ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing the availability of a revised draft recovery plan for the Gila trout, a species of trout found in small, high mountain streams in New Mexico and Arizona. The species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (Act) in 1973 and was down-listed to threatened in 2006.
Federal and state agencies and conservation partners use recovery plans to guide voluntary actions to recover threatened and endangered species to the point that federal protections are no longer needed. The draft recovery plan identifies actions that will guide recovery of the Gila trout to the point at which protection under the Act is no longer needed.
The current Gila trout recovery plan was finalized in 2003. Since that time, new information has become available on the species’ genetics, population status, and threats. The new draft recovery plan is a revision of the 2003 plan and includes updated background and biological information on the species; a broad, prioritized list of recovery actions; objective, measurable delisting criteria; and estimated time and costs of recovery.
“In 2006 we downlisted the Gila trout after efforts to restore populations were successful,” said Amy Lueders, the Service’s Regional Director. “This new draft recovery plan outlines the actions necessary to continue moving forward to recover the Gila trout.”
The overall recovery strategy for the species involves preserving, restoring, and managing Gila trout habitat to support resilient populations of the species and the ecosystem on which it depends. This will entail incremental replacement of nonnative salmonids with Gila trout in suitable habitat throughout a significant portion of the historical range of the species.
The following objective, measurable criteria which, when met, would result in a determination that Gila trout be removed from the endangered species list:
- Gila trout occupy 174 miles of stream within the presumed historical range of the species.
- Each remnant genetic lineage of Gila trout is represented by at least three geographically separate, viable populations and requires one replicate population of each lineage to be geographically separated by at least 21.1 miles from the other two replicate populations of that genetic lineage.
- Establish four large metapopulations (spatially separated populations) in complex stream systems with multiple branches.
- Nonnative salmonids are absent from recovery streams and measures are in place to prevent re-invasion by nonnative salmonids.
As of August 2019, there were 17 populations of Gila trout inhabiting approximately 85.2 miles of stream habitat. There are currently five known genetic lineages of the species—Main Diamond Creek, South Diamond Creek, Whiskey Creek, Iron Creek and Spruce Creek—all of which are represented by at least two wild populations.
The Service encourages the public to comment on the recovery plan, found here: https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=E00E. The public will have 60 days to comment on the draft recovery plan. Public comments will be accepted through September 10, 2021.
America’s fish, wildlife, and plant resources belong to all of us, and ensuring the health of imperiled species is a shared responsibility. We’re working to actively engage conservation partners and the public in the search for improved and innovative ways to conserve and recover imperiled species. In the last 10 years, nearly 45 species were precluded from being listed, were downlisted, or were delisted completely in part due to the proactive conservation efforts of partners in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.
