LOLO- The drought in Lolo Creek has impacted residents above and below the banks.
Radd Icenoggle lives nearby and documents the creek.
“This whole section of stream, maybe there's an entire generation of fish lost, invertebrates lost. Crayfish, you know, when this thing first dried out, there were so many crayfish skeletons through here. Those are all gone," Icenoggle told MTN.
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Icenoggle has a background in wildlife biology and likes to share stories about the environment.
“I've always been kind of a naturalist, you know, just I really want to investigate the world around us, the reality around us," Icenoggle said.
He has a podcast called Mountain Misfits, and makes videos about natural history.
“I think that we have a profound lack of fascination. Like people, they don't look around themselves and they're not absolutely stunned and fascinated. I just want people to get super duper excited about the natural world or the bigger world around them," Icenoggle explained.
He’s been out with his camera in Lolo Creek since the stretch between Highway 93 and the Bitterroot River dried up.
“I’ve been known to be walking up and down the creek bed. It's seen from the highway," Icenoggle stated.
While the creek drying up is not unheard of, a drought has had a major impact this year, spurring action from the Lolo community and water managers.
"It's always going to be low flows when we get [to] August, September. That's normal and natural. What's kind of, I think, unnatural is we're getting more of this shortening cycle of when the creek bed goes totally dry," Icenoggle detailed.
He's concerned about the impact this could have on the wider ecosystem, from the creatures that live in the creek to the cooling effect the water has on the Bitterroot River.
“Well, now, where do those fish go, you know, are they traveling, trying to find another stream? Is it just tough luck?" Icenoggle said.
Even far beyond these banks, he worries about drought impacts on other areas throughout the Bitterroot.
“I think this is kind of the canary in the coal mine," Icenoggle stated.
Like other community members, Icenoggle has picked up river creatures by the bucket when the creek dries up.
“I think it makes your heart feel good. You're trying to do the right thing. But you know, it's a thimble when there's an ocean, you're just doing a little teeny bit, it's not going to help," Icenoggle said.
He hopes people continue coming together to care for the creek. He says he’ll keep coming out with his camera.
“I would like us to, as a community, as a real community, not just, you know, individual voices forcing the issue, but as a community, let's readdress how we use the watershed," Icenoggle stated.
