No ESA Listing for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last week that a status review shows that Endangered Species Act listing is not warranted for the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Though found at lower than historic levels, stable, viable and self-sustaining populations of the fish are widely distributed throughout its historic range in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. "The Service believes these populations form a solid basis for the long term persistence of the fish," said Mitch King, director of Fish and Wildlife's Mountain-Prairie Region. Fish and Wildlife's review considered information and comments from several state fish and wildlife agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, Yellowstone National Park, environmental organizations, Indian tribes, and the public. The information received included a status assessment report coauthored by the U.S. Forest Service and fish and wildlife agencies for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada that described the present-day range-wide status of Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the United States. Conservation efforts demonstrate broad interest in protecting the species by state, federal, tribal, local, and nongovernmental organizations and the public at large. "While not driving our listing decision, [Fish and Wildlife] appreciates the many conservation efforts conducted by our partners," King said. "Our decision was based primarily on the present-day status and trend of Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations and the mitigation of many of the existing factors that can affect the species." Biodiversity Legal Foundation, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and the Montana Ecosystems Defense Council petitioned Fish and Wildlife in 1998 to list the Yellowstone cutthroat as threatened throughout its historic range. In 2001, the Service found that the petition failed to present substantial information that listing was warranted. A court ordered U. S. Fish and Wildlife to produce a finding regarding the status of the trout by February 14. The historic range of Yellowstone cutthroat trout generally consists of the waters of the Snake River drainage upstream from Shoshone Falls, Idaho, and those of the Yellowstone River drainage upstream from and including the headwaters of the Tongue River in eastern Montana. Historic range in the Yellowstone River drainage includes large regions of Wyoming and Montana. The range in the Snake River drainage includes large regions of Wyoming and Idaho and small parts of Utah and Nevada. Today, various Yellowstone cutthroat trout stocks remain in at least 35 of the 40 major river drainages they historically occupied in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. Most of the habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout lies on lands administered by federal agencies, especially the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service. Many of the strongholds for Yellowstone cutthroat occur within roadless or wilderness areas or Yellowstone National Park, all of which afford considerable protection to the fish. This finding is 1 in the Federal Register. For more information visit: http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/species/fish/yct/index.htm.