They followed the native fish throughout the lake's river system in order to catch them. That is something you don't see these days in Flathead Lake.įlathead Lake is one of the largest lakes in the western United States, and the native fish here are especially important to the Indigenous people who have called this land home for thousands of years.īenson says that the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were hunter-gatherers. She says a tribal elder spoke to her about how it used to be a common sight to see a range of westslope cutthroat trout at the lake's surface feeding. and that slowly led to their quitting fishing."īenson's family weren't the only ones who noticed once-abundant species becoming displaced by invasive fish.
After that they were catching them all the time. They were fishing for the native fish, and I actually remember the day they caught their first lake trout. "I remember when I was a young child, people fishing out on the lake, my dad included. One of the main reasons for that is the introduction of lake trout to the area. The native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout are two species that are experiencing a decline in population. "Our native species are disappearing everywhere. She says her family lineage can be traced back as far as Chief Looking Glass in the 1800s, so Benson and generations of her family have witnessed firsthand the declining numbers of native species in the area. Cindy Benson, a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, has lived her entire life in or near the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana.
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