Paiute cutthroat trout team named a 2019 Recovery Champion
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May 29, 2019 - The Paiute cutthroat trout recovery team has been working tirelessly to save the rarest, most recoverable trout in North America. This year, the team was selected as a 2019 Recovery Champion in honor of their collective dedication to the recovery of an endangered or threatened species.
The Paiute cutthroat trout was listed in 1967, and, ever since, there has been some form of Paiute cutthroat trout recovery team. The most modern version of this team, and the one we know today, formed in the early 2000s when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Trout Unlimited and JC High Country Outfitters came together to complete intensive field work to ensure the trout’s native waters were habitable into the future.
After removing grazing from certain areas of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and years of fighting to control and remove non-native and hybrid fish from streams, the team finally accomplished their goals in 2019 by reintroducing Paiute cutthroat trout back into their native range for the first time in nearly a century.
Some members of the early 2000’s team have since retired, but others have stepped up in their stead. One constant through all of this has been the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Paiute cutthroat trout lead, Chad Mellison.
Mellison has been integral in developing and implementing a plan for saving this fish since his first weeks on the job in 2001 as a fish and wildlife biologist with the Service. Eighteen years later, thanks to his efforts, and those of his colleagues, the recovery of the fish is in a pivotal phase and has a fighting chance at surviving on its own in the wild.
Learn more about the why the team was selected to be a 2019 Recovery Champion and their pursuit to save the Paiute cutthroat trout in some of the west’s most wild places: The Rarest Trout in North America Makes a Comeback.
