Today’s announcement that the westslope cutthroat trout is not warranted for listing as a federally threatened species reaffirms that continuing efforts to protect and restore the native trout is paying off for the fish and for the people of Montana, state fish and wildlife officials said.
“We are in absolute agreement with this second confirmation that the westslope cutthroat trout is in good hands in the State of Montana," said Chris Smith, FWP’s chief of staff. “The recovery and protection of our state fish is among our highest conservation priorities. We are delighted, and everyone in Montana should be. The hard work of many, many Montanans—state agencies, federal agencies, private groups and individuals—is making a difference.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and state fish and wildlife agencies are working on more than 700 ongoing projects directed toward the protection and restoration of westslope cutthroat trout and their habitats. Recent information indicates that these important conservation efforts are ongoing and increasing, the USFWS said.
“We are making progress and it’s very important to everyone in the West that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledge the work accomplished, the work now underway, the work that will be completed over the next decade," Smith said. “We will continue to do all we can to ensure the survival of westslope cutthroat trout within the five major river drainages the fish historically inhabited in Montana—the Clark Fork, Kootenai, Flathead, upper Missouri, and Saskatchewan.”
On April 14, 2000, USFWS announced that the westslope cutthroat trout was not likely to become either a threatened or endangered species in the foreseeable future, in part due to on-going and extensive restoration plans across the West. About six months later, American Wildlands, and four other environmental groups, filed a lawsuit arguing that federal authorities acknowledged that cross-breeding of westslope cutthroat trout with other fish was a threat to the species, yet included hybrid fish in the overall westslope cutthroat trout population without providing a justification.
The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered USFWS to reconsider whether to list the westslope cutthroat as a threatened subspecies and to more thoroughly take into account the hybridization issue when making that decision. In addition, the Court directed USFWS to present its scientifically-based conclusion about including “hybrid” westslope cutthroat trout in the group of fish that it considered for listing.
To comply with the Court, USFWS used a new status update report, as well as a position paper outlining conservation and management plans for cutthroat trout prepared by the fish and wildlife agencies in Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, to clearly define the genetic composition of a westslope cutthroat trout.
“The new genetics-based, comprehensive status update report prepared by our fellow conservation agencies provides the Service with the best available scientific information regarding the range-wide status of the westslope cutthroat trout and confirms our initial determination,” said Ralph Morgenweck, the USFWS’s director of the Mountain-Prairie Region in Denver. “It also provides definitive new information regarding the prevalence of hybridization in westslope cutthroat trout populations.”
The report confirms that westslope cutthroat trout populations occupy 33,500 of their historic stream miles (59 percent) in the United States and genetically pure populations inhabit approximately 3,500 stream miles (57 percent of tested stream miles; 10 percent of occupied miles) and may inhabit as many as 12,600 miles of stream in which no potentially hybridizing fishes occur.
Many of these genetically-pure populations are found in habitats protected by natural barriers preventing interbreeding with other trout subspecies in rivers and streams located in 12 major drainages and 62 component watersheds in the Columbia, Missouri, and Saskatchewan River basins. In addition, the westslope cutthroat inhabits six lakes in Idaho and Washington and at least 20 lakes in Glacier National Park.
In today’s announcement, the USFWS noted that while westslope cutthroat trout conservation efforts like those in Montana were not factored into its decision, such efforts "contribute to the certainty that westslope cutthroat trout can be conserved and preserved."
American Wildlands, Clearwater Biodiversity Project, Idaho Watersheds Project, Inc., Montana Environmental Information Center, Trout Unlimited’s Madison-Gallatin Chapter, and other groups initially petitioned the USFWS to list the westslope cutthroat trout as threatened throughout its range in 1997.
In 1999, FWP collaborated with several state and federal agencies and private groups to complete an agreement to conserve and restore the westslope cutthroat trout in Montana’s Columbia and upper Missouri river basins. The resulting “Conservation Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding for Westslope Cutthroat Trout in Montana,” was the result of more than two years of negotiations initiated by former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot at the 1996 Governor’s Westslope Cutthroat Trout Workshop.
FWP’s goal is to maintain all of Montana’s existing pure populations of westslope cutthroat trout. In addition, FWP is working to establish at least 10 populations distributed throughout the westslope cutthroat trout’s home-range drainages with each population occupying at least 50 miles of connected habitat.
"We are confident that this work can be done and that it will continue to provide Montana with healthy cutthroat trout fisheries. With the continued help and cooperation of the people of Montana there will always be places for our state fish and for anglers to pursue them," FWP’s Smith said.
The westslope cutthroat trout is bright yellow, orange, and red, with the characteristic red slash marks on its lower jaw. It is generally distinguishable from other subspecies of cutthroat trout by the particular pattern of black spots that appear on the body. It is one of a dozen subspecies of cutthroat trout found in the Columbia and Missouri drainages and the Rocky Mountains. The scientific name for westslope cutthroat trout is Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi. The species ( clarki ) and subspecies ( lewisi ) names for westslope are a reminder of the great explorers Lewis and Clark, who in 1805 first described the subspecies.
Historically, westslope cutthroat were found in the Missouri River upstream of Fort Benton as well as its tributaries including the Judith, Milk and Marias rivers. West of the Continental Divide they were found in the Clark Fork and Kootenai river drainages in Montana and extending downstream into Alberta, Idaho and the extreme eastern portion of Washington. By far the majority of their historic distribution is in Montana.
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