn’t as pronounced for wade fishing because anglers on foot are able to make their way alongside the river on exposed gravel bars.

Alex Leone, executive director of Public Land Water Association, counters that the agency should provide more data to support the change, especially since boat traffic is modest and the window to float the East Gallatin is so short.

“There are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he said. “If this is a spawning and a resource concern, where’s the science?”

Leone also argues that limiting nutrient pollution would be a more effective way to bolster the river’s slumping brown trout population.

“The biggest problem is not the floaters — it’s the water quality issues,” Leone said. “Why don’t you limit Bozeman’s allowance of nonpoint source pollution (and) address the causal factor?”

Guy Alsentzer, executive director of Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, argued that the state should reduce sedimentation and nutrient pollution before limiting access.

“I find it very myopic to talk about restricting the public from boat fishing on the entirety of the East Gallatin while we have (another) branch of government that has recognized serious pollution problems in primary pollutants that directly affect wild trout recruitment,” he said. “It seems a little ridiculous to me.”

Alsentzer has long called on the state to create a cold-water fisheries task force so government agencies dealing with water quantity, water quality and fish management can collaborate to shore up Montana’s struggling fisheries. He’s also called on agencies like the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to rein in nitrogen pollution on a variety of southwestern Montana rivers. Nitrogen pollution from wastewater, poorly maintained septic systems and fertilizer runoff generate algal blooms that deprive aquatic ecosystems of the oxygen they need to thrive.

Other members of Montana’s angling community are eager for FWP to better explain its reasoning. Clayton Elliott, Trout Unlimited’s conservation and government affairs director, said he’s generally supportive of targeted spawning closures that are grounded in science. And it’s not lost on him, he said, that the mainstem of the Gallatin and the Upper Madison are closed to fishing from boats to prioritize wade fishing and minimize conflicts.

“I’m familiar with the regulatory tool. I’m familiar with the resource concern. I’ve not necessarily seen the two paired together — as this being the tool to ameliorate the resource concern,” he said. “I’d like to talk to the department to understand their rationale.”

Elliott added that he anticipates there will be a “pretty robust conversation about that proposal specifically” at the meeting FWP is hosting in Bozeman on May 19. At that meeting, the department will take public temperature on the regulation changes.

“I certainly have heard the conspiracies of other folks, saying this may be related to where the governor lives,” he said. “There are lots of thoughts and feelings about what this closure might be trying to accomplish.”

Gov. Greg Gianforte owns property on the East Gallatin River. In 2009, Gianforte locked horns with FWP over the location of an easement anglers used to access the East Gallatin near Cherry Creek. The dispute surfaced in Gianforte’s 2016 run for governor against Democrat Steve Bullock, with access groups using the conflict to describe Gianforte as anti-public access, a characterization Gianforte has resisted.

Bozeman resident Pat Straub says it’s suspicious that such a significant change was rolled into the regulations the way it was. (It’s nested under an “East Gallatin River Pike Harvest” proposal.)

“As an angler and outfitter who’s been around for decades in Montana, I find it very interesting that they chose to do this for a biological reason that was buried, or hidden, in redacting a northern pike regulation,” Straub said. “The East Gallatin is a very unique fishery. Access is really difficult. There are very few places where someone can legally access the East Gallatin. If you limit the ability for people to float and fish the East Gallatin, you’re essentially cutting off access to the river.”

For his part, Duncan said none of the proposals incorporated in the regulations came from landowners. He emphasized that this is the earliest iteration of the regulations. With an extra step added to the process, members of the recreating public will have multiple opportunities to weigh in before the Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts the final package later this year. Duncan said he has an “open door” to hear public concerns.

The full set of regulations spans 89 pages. The initial round of public comment on the document is open through May 31.

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This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.