SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The latest effort to save Kootenai River white sturgeon from extinction begins this week when water is spilled over Montana’s Libby Dam to encourage the ancient fish to spawn for the first time in 36 years.
Up to 10,000 cubic feet of water per second will be spilled over the dam for up to seven days, in what scientists hope will remind the sturgeon of the sort of spawning grounds they enjoyed back in the days of the dinosaurs.
The intent is to foster sturgeon spawning and improve survival of the larval sturgeon. An isolated population of the ancient species lives along a stretch of the Kootenai that passes through Montana, Idaho and British Columbia. Fewer than 500 of the bottom-feeding behemoths survive.
