A Look at Recovery and Projects in Nevada
What is recovery? For Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) that question can garner many different responses depending on who you ask. Historically, LCT inhabited many creeks, rivers, and lakes throughout California, Oregon, and Nevada. However, due to many factors—human encroachment, the introduction of non-native fish such as rainbow trout and brook trout, loss of habitat through water use and land development– their current range has decreased while threats to their existence have increased. Despite these threats, LCT are resilient and can thrive in an ever-changing landscape. That ability is being supported by agencies such as the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) who are identifying practical, on-the-ground work and management actions that can have the greatest “recovery” benefits for the species moving forward.
In Nevada, projects surrounding LCT recovery generally fall into two different categories: 1. Monitoring self-sustaining populations of LCT where threats such as hybridization with rainbow trout and competition with non-native species are manageable, and in places where the survival and proliferation of these fish can have a lasting positive effect towards the survival of the species, and 2. Studying and implementing projects to better understand the feasibility of LCT recovery in places where threats are unmanaged and will persist for the foreseeable future.
An example of a project that falls into the latter recovery category is in Lake Tahoe. There, LCT were once very abundant and grew up to 30 pounds. However, as with many LCT populations, they were extirpated by the 1940s due to overfishing, competitive interaction from non-native, introduced fishes, tributary dewatering, and substantial commercial overharvest. Since then, the sportfish populations in the lake have been largely comprised of lake trout, rainbow trout, and brown trout. The NDOW stocked LCT in 2011 for recreational purposes which was followed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) stocking in 2019. This practice has continued every year since. While stocking of LCT itself is not considered a recovery action, the 200,000 fish that were stocked over the last two years are capable of reproducing if they return to spawn in one of the 63 tributaries around Lake Tahoe.
With that in mind, NDOW has been conducting a project that is evaluating the feasibility of LCT recovery through monitoring, tracking, and tagging both adfluvial (fish that spend the majority of their lifecycle in a lake and return to streams or rivers to spawn) rainbow trout (often of surprisingly large size) and LCT in two Nevada tributaries, Third and Incline Creeks. These creeks offer the best spawning habitat on Lake Tahoe’s east side and are the only tributaries on the lake that are monitored every spring. Through these activities and by a temporary fish weir placed on Third Creek, the streams are monitored for upstream migrating salmonids seeking suitable spawning habitat. Before this project started in 2014, data that enabled biologists to understand Lake Tahoe’s potential to support a spawning run of LCT was limited. With stocking increasing the prevalence of LCT in Lake Tahoe, there are more questions now than ever before.
The predominant question is, can LCT returning to these tributaries become self-sustaining in the presence of rainbow trout, another spring-spawning fish. The answer is complex and unknown, but as of this last year the project documented the first-ever LCT utilizing Tahoe tributaries to spawn. While the number of LCT caught during the spawning season was low, only six total, it showed that the fish are returning whether the agencies that manage the lake are ready for them or not. With LCT’s spawn timing coinciding with rainbow trout, the issue of hybridization is at the forefront of this effort. If the threats posed by LCT-rainbow trout hybridization can be overcome with the temporary fish weir (with plans to make the structure permanent), there is a chance to establish a self-sustaining genetically pure population of LCT in these creeks. If successful, this model can be used in other tributaries in Lake Tahoe and around the LCT’s native range. On the flip side, unmanaged populations of LCT that can hybridize at will with rainbow trout, as in Lake Tahoe, will threaten any future recovery actions in the basin.
Regardless of this uncertainty surrounding the recovery of LCT in Lake Tahoe, unmanaged populations will continue to add opportunities for anglers and for those who appreciate having native trout on the landscape. To quote Travis Hawks, the regional fisheries supervisor for the western region and the initial project lead for NDOW LCT efforts on Lake Tahoe, “The ultimate goal of recovery is to get a species to the point where it can exist in perpetuity without human intervention. If we can get a few of these fish to spawn and reproduce … they can persist into the future and benefit LCT in Lake Tahoe.”
While this project addresses questions and concerns regarding LCT recovery in Lake Tahoe, there are similar complexities and questions surrounding LCT recovery and spawning in locations like the Truckee River, which is connected to Pyramid Lake. Do agencies focus efforts on places where results are achievable? Or do we put more time into areas with more compounded issues of hybridization and fish passage? NDOW recognizes that comprehensive management of some of these systems for LCT is simply not possible, but we can work with partner agencies to create refuge areas for our native fish that can help guide the management of these iconic game fish for the public to enjoy. For anglers, being aware and educated on these topics can help create support for these commonsense projects in the future and, hopefully, will help inform and guide the recovery of our native trout.
Note to anglers: Third and Incline creeks are closed to fishing year-round in the primary spawning areas of the creeks up to Mt. Rose highway.
To learn more about NDOW’s conservation efforts, click here.
