Over the next three years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will make critical habitat determinations for five populations of bull trout, a threatened species protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Service is currently in the early stages of gathering information.
In determining which areas are most essential to the conservation of bull trout, the Service will conduct a comprehensive assessment of a large geographic area covering the range of bull trout. This area includes the Columbia River Basin and portions of northwestern Washington around Puget Sound, north-central Montana, northern Nevada and the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon. The Service will identify and locate the types of habitat that are essential to the conservation of bull trout which may require special management consideration.
"This is a complex and involved process, and we take this responsibility very seriously," said Anne Badgley, Regional Director of the Service
