Nevada Independent: Lahontan cutthroat trout were once wiped from Tahoe. Scientists have them spawning again.

For thousands of years, Lahontan cutthroat trout swam in the expansive waters of Lake Tahoe.

But by 1938, the fish — affected by European settlers’ actions in the Tahoe Basin by such as logging, overfishing, construction of dams and water diversions, and the introduction of non-native species — disappeared.

European settlers offset the lack of large fish by stocking Lake Tahoe with non-native species but for decades, the lake was devoid of Lahontan cutthroat trout.

A Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) project is changing that.

Nevada department of wildlife western regional fisheries supervisor travis hawks holds a rainbow trout captured in incline creek as part of the work described above. (Photo: Jason barnes) 

A wave of emotion

Even over a year later, tears well up in his eyes when he talks about it. The “wave of emotion,” as he describes it, is understandable given that the moment was 15 years in the making. “Even last summer when I took my son and his friend out there and told them the story; it still gave me chills to think about it, and just a huge sense of accomplishment.”

In June 2021, Chad Mellison, a fish and wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, Nevada, was flyfishing the North Fork of the Humboldt River in northeastern Nevada. Mellison was in the area for field work and had never fished this section of the river before and decided to make a few casts after completing his field work and before heading home. 

Little did he know that casting his line in that day would lead to one of the most meaningful moments of his career.

KUNR: Fish and wildlife officials help restore population of iconic trout in eastern Nevada river

For years, fish and wildlife officials have been working to help an iconic Western fish whose habitat is shrinking. That includes efforts to return the fish to a river in the Mountain West where the species had disappeared.

It’s a cloudy day east of Reno, and Chad Mellison, wearing waders and holding a flyfishing rod, steps into the Truckee River. He unfurls his line and casts upstream into the fast-flowing waters.

“If you're a fish and live in a river, your nose is pointing upstream because that's where your food's coming down,” said Mellison, an avid flyfisher and longtime biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Historic Disaster Peak Ranch Preserved For Conservation Efforts

The 3,345-acre property on the Nevada-Oregon border provides critical habitat for the imperiled Lahontan cutthroat trout

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, NV – The Lahontan cutthroat trout, designated as the state fish of Nevada, at one time thrived in streams throughout the Great Basin. However, today their existence is threatened by the loss of critical cold-water habitat, as well as the encroachment of non-native fish.

As part of an effort to conserve and restore habitat for the Lahontan cutthroat trout, Disaster Peak Ranch, a sprawling 3,345-acre property straddling the Nevada-Oregon border, has been secured through a collaborative effort led by Western Rivers Conservancy (WRC), the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), the Nevada Division of State Lands (NDSL), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

Situated approximately 20 miles west of McDermitt, Nevada, with 655 acres in Humboldt County, Nevada, and the remaining 2,690 acres in Malheur County, Oregon, Disaster Peak Ranch is a critical habitat for not only Lahontan cutthroat trout, but various native wildlife species, including mule deer, Columbia spotted frog, greater sage-grouse, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. The ranch encompasses the heart of the McDermitt Creek basin, boasting more than 55 miles of creek and interconnected tributaries. These stream systems are a lifeline for Lahontan cutthroat trout, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Nevada Independent: One recovery effort, two strains of fish. The complex comeback of Lahontan cutthroat trout

It’s spawning day at the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex, and volunteers clad in rubber boots and jackets move quickly around the south Gardnerville building, fishing nets in hand.

They swoop the nets into giant pools of water chilled to mimic temperatures found in local waterways, extracting mature male Lahontan cutthroat trout one at a time. The fish, which are sedated but still active, squirm as they are carried across the hatchery.

There, a group of biologists waiting to handle the fish reach into the nets, gently extract a fish, and begin massaging its abdomen from head to tail, manually extracting milt — the semen-filled fluid of male fish. The milt is stored in small vials marked with letters and numbers like a game of bingo — G83, H24, F17 — and is later manually mixed with the eggs of fish deemed genetically compatible.

Success Fueling Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Recovery in Silver Creek

Amid the intense, physically demanding native trout restoration work taking place in the fall of 2022 on Silver Creek, Mono County, Nick Buckmaster allowed himself a momentary indulgence.

A senior environmental scientist supervisor with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Buckmaster paused long enough to imagine himself camped on the banks of Silver Creek within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, perhaps on vacation, maybe in retirement. It was a warm, summer evening in his mind’s eye, and Buckmaster was casting a dry fly to rising wild and native Lahontan cutthroat trout in the 14- to 16-inch size class.

Such a scenario would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago. Silver Creek has been closed to fishing of any kind for almost 30 years to protect the remnant population of native trout. Overrun with more aggressive, non-native brook trout despite attempt after attempt to remove them, Silver Creek’s Lahontan cutthroat trout (“LCT” in fisheries parlance) have been clinging to a marginal existence within their home waters.

With less competition from non-native species, native lahontan cutthroat trout are growing larger in silver creek. Credit: CDFW

Lahontan cutthroat trout biologists have a new tool for conservation

On the screen appears a map of Northern Nevada with a slice of Eastern California. Colorful, diamond shaped markers are peppered across the map signifying recovery projects for Lahontan cutthroat trout. Faith Machuca, a Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, Nevada, walks me through the recently released database. “So, you can change the occupied transparency and...” bright green lines appear on the map. The lines highlight streams occupied by the threatened fish, stretching from Lake Tahoe to the edge of western Utah. What Machuca is showing me is called the Conservation Efforts Database, or CED for short. The CED is a web-tool that land and species managers can use to collectively archive and display conservation actions on an interactive map. Data for population demographics, habitat, genetics, and project information are stored in the database.

A lahontan cutthroat trout in fallen leaf lake. credit: usfws

The CED will benefit stakeholders by breaking down information silos and providing access to all available data in real time, painting a picture of recovery efforts and their effectiveness. This makes recovery planning faster, more collaborative, and more efficient. According to Sean Vogt, the Service’s Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery coordinator, nothing like the CED has been tried before when it comes to Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery.  

Lahontan cutthroat trout genetics expand conservation options

There’s a species extinction crisis happening right now, and that includes trout.

Extinction is evident across our landscapes thanks to things like habitat loss and disconnection, non-native species, and, of course, climate change.

One species threatened with extinction is the famed Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT). Many anglers are familiar with this fish thanks to photos of the beasts that have recently been coming out of Pyramid Lake. Less well known are the other 70 or so stream populations across the range. These trout generally exist today in small, high mountain streams and range greatly in size, health and abundance in their habitats.

The fish has been listed on the Endangered Species list since the 1970s, and Trout Unlimited’s science team has been lending its hand to understand what factors are at play and realize the possibilities of restoring them and their habitat.