Like many of you, we’re of course following updates from Montana’s Yellowstone with rapt interest these days.
Like many of you, we’re impressed by the magnitude of the closure and amazed by the amount of misinformation (and disinformation) being presented out there, to our collective eyes most aptly displayed in the various regional newspaper articles and discussions.
In response to the most consistent questions we’re getting, here’s a few updates and links for those interested in digging a little deeper, framed in response to some of the more interesting emails that have come in…
The river is supposed to be closed and there were folks on the water yesterday (Sunday)….
There are folks who have been accessing the closed waters it appears, presumably based on ignorance of the closure or just because they’re assholes and don’t really give a damn. Report violations to 1-800-TIP-MONT.
Along those lines, the Madison Gallatin TU guys are coordinating a joint effort with FWP to stage volunteers at River Access Sites (preferably in pairs) to help make sure all members of the public intending to use the river are adequately informed.
Email MGTU here if you’d like to help out.
What’s the infectious agent causing this?
The pathogen is a myxozoan parasite of salmonoid fishes called Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae; it causes a clinical condition called PKD (Proliferative Kidney Disease). It’s been long studied in European farmed and wild salmonoids as well as primarily West Coast salmonoid populations in the US.
For the armchair fisheries biologists among us, here’s some scientific reading of potential interest; a simple web search for the pathogen will provide more than you’ll care to plow through.
2013, USFWS Publication, PKD in Chinook smolts in the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced Rivers
2007, PKD in Merced River Chinook Salmon Smolts, California Fish and Game
Why the outbreak on the Yellowstone now?
A fisheries biologist friend speaking confidentially yesterday shared a number of interesting points, two of which stood out with one critical caveat thrown in…
One, there had to be an introduction or inoculation of the parasite into the watershed at some point. Did it come from chronically infested waters on the West coast or was it seeded after the 2012 PKD outbreak in the Upper Snake Drainage (Henry’s, South Fork of the Snake, and Teton Rivers)? Or another time and source? The true vector will likely never be known.
[While there’s long been discussion in Montana to ban Californians, the persistence of PKD in California rivers my reignite the debate if the PKD outbreak isn’t contained…]
And two, it’s widely known this has been a tough water year, with impressively low flows and at times worrisome high temps on the Yellowstone, both of which stressed fish populations and make clinical infection much more likely.
The critical caveat from the point above…
Decontamination of gear is important year round from a general invasive species perspective, but absolutely critical if fishers OR recreationists have spent any time on the Yellowstone in the prior weeks.
Pleasure floaters and critters, dogs in particular, transport parasites from river to river routinely and are rarely targeted in invasive species campaigns.
What’s so magical about the northern border of Yellowstone NP?
Richard Parks of Parks’ Fly Shop in Gardiner has answered that question better than anyone (spoiler, it ain’t magic) – read it here.
The latest YNP news release on the issue is here.
How long will the closure be in place?
Unknown. Flows aren’t likely to change much over the near term; temperatures will begin to moderate with the change of season. Richard Parks offered an educated guess in his linked post above.
Where to find more information?
Follow the FWP news feed for the latest; here’s their latest Fact Sheet on the issue.
