a state-maintained landing off Highway 93, approximately 15 minutes north of Polson. The island is owned by the Montana Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and is home to Camp Melita Island, and is used and for other activities; there is a project for woodland rehabilitation run by the Montana Council. There is also a bald eagle reserve which is protected by the Native Americans. Boy Scouts began using the island in the 1940s. History Once known as "Salish Lake", this body of water was named for the Salish Indians. Early European explorers, like David Thompson, called them the Flathead Indians because of a misinterpretation of early Native American sign language. A common misconception is that the name is derived from a practice of head flattening more common among tribes such as the Chinook. There is no evidence to show that the Salish ever had this custom. Since the late 19th century, the Salish were mostly removed to the Flathead Indian Reservation, located at the southern end of the lake. The Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ Dam, built near Polson, regulates the lake's water level, generates hydroelectric power, and provides water for irrigation to support agriculture in the area. The lake has an irregularly shaped shoreline and a dozen small islands, the largest of which is a state park called Wild Horse Island. These islands cover . The Flathead River and the Swan River (known also as the Bigfork River where it enters the lake) are the lake's major tributaries. The lake is inhabited by the native bull trout and cutthroat trout, as well as the non-native lake trout, yellow perch, and lake whitefish. Local residents have reported sighting other aquatic fauna in the lake as well, such as sturgeon and the Flathead Lake Monster. The non-native opossum shrimp, (Mysis diluviana), were introduced by Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in the Flathead drainage basin to encourage production of larger kokanee salmon; they migrated into Flathead Lake and have altered the ecosystem. Fishermen had introduced lake trout 80 years prior but remained at low densities until the non-native Mysis became established. The bottom-dwelling mysids eliminated a recruitment bottleneck for lake trout by providing a deep water source of food where little was available previously. Lake trout subsequently flourished on mysids; this voracious piscivore now dominates the lake fishery. The formerly abundant kokanee were extirpated, and native bull and westslope cutthroat