And they're in the process of making some major improvements to the local accommodations.
The tribes are in the middle of a multi-year project to restore a short section of river just outside town as part of a larger plan to improve habitat and water quality along the 22-mile stretch of the Jocko from Arlee down to the Clark Fork River.
On Tuesday, experts on an intensive river restoration effort near Arlee gathered along the Jocko to talk about the effort with members of the Flathead Reservation Fish and Wildlife Board.
The 9,000-foot "demonstration reach" is within a short walk of town.
Following a huge flood in 1948 that threatened the town, residents of the valley shored up the river's banks. Over the years, the channel was straightened and dikes were built to protect nearby structures.
Along the way, the river lost the characteristics bull trout need to survive.
Last year, the tribes started work to change that.
Using funds obtained through a 1998 settlement with the Atlantic Richfield Co., with a financial assist from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, officials started an ambitious project to change the course of a river.
Using aerial maps from the 1930s, they found the old riverbed that wound its way back and forth across the valley.
The plan called for rebuilding that old riverbed and encouraging the water to take a different route.
The first year, the tribes focused on the first 4,000 feet.
Last summer, they fired up excavators and other heavy equipment and went to work creating floodplains and rebuilding the riverbed. Using river-building skills developed over decades, they built meanders, installed strategic log jams and planted thousands of new trees, bushes and sedges.
When they were finished, they'd raised the riverbed up somewhere between 3 and 4 feet.
And then the rains came this spring. On the first weekend of June, everyone held their breath as a 10-year flood swept down over all their hard work.
As it turned out, there was no need to worry.
The flood left behind a smattering of stumps, driftwood and other debris, but no significant damage to the new riverbed.
"We'd normally like to wait for a few years to allow vegetation to take hold on the floodplain areas, but it didn't work out that way this time around," said Les Evarts, the tribal fisheries program manager. "We were all certainly gratified to see how well this worked."
Just downstream from phase one was a different story.
The section of the river slated for the next bit of work was a mess. Riverbanks had fallen away. Huge pine trees lay scattered about. A 200-foot section of a dike near the Jocko River Trout Hatchery was simply gone.
"It just unraveled," said Evarts. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that amount of erosion is going to have some serious impacts downstream."
If he had his choice, Evarts would just as soon take a hands-off approach to river restoration. He's seen what nature can do if given a chance.
"Rivers are very resilient," he said.
The riparian area along the river has bounced back in places where management changes have provided an opportunity.
But where man's work has left a lasting scar, nature can only do so much. The section of river near Arlee is a good example.
"This is one of the most disturbed sections along the river. It's very erosive and it would probably take generations for it to repair itself," said Evarts. "Most of the Jocko doesn't need this much help. What we've had to do here is very heavy handed."
And very expensive.
Evarts says the first phase may cost somewhere close to $1 million.
"This isn't a standard stream job," he said "We're testing a lot of different techniques here. Š The Arco settlement requires that this work translate into more riparian habitat. One-third, maybe as much as half of the cost, is for revegetation.
"It's a big price tag, but it's a demonstration project and we want it to shine," said Evarts.
There's still a lot to learn, and Evarts said the river will surely teach them a trick or two.
"We make a lot of good guesses and maybe we get it right," he said. "Hopefully our guesses are good enough to get it started in the right direction."
Reporter Perry Backus can be reached at 523-5259 or at pbackus@missoulian.com
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