Here’s a gorgeous new video from Octave Zangs that focuses on Western Montana’s Clark Fork watershed, both its amazing natural beauty and the challenges it faces. The video follows three anglers on a week long, self-guided fly fishing trip to explore the unbelievably beautiful, natural landscapes that characterize the headwaters of the immense Clark Fork watershed, and document the sights and sounds of the abundance of wildlife that inhabits this ever-shrinking expanse of western wilderness. The idea is to shine a bright light on some of the things that threaten the watershed:
Unfortunately, this beautiful system is also heavily relied upon downstream by the agricultural industry in the region. Many cold water tributaries that would otherwise provide suitable spawning habitat, or adequate refuge for native and game fish species during warmer summer months, actually run dry prior to their confluence with the Clark Fork; their flows having been critically reduced by increasing irrigation demands. In an effort to learn more about some of the issues at hand, we connected with Andy Fischer, a Project Manager for the Clark Fork Coalition, to fish a recently restored headwaters stream and discuss some of his organization’s innovative and effective approaches toward conservation and cleanup within the Clark Fork watershed.
The work being done by the Clark Fork Coalition, as part of its “Eight Gr8 Trout Streams Campaign,” will be one of the 2016 Orvis Matching Grant Projects, so watch this space for a lot more information. But in the meantime, just watch the beautiful video in hi-def and at full screen.
