A de-watered upper Madison River, after the Hebgen Dam spillway malfunction. Photo courtesy of Kelly Galloup
The importance of gray infrastructure was in clear view on Montana’s Madison River on November 30th when a mechanical failure shut down a spillway gate on the Hebgen Dam to a trickle. Water flows plunged from 640 cubic feet per second to below 200 in a matter of minutes. The dramatically reduced flow stranded fish and other aquatic life in the side channels and flats. Hundreds of volunteers from far and wide turned up to rescue trout, sculpins, and other critters.
The lasting effects of the dam failure on the Madison River’s fisheries are unknown but they will go beyond the stranded fish to encompass the thousands of brown trout redds, full of freshly-spawned eggs, and the invertebrate life hidden from view.
There is good news in that the damage could have been a lot worse—if the weather has not been unseasonably warm, the spillway had closed completely, and if the low flows had not been restored by the morning of December 2nd. But there are a lot of IFs and much concern about WHY—why the failure occurred, why the dam operator failed to notice and quickly respond, why this sort of failure seems to occur again and again placing human and ecosystem health and safety at risk.
It was the vigilance of a local fly shop. the Slide Inn Fly Shop, that notified the dam operator of the accident (who was unaware of the problem), It was the Madison-Gallatin chapter of Trout Unlimited, local fly shops, and many anglers who mobilized to stranded fish under the guidance of help Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. And it will be the angling community that works to prevent similar mishaps in the future.