Montana’s Smith, portions of Columbia on endangered rivers list

Outdoors editor Rich Landers climbed up to the tope of one of the Smith River's iconic limestone cliffs to make this photo of the Smith River near Cow Coulee Campground as hit heads north toward its confluence with the Missouri River. (Rich Landers)

RIVERS -- Aging dams threaten fisheries in portions of the Columbia River and a proposed copper mine threatens headwaters of Montana's Smith River , putting them both on a conservation group's  2015 list of "10 most endangered rivers."

“We choose rivers that face key decisions in the next 12 months,” said Scott Bosse, American Rivers Northern Rockies Region director. “With the Smith, the mining plan is expected to be filed in late 2015, so there will be a critical decision point in the first half of 2016. We’re asking people to contact Gov. (Steve) Bullock and ask him to direct state agencies not to permit the proposed mine unless it can be constructed in such a way it doesn’t pose a threat to the fisheries there.”

The Smith made the list because of the potential for Canada-based Tintina Resources Inc. opening a copper mine on 12,000 acres of land along Sheep Creek. That stream is a major trout-spawning tributary of the Smith.

The rest of the 2015 list includes the Columbia River through Oregon and Washington where negotiations for revising the Columbia River Treat hold the key to more fish passage posibilities.

Other rivers:  the Holston River in Tennessee (toxic chemical pollution), Edisto River in South Carolina (excessive water withdrawls), Chuitna River in Alaska (proposed coal mine), Rogue-Smith watersheds in California (proposed nickel mines), St. Louis River in Minnesota (copper/nickel mine), the Harpeth River in Tennessee (sewage pollution), and the Pearl River in Louisiana and Mississippi (proposed dam).

American Rivers estimated the Smith generates about $4.5 million a year for outfitters and surrounding communities, mainly from floaters traveling its 60-mile-long limestone canyon section between the Little Belt and Big Belt mountains. Fishing and camping along the Smith have become so popular, the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department has had to impose a lottery permit system to control overuse.

According to the Missoulian , Montana rivers previously on the American Rivers list included the North Fork of the Flathead shortly before Congress agreed to a transborder protection act prohibiting mineral development on the American and Canadian sides of the river, along with the Blackfoot, Kootenai and Yellowstone rivers.

American Rivers is the nation’s largest river conservation group. It has been releasing its endangered river list since 1984.

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