‘No single cause’ to blame for White River algae bloom.
“We’ve had an issue in the river (algae blooms) we’ve all seen evolving over the last couple of years that’s affecting some of the fishing and having impacts on water quality,” said CPW District Wildlife Manager Director Bill deVergie.
“We are not saying there is one source of the problem, and this is not catastrophic at this point.
I think we’re all striving for the same goal: the health of the river.” deVergie introduced Mindi May, CPW water quality specialist, who shared research done last year in 15 different locations in the White River watershed in and east of Meeker.
They performed algae identification at the Wakara Ranch testing site, where the worst of the algae blooms occurred.
While algae are a normal part of a stream system, the species of algae identified last year is of particular concern: cladophora glomerata, aka green algae, forms long filaments and is “difficult to get rid of,” May said.
“It’s a species that’s really good at taking up nutrients and storing nutrients for later use.” Clark Fork near Missoula, Mont., has also experienced an infestation of green algae, prompting landowners, recreationalists and industry to form a coalition to reduce mitigating factors that cause the algae to grow.
The main byproducts of feeding fish are nitrogen and phosphorus, which has led to international concerns about fish farming causing water pollution and algae blooms.
“There’s lots of little sources spread all around.
It’s been so thick at our Fifth Street sampling site it’s hard to get around in the river, and the macroinvertebrate counts are a lot lower.