citizens committees and pacts have refined, modernized and strengthened the standards for preserving Rock Creek. The state, through the Rock Creek Advisory Council, now administers a SI. 5 million conservation trust fund for the drainage.'^Sportsmen and conservationists, residents and state wildlife officials all continue to cooperate with the Forest Service on issues ranging from elk habitat to residential sanitation, mining, grazing and, of course, logging. In this way, they plan to keep Rock Creek a treasure for generations^to come. ENDNOTES 1 In 19S9, a committee ccimpiised i)f rcprcscniativcs of Montana State University, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the Montana Fish and Game Department classified the entire length of Rock C.reek, from mainstem headwaters to mouth, as a blue ribbon trout stream. The committee rated streams based on their ability to produce fish, their availability to fishermen, the aesthetic value and the amount t)f recreational use they received As a blue ribbon fishery, the highest classification, Rock Creek is to be protected from habitat destruction. 2 The four forks of Rock Creekthe Ross', East, West and Middle Forksmeet just above the Skalkaho Bridge in the Deerlodge Forest. See Lolo National Forest's Biological E%aluation for the proposed Bagdad Mine, prepared by Mike Hillis, wildlife biologist. See also the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of Interior, April 26, 1988, memo evaluating the potential effect of the Bagdad Mine on Peregrine falcons and bald eagles. 4. Missoulian, May 31, 1964, article by U.S. Forest Service Ranger Carl Siria. Indian artifacts have been found throughout the drainage. Mounds found on East Quigg Peak, the highest peak in the Sapphires, are thought to be Indian relics. Some 40 miles upstream of the mouth of Rock Creek is Squaw Rock, a multicolored ledge where, according to legend, a young squaw plunged to her death. More than 100 bison skulls were found on a flat near the mouth of Little Hogback Creek, a Rock Creek tributary; the bison are thought to have perished in deep snow after taking refuge in the canyon from Indian hunters.
