cutthroat trout

Yellowstone cutthroat trout are starting to show signs of recovery after nearly 30 years of efforts to eliminate the invasive lake trout threatening their population. 

The number of non-native lake trout in Yellowstone Lake is on the decline. Yellowstone biologists are optimistic that this means the native cutthroat trout population may be recovering.

The official nonprofit for Yellowstone National Park has new grant money devoted to a three-year effort to protect the native cutthroat trout population in the park. The National Park Foundation gave Yellowstone Forever a $500,000 grant from the Argyros family.

After a set of meetings this week, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is asking the public to help with the future conservation of cutthroat trout in the Bighorn Basin. The department is not proposing specific projects but instead wants to collaborate with the public on a set of recommendations for the trout’s future restoration efforts.

Populations of native cutthroat trout appear to be rebounding, thanks to an effort to kill off an invasive species in Yellowstone Lake. More than 40 species, including bears, river otters and eagles, rely on cutthroat trout for food. But Trout Unlimited special project manager Dave Sweet said cutthroat have been under attack.

Climate change is hurting certain fish species in North American streams and lakes, according to the July issue of Fisheries Magazine.

Abigail Lynch, a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, is one of the guest editors for the special issue. She said she looked at several previous scientific studies when compiling the July issue and found worrisome trends, like how prolonged droughts impact fish that are normally used to having a lot of space in their habitat.

A new study shows that the decline in native cutthroat trout has had dramatic impacts on the migratory elk herds in the Greater Yellowstone Area. 
 

Lead Researcher Arthur Middleton and others were studying the decline of elk herds in the region, and they determined that grizzly bears were playing a greater role in those deaths than they realized. 
 

The illegal introduction of lake trout into Yellowstone Lake has harmed the cutthroat trout population. 
 

The cutthroat trout population in the Hoback River in the Bridger-Teton National Forest has rebounded since the Wyoming Game and Fish Department stopped stocking the river in 2005.

Fisheries Biologist Diana Miller says the state had been supplying the river with trout for 50 years prior, because biologists believed the species wasn’t weathering the harsh winters and ice there.

“What we believed happen was when we were putting fish into the river, the hatchery fish were taking up all of the space and all of the food that wild fish could have been utilizing.”