October 2021 - 12

NEWS
The Cody Region Cutthroat Conservation plan outlines projects for the restoration of Yellowstone cutthroat trout. (Photo by Mark Smith/WGFD)
Cutthroat conservation
ongoing near Cody
CODY - Sam Hochhalter calls it some
of the most challenging and rewarding work
he's ever been a part of. Yet, there's a lot more
work to come on the Cody Region Cutthroat
Conservation Plan.
Hochhalter, Wyoming Game and Fish
Department fisheries supervisor in Cody,
presented to the Wyoming Game and Fish
Commission about the project this summer.
Work to restore the area's populations of
Yellowstone cutthroat has been ongoing
the last five years and dates to the 1990s.
The cutthroat is a native species of trout
in the Cody region, but it occupies only 9
percent of its historical range in the Bighorn
Mountains and 21 percent of its historical
range in the Absaroka Mountains.
" Without active engagement with this
issue that pattern of reduced abundance
and distribution is likely to continue, "
Hochhalter said.
Two major factors for the cutthroat's
12 | October 2021
decline involve two other trout species.
Hochhalter said brook trout outcompete
cutthroat for food. Rainbow trout and
cutthroat readily hybridize when together
and over time there becomes fewer genetically
pure cutthroat.
Game and Fish established a collaborative
working group of people throughout the Big
Horn Basin who were interested in helping
identify solutions for cutthroat conservation.
Meetings were held to discuss what people
wanted from cutthroat conservation, the
science behind it and where the best locations
would be.
" Where we landed was having a
minimum of five smaller populations, all
discrete in each major river drainage that
we have in the Cody region, or one larger,
interconnected population, " Hochhalter said.
" What we have in this conservation plan is
a true balance between biological need and
social interests. "
The first of two projects of the plan will
start soon. The first is on Crandall Creek in
the Absaroka Mountains west of Clark with
the removal of rainbow trout and rainbowcutthroat
hybrids from two of the creek's
tributaries - Hoodoo and Temple creeks
- in 2022. Cutthroat from Crandall Creek
will be added to Hoodoo and Temple creeks
in 2023. From there, additional surveys on
the North Fork of Crandall Creek will be
done to determine the need for chemical
removal of rainbow trout. Game and Fish
has partnered with the Greater Yellowstone
Coalition, East Yellowstone Chapter of
Trout Unlimited and local landowners on
this project. The second project is on East
Tensleep Creek in the Bighorn Mountains
and involves the construction of a fish passage
barrier. However, Hochhalter said a lot of
fundraising must be done to help with costs,
which could take several years.
- Robert Gagliardi, WGFD

October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2021