I find amusing those bumper stickers that proclaim the driver to be a “Montana Native.”  It’s as if the accident of birthplace provides for special status and a claim that presumably puts them above the rest of us unfortunate souls who were born elsewhere.  At best, most of these “natives” can claim a Montana lineage stretching back only 150 years.  Of course, if the drivers are Native American, they might be able to claim a heritage that goes back 10,000 years – which is much more legitimate claim.  However, in both cases the pride of place and heritage is still technically being made by an immigrant to Montana.

For my money, to be a true “Montana Native” you had to have evolved in Montana.  Now that is an exclusive club.  I refer to critters that acquired special genetic, behavioral or physical characteristics in Montana. These are differences that separate them from other species. Several candidates come to mind, but don’t quite make the cut. For example, a progenitor of the modern horse evolved in North America and Montana, but became extinct here before humans arrived.  The pronghorn antelope – which is actually a goat – evolved as a true North American species. Pronghorn are found nowhere else in the world.  Both animals evolved in the Great Plains – including within Montana’s political boundary -- but neither can claim a specific Montana birthplace. However, that is not the case with some “Montana” fish, notably the westslope cutthroat trout, one of two cutthroat subspecies found in our state. The “cutthroat trout” happens to also be our state fish. 

Evidence collected by taxonomists as well as theories advanced by those who study evolutionary divergence seems to indicate that the headwaters of the Clark Fork River could very well have been the original home of the westslope’s forebears. Whitefish, grayling and other salmonids (salmon, trout and char) evolved from a common ancestor about 50 million years ago.  Through accidents of geology and climate, the genus salmo  (brown trout and its relatives) diverged from the genus oncorhynchus (salmon, cutthroat and rainbow) about 20 million years ago. And thus the species from the genus Salmo did not originate in Montana. However, at least one species of oncorhynchus did.

The westslope cutthroat trout is the only native trout found above the barrier falls on the upper Columbia River – near today’s Idaho and Washington border.  These barriers were formed around 17 million years ago by the Columbia River flood basalts, thus isolating westslopes from other trout. (Rainbow and brown trout were introduced to Montana from California and Europe, respectively, within the last 100 years.). With the last ice age, geological conditions were favorable for the westslope to swim from the Columbia headwaters across the Continental Divide to the Upper Missouri. They also spread downstream below the barrier falls. And thus it appears the westslope cutthroat trout is a true Montana native.  The bull trout, our native char, has a similar history. The location of its most immediate evolutionary ancestor is believed to be the upper Columbia River and the species has a similar distribution as the westslope.  Again, these fish were here long before humans arrived.

So, though the real Montana Native can’t stand up or drive, they are great swimmers. It is my sincere hope that we stewards of Montana’s native heritage have the foresight and will to ensure that westslope cutthroats continue to swim in our waters and are still around to rise to the well placed flies of our great grandkids. Our bodies and minds benefit from the pursuit of these natives, and our human spirit would be greatly diminished if these beautiful fish disappeared. 

PS – Native westslope cutthroat trout can also be found in Idaho, but we all know Montana fish are the best.