Public Comment Sought on Proposal to Restore Paiute Cutthroat Trout to Historic Habitat in California’s Silver King Creek
October 9, 2008
The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will hold a public meeting on restoration of Paiute cutthroat trout to historic habitat in Silver King Creek. Paiute cutthroat trout is a threatened species. The meeting is on Oct. 7 from 4 to 7 p.m. in Markleeville in Alpine County. DFG in cooperation with the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U. S. Forest Service (USFS), seek written public comment on the proposal and agency representatives will be available to answer questions on the proposed project at the meeting.
DFG and USFWS are preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to evaluate direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of the proposal to restore Paiute cutthroat trout into 9.1 miles of historic habitat currently occupied by non-native trout species. The proposal includes the removal of non-native fish in Silver Creek from Llewellyn Falls downstream to Silver King Canyon, as well as the accessible reaches of three small tributaries: Tamarack Creek, Tamarack Lake Creek and the lower reaches of Coyote Valley Creek. Methods being considered for fish removal include application of rotenone (a piscicide), electrofishing and dewatering, or a combination of these methods.
All interested parties are invited to attend the open-house style meeting to learn more about the EIS/EIR at Turtle Rock Park Community Center at 17300 State Route 89 in Markleeville.
Written public comments will be accepted at the public workshop or by mail until Oct. 31. Comments should be submitted to Stafford Lehr, California Department of Fish and Game, 1701 Nimbus Road, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. More information on the proposed action can be found at www.fws.gov/nevada
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Fighting Illegally Stocked Fish in Utah
August 28, 2008
DWR seeks input on fishing ideas for 2009
The number of Utah chubs in Scofield Reservoir is growing. And so is the number of burbot and walleye that were placed illegally in two other Utah waters.
To address those and other concerns, Division of Wildlife Resources biologists are recommending several fishing changes for Utah’s 2009 season.
Learn more, share your ideas
All of the DWR’s 2009 fishing proposals should be posted on the public meetings part of this Web site starting the week of Aug. 25. Once you’ve read the proposals, you can share your thoughts and ideas one of two ways:
Five Regional Advisory Council meetings will be held across Utah. Citizens representing the RACs will take the input received at the meetings to the Utah Wildlife Board. Board members will use the input to set rules for Utah’s 2009 fishing season.
You can participate and provide your input at any of the following meetings:
- Southern Region
Sept. 9, 7 p.m.
Beaver High School
195 E. Center St., Beaver - Southeastern Region
Sept. 10, 6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
1765 E. Main St., Green River - Northeastern Region
Sept. 11, 6:30 p.m.
Western Park, Rm. #2
302 E. 200 S., Vernal - Central Region
Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m.
Springville Junior High School
165 S. 700 E., Springville - Northern Region
Sept. 17, 6 p.m.
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W., Brigham City
You can also provide your comments to your RAC via e-mail. E-mail addresses for your RAC members are available on this Web site.
The group each RAC member represents (sportsman, non-consumptive, etc.) is listed under each person’s e-mail address. You should direct your e-mail to the people on the RAC who represent your interest.
Biologists say the Utah chub population in Scofield Reservoir has increased dramatically during the past two years. To try and control the population before it gets too large, biologists are recommending the following:
- Stocking Bear Lake cutthroat trout in the reservoir. Putting Bear Lake cutthroats in the reservoir would give it two “chub eaters” - the Bear Lake cutthroat trout, and tiger trout that are in the reservoir now. Bear Lake cutthroat have a proven track record in controlling chubs. DWR biologists say action must be taken immediately to control the chubs.
- Keeping plenty of large predatory Bear Lake cutthroats and tiger trout in the reservoir by lowering the trout limit to four trout. In their four-trout limit, anglers could have one cutthroat or tiger trout under 15 inches in length and one cutthroat or tiger trout over 22 inches long. All cutthroat and tiger trout between 15 and 22 inches long would have to be released immediately.
“We put Bear Lake cutthroats in Strawberry Reservoir after we treated the reservoir in 1990. The cutthroats in Strawberry have been protected by a limit that’s similar to the one we’re proposing for Scofield,” says Roger Wilson, cold water sport fisheries coordinator for the DWR. “The cutthroats have kept the chub populations in Strawberry in check. We hope they’ll do the same thing in Scofield.”
Biologists are anxious to see which of the two trout is the most effective predator - Bear Lake cutthroat trout or tiger trout. “The information we gain will help us control chub populations better in other areas of the state,” Wilson says.
Burbot and walleye
Illegal fish introductions could greatly affect fishing at two popular waters in northeastern Utah.
Someone illegally placed burbot in a drainage above Flaming Gorge Reservoir several years ago. Now the burbot have made their way into the reservoir. Then just last spring, walleye that were illegally placed in Red Fleet Reservoir started showing up in biologists’ gillnets in big numbers.
To deal with these illegal introductions, DWR biologists are recommending a catch-and-kill policy at Red Fleet. They’re also recommending liberalized ice fishing and spearfishing regulations at Flaming Gorge:
- Anglers would be required to keep and kill all the walleyes they caught at Red Fleet Reservoir.
- Anglers at Flaming Gorge Reservoir must already kill every burbot they catch. Starting in 2009, anglers could also use up to six poles to fish through the ice at the reservoir. A second pole permit would not be required when fishing through the ice. However, a second pole permit would be required to fish with more than one pole at Flaming Gorge when the water is open, including when the water is open in the winter.
Wilson says the ice-fishing season is the best time of year to catch burbot at the reservoir. “They’re not an attractive fish, but burbot are a great fish to eat,” he says. “This proposal would give anglers a chance to help the fishery and take more burbot home to eat.”
Also at Flaming Gorge, spear fishermen could underwater spearfish for burbot 24 hours a day, throughout the year. They could also use artificial lights, but only when pursuing burbot. These underwater spearfishing changes should result in additional burbot being taken.
Panguitch Lake
A change at Panguitch Lake would allow anglers to keep fish they must currently release.
The limit at the lake would stay at four trout, but anglers would be allowed to keep one cutthroat or tiger trout between 15 and 22 inches long.
“Cutthroat and tiger trout start eating chubs when they reach about 17 inches in length. By the time they reach 20 inches, they’re excellent predators,” Wilson says.
“We removed all of the chubs in the reservoir in 2006. Even if we allow anglers to keep one cutthroat or tiger trout between 15 and 22 inches long, we think there will still be enough of them in the reservoir to keep the reservoir’s chub population in check.”
Wilson says the growth of the larger rainbows in the reservoir appears to be stalling at about 20 inches in length. Allowing anglers to take some fish in the 15- to 22-inch range will provide more food for the remaining fish, and that should result in more fish growing longer than 20 inches.
Tiger muskie at Newton Reservoir
Anglers would not be allowed to keep tiger muskies at Newton Reservoir under another DWR proposal.
Tiger muskies are a cross between Northern pike and muskellunge. Anglers commonly refer to muskellunge as “muskies.”
Earlier this year, the DWR had to close Pineview Reservoir to the possession of tiger muskies. The closure will help ensure plenty of tiger muskies remain in the reservoir until a disease-free population of muskies can be found to breed with Northern pike in Recapture Reservoir.
Now the biologists would also like to add Newton to the closure list.
“We’re fairly confident that we have found some muskies that are disease free,” says Drew Cushing, warm water sport fisheries coordinator for the DWR. “We’ll know for sure by mid-September. If the muskies are disease free, we’ll bring them to Utah and start raising our own muskies at a new hatchery in Salt Lake City. Then we’ll breed them with the Northern pike at Recapture Reservoir.
“Potentially, we could be stocking tiger muskies again in two to three years,” Cushing says. “In the meantime the closure at Pineview, and the one we’re proposing for Newton, would keep plenty of big tiger muskies in those waters for anglers to catch and release.”
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See Colorful Cutthroat Trout
June 11, 2008
DWR hosts a cutthroat spawn viewing event on June 14
STRAWBERRY RESERVOIR — Colorful cutthroat trout are swimming up the Strawberry River right now.
You can see these cutthroats — and watch biologists take eggs from them — at a free wildlife viewing event.
The event will be held June 14 at the Strawberry Reservoir Visitor Center. It runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
DWR biologists will be available to answer your questions and show you the many cutthroat trout that have worked their way up the Strawberry River to spawn.
To reach the event, park at the visitor center, and then walk along the boardwalk behind the visitor center to the Division of Wildlife Resources’ fish trap and egg-taking facility.
Strawberry Reservoir is about 25 miles southeast of Heber City, off US-40.
See and learn
“The reservoir’s Bear Lake cutthroat trout spawn in late May and early June,” says Scott Root, regional conservation outreach manager for the DWR. “These determined fish are well known for their energy and their ability to jump over obstacles as they make their way upstream to spawn.”
Many of the cutthroat trout in the Strawberry River end up in the DWR’s fish trap and egg-taking facility.
After the fish arrive at the facility, biologists extract eggs from the “ripe” female cutthroats by rubbing the bellies of the females and gathering the eggs that squirt out. They typically gather more than 1,000 eggs from each female.
After the eggs are gathered, the biologists fertilize them by adding the milt of male cutthroat trout.
After the eggs are fertilized, they’re taken to DWR hatcheries. Hatching the cutthroats in hatcheries allows them to be raised in a protective environment. More than 90 percent of the cutthroats hatched in the hatcheries will survive. In the wild, less than 10 percent of cutthroats that hatch typically survive.
“The tributaries to Strawberry Reservoir are closed to fishing until July 12, and some of them are closed even longer. But this event is a great way to get a close-up view of these spawning fish,” Root says. “Unlike the kokanee salmon in the reservoir, the cutthroat trout do not die after they spawn.”
The water in the tributaries is high and murky right now. That can make it difficult to view fish in the Strawberry River. But if you attend the event, you’ll still be able to see the fish. “Our biologists will occasionally hold up a large cutthroat so everyone can get a good look,” Root says.
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More Rainbow Trout For Strawberry Reservoir
May 6, 2008
Donation from anglers brings total to 410,000 rainbows
Strawberry Reservoir anglers—get ready. Fishing at one of the nation’s best trout-fishing waters is about to get even better.
More than 410,000 rainbow trout are headed to your favorite fishing water in north-central Utah!
Background
For years, Division of Wildlife Resources biologists have worked to establish a healthy population of Bear Lake cutthroat trout in Strawberry. In addition to being a beautiful and fun fish to catch, Bear Lake cutthroat trout are great at keeping Utah chub populations under control.
(The cost to do a rotenone treatment on the scale needed to remove chubs from Strawberry would be massive. If chubs ever take the reservoir over again, the trout fishery will probably collapse as it did in the 1980s.)
Special regulations at the reservoir are designed to keep plenty of chub-eating Bear Lake cutthroats in the reservoir. But if you like to keep fish, there’s a downside to the regulations—many of the cutthroats fall within the 15- to 22-inch slot limit that anglers aren’t allowed to keep. And others are longer than 22 inches. Anglers are allowed to keep only one cutthroat longer than that length.
On the other hand, there is no length restriction on rainbow trout or kokanee salmon in Strawberry. But anglers aren’t finding many rainbows to catch; when they’re stocked in the reservoir at their usual 5-inch length, the numerous, large cutthroat trout in the reservoir eat them too.
Bigger rainbows
DWR biologists have some good news, though. They’ve found that if rainbows are grown to 8 inches before they’re stocked, it’s easier for them to avoid predation in Strawberry. Stocking 8-inch rainbows could be the key to providing more rainbow trout for anglers to catch.
But growing rainbows to 8 inches means they must remain in the hatcheries longer. And like so many other items, the cost to buy food to feed the fish is going up.
As DWR hatchery personnel looked forward to the 2008 stocking season, one of their goals was to raise 410,000 rainbows to the 8-inch length for Strawberry. But the cost to raise that many rainbows has escalated.
Sportsmen step up
In response to a budget shortfall at the DWR’s hatchery in Logan, there’s been an outpouring of support from the angling public. (About 40,000 of the 410,000 rainbows scheduled for stocking into Strawberry this year would be raised at the Logan hatchery.)
Even before the DWR could search for funds on its own, a coalition of fishing groups, conservationists and others who care about Strawberry Reservoir stepped forward.
John and Paul Phillips of the Strawberry Bay Lodge and Don and John Mecham of Trail of the Sportsman led the group. They gathered a coalition that included the Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, Trailtv.com, the Strawberry Anglers Association, the Strawberry Bay Marina, Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse. Their goal? Raise the money needed so the DWR could reach its goal of raising 410,000 8-inch rainbow trout for stocking into Strawberry.
Donation presented
On April 30, a group of sportsmen led by Don Mecham presented checks totaling $14,000 to the DWR. This contribution will help the agency reach its goal of raising 410,000 rainbow trout to the desired 8-inch length. All of these fish will be planted into Strawberry.
Mecham says he and his company, Trail of the Sportsman, are committed to wildlife conservation. Ten percent of the money they receive on their Web site (trailtv.com) is donated to wildlife conservation causes.
They chose to put money into the Strawberry Bay Rainbow Enhancement Project because Strawberry is where they learned to fish as kids. After having kids of their own, they chose Strawberry as the place to teach their kids how to fish.
“We want to help make Strawberry and the rainbow trout enhancement project an enduring priority for years to come,” Mecham says. “We invite other business owners and individuals to become part of the solution. We want to see new families start new family fishing traditions at Strawberry. Planting larger rainbows that they can take home and eat will do just that.”
175,000 pounds of fish
The DWR’s new and improved fish hatcheries are producing more fish than ever before. Just four years ago, in 2003, the DWR put 80,000 pounds of trout into Strawberry. This year, the agency plans on stocking 175,000 pounds of trout into the reservoir. These fish will be a mix of 8-inch sterile rainbow trout, Bear Lake cutthroat trout and kokanee salmon.
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