Why do people keep dumping buckets of fish into Montana’s lakes?
Vox's November 15, 2026 article by Neel Dhanesha examines "bucket biology" — people illegally dumping non-native fish into Montana's lakes — and the damage it does, as when yellow perch dumped into Lake Mary Ronan in 1992 wiped out its native Westslope cutthroat trout. Officials are fighting back with bounties, fish forensics pioneered by Sam Bourret, and outreach, though Dhanesha concludes the future of Flathead Lake and lakes like it depends on what people do with their buckets.
