Responding to requests from the fish and game departments of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, and the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, and Earthjustice Legal Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced a reopening of the public comment period concerning the new status review for the westslope cutthroat trout.
The requesting entities indicated they are assembling or awaiting important information relevant to the status of the westslope cutthroat trout and want to make such information available to the Service for use in the status review.
On April 14, 2000, the Service determined that the westslope cutthroat trout did not warrant listing as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. That finding, made in response to a petition received by the Service in 1997, was based on extensive information indicating westslope cutthroat trout inhabit more than 23,000 linear miles of habitat in 4,275 tributaries or streams located in 12 major drainages and 62 component watersheds in the Columbia, the Missouri and the Saskatchewan River Basins. The Service acknowledged that the number of westslope cutthroat trout had declined from historic levels, but found that viable, self-sustaining stocks remained widely distributed throughout the historic range.
On October 23, 2000, American Wildlands and four other environmental groups filed a lawsuit arguing that the Service should not have counted westslope cutthroat trout that were less than 100 percent genetically pure when the Service determined the size of the westslope cutthrout trout population. The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the Service to reconsider whether to list westslope cutthroat as a threatened subspecies and to more thoroughly take into account the hybridization issue when making that decision. The Court gave the Service until March 31, 2003 to complete its work.
"This extension allows the Service to comply with requests from stakeholders while increasing our opportunity to evaluate the status of the westslope based on the best scientific information available," said Ralph Morgenweck, the Service
