A buddy and I were talking about this today, and I realized that we had forgotten to post this on the site.  Here’s the article from the Billings Gazette……

By horseback and by helicopter, one of Yellowstone National Park’s most important native fish is returning.

Biologists this summer started a three-year effort to restore westslope cutthroat trout to the park’s far northwest corner.

If the fish survive - and so far they’re doing well - they could become a source for returning genetically pure westslope in other places.

The project at High Lake and along the East Fork of Specimen Creek is probably the only way that westslope trout, after years of struggle on their own, are going to regain a major foothold in Yellowstone.

The work is a welcome change from the difficult ongoing battle to preserve Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake, where nonnative lake trout are eating deep into that population.

The process of cultivating westslope eggs and fry for High Lake in recent weeks has been a thrill for fish biologists keen on keeping native fish in the Yellowstone ecosystem, said Todd Koel, the park’s supervisory fish biologist.

About 1,400 eggs and young westslope have been placed at the lake and nearby inlet streams this summer. More fish will be added this week, Koel said.

“It couldn’t be any more fun,” Koel said.

Westslope were once the most plentiful and widespread of the cutthroat subspecies in the West. Loss of habitat and other effects of human activity hemmed the trout into about 23 percent of its historic habitat.

In Yellowstone, genetically pure strains of westslope dwindled dramatically as park managers stocked waters with nonnative fish in the first half of the 20th century.

By the 1930s, pure westslope in the park were nearly wiped out as they were hybridized or simply out-competed by other trout.

But as park officials in 2005 were developing the plan to return westslope trout to Specimen Creek, they discovered a previously unknown population of genetically pure westslope living in a tributary of Grayling Creek.

That population will be one of three - all screened for genetic purity - used to stock High Lake.

But before that could happen, crews had to clear fish from High Lake. Last year, they used a fish poison to kill Yellowstone cutthroats and others in the lake and tributaries.

This spring, westslope eggs were taken to the Sun Ranch in the Madison Valley to mature at a hatchery there. On June 22, they were transported to High Lake by helicopter. When crews returned in early July, they spotted inch-long fry in the water - a good sign the young fish had cleared the first hurdle for survival.

Crews returned to High Lake on July 13, this time toting coolers with about 200 westslope eggs on paper towels.

This week, they’ll airlift about a thousand more westslope to the area.

Koel said the effort will continue probably for about three years, especially given that the young trout seem to be doing well.

“It looks really, really good right now,” Koel said. “If we could get High Lake to a point where it’s got a good, thriving westslope population, we could use it as our own source for restoring other streams.”

The restoration is being funded by private donations through the Yellowstone Park Foundation.

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