Fish tagged ‘extinct’ 85 years ago found naturally reproducing in Colorado waters, officials say
.jpeg "The greenback cutthroat trout, considered extinct for 85 years, was found naturally reproducing in Colorado waters after more than a decade of conservation efforts, officials said.")
Eighty-five years ago, the greenback cutthroat trout was declared extinct.
However, thanks to years of conservation efforts, the fish was recently found naturally reproducing in Colorado waters, according to a Sept. 23 news release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“This is a huge wildlife conservation success story,” Governor Jared Polis said in the release.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife, along with other agencies, has stayed focused on the trout’s conservation story “despite more than a decade of setbacks and frustrations,” Heather Dugan, CPW’s acting director, said in the release.
The fish, found naturally reproducing in Herman Gulch, was considered extinct in 1937, the news release said. The trout was thought to have “succumbed to pollution from mining, pressure from fishing and competition from other trout species.”
In 2012, though, an “unlikely population of wild greenback cutthroat trout,” was found in Bear Creek “on the southwest edge of Colorado Springs and in the Arkansas River drainage,” according to the news release. CPW and the Wildlife and Greenback Recovery Team set out to protect a 3 ½-mile stretch of water.
The teams have since been working on improving the habitat and developing “a brood stock – a small population of fish kept in optimal conditions in a hatchery to maximize breeding and provide a source of fish for the establishment of new populations in suitable habitats,” the release said.
Every spring, CPW staff hiked up Bear Creek, catching greenbacks and collecting “milt and roe – sperm and eggs,” the news release said.
After the eggs were fertilized, they were sent to a hatchery with controlled conditions to yield the greatest number of hatched eggs, the release said.
“In 2016, CPW began stocking the greenback fry that hatch from those eggs into Herman Gulch west of Denver,” the release said. “Stocking into other streams in the South Platte drainage soon followed. Today, fledgling greenback populations exist in four South Platte basin streams.”
Nonetheless, only the trout in the Herman Gulch have begun to reproduce, as they’ve reached adulthood, the news release said.
Harry Crockett, CPW’s native aquatic species coordinator and chair of the Greenback Recovery Team, said the team found a 1-year-old greenback trout in the Herman Gulch, according to the news release.
“This indicates successful reproduction both this year and last, plus overwinter survival. This is important because trout that survive to one year are likely to live even longer,” Crockett said. “And with more of these reintroductions going, we expect to find more reproduction in more places in the coming years.”
Herman Gulch is about 50 miles west of Denver.
This story was originally published September 26, 2022 at 1:11 PM with the headline "Fish tagged ‘extinct’ 85 years ago found naturally reproducing in Colorado waters, officials say."
