FTR News

Driggs, Idaho - (03/04/2004) -

A diverse group of nearly 50 people, including sportsmen, conservationists, farmers and other concerned residents, attended the Friends of the Teton River meeting Thursday night to consider a threatened native to the area, the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout.

The group listened to Idaho Fish and Game Fisheries Biologist Jim Fredricks and Friends of the Teton River executive director Lyn Benjamin speak on topics concerning the Teton River and other threatened Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Fisheries. Immediately afterward, an open discussion was held for public input to try and ascertain possible solutions and further encourage an open dialogue on the subject. Fredricks spoke on the history of the Teton River and the South Fork of the Snake River. He presented an impressive compilation of data collected on both rivers through years of studies conducted by the Idaho Fish and Game. The focus of his talk was the conditions contributing to the decline in Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout populations in the Teton and Snake River.

As a fish biologist, Fredricks explained the techniques used to gather information about fish populations and described the relationship of river flows, low precipitation, fry survival rate and other factors that have contributed to the changing river environment and overall decline of the trout population.

While the overall trout population was discussed, the main point of the talk was reduced cutthroat populations in the Teton River. Fredricks addressed a number of possible causes including whirling disease, low precipitation and water pollution.

Cutthroat mainly utilize tributary streams to spawn whereas rainbow trout spawn mainly in the main stem of the river. The drought cycle of recent years has lowered the water table and, in turn, lowered water flow in the tributary streams of the Teton River, effectively drying up higher elevation water streams.

These tributary streams in the Teton have been disconnected from their spring sources for many years due to decades of diversion for irrigation. This has shortened possible spawning grounds for the cutthroat by eliminating the middle parts of the tributary streams. An issue for a number of years, this factor has not been singled out as a probable cause for the more recent decline in cutthroat population. With the recent record low water flows, however, the tributaries have recessed further and suffered even greater loss of proper cutthroat spawning habitat.

The South Fork has suffered a similar overall decline in trout population due to the drought, but the tributaries of the South Fork are still in relatively decent shape compared to the Teton. Fredericks felt that the South Fork maintains an overall resiliency that the Teton is lacking.

Fish and Game feels confident that their current strategy of promoting anglers to harvest rainbows out of the South Fork will enable cutthroat growth without stifling overall trout populations, but Fredericks was hesitant to say that this same strategy would work on the Teton River. The fish biologist believed that a new cutthroat will replace every rainbow taken out of the South Fork, but on the Teton this might not work. Fredricks believed, rather, that the Teton would benefit from a catch and release only policy with regard to cutthroat and that encouraging any sort of harvest may be detrimental to the overall population of trout in the river.

"The Teton river has suffered an overall trout density decline, and this points to a bigger overall problem," Fredericks said.

Another effect of the recent drought years is that fry survival has become a problem. Fry are infant trout just hatched from their eggs. They require structure, cover and slow pools to survive to maturity. In many areas on the Teton, riparian areas have been lost and fry survival is low. Some areas are still producing high fry numbers, but they ultimately have a low survival rate. Other areas on the Teton are simply not producing adequate number of fry.

Fredricks showed a correlation between high and low spring runoff and cutthroat and rainbow population increase. Simply put, if there is a normal runoff - a sharp rise early in the spring followed by a quick decline toward the beginning of summer - then cutthroat populations do well. If there is a more mild increase in flow followed by a steady decrease then rainbow populations do well.

The past years have seen weak runoff due to lack of sufficient snow pack in Teton Valley, propagating more successful rainbow growth. In the South Fork, where the Palisades Dam controls flows, there has also been large rainbow production. Fredricks is confident that normal snowfall and runoff in the Teton Valley will encourage stronger cutthroat populations. He is also encouraging the Bureau of Reclamation to control the flows of Palisades Dam to mimic a more natural runoff. Flows have affected the overall makeup of the trout population in the two rivers. A decade ago, the rivers were both predominately cutthroat with a small percentage of brook and rainbow trout. Now, both rivers, especially the Teton, have a small percentage of cutthroat compared to a proportionately large population of the non-native rainbow and brook trout.

In a phone interview with Fredricks, he explained the history of the non-native species in the rivers. Fish and Game and local anglers originally introduced these non-native species. Twenty-five years ago, Fish and Game planted rainbows in the Teton and the South Fork, not realizing the rainbow could crossbreed and out-compete the native cutthroat. The brook trout were introduced in the early twentieth century by anglers. Trains coming through the area would announce that they had eastern brook trout available, and anyone was welcome to come get some to stock their favorite fishing hole.

Lyn Benjamin followed Fredricks' presentation to explain the Friends of the Teton River's role in conservation of the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout and the overall goals of the group. FTR is addressing many of the issues the Fish and Game have discovered on the Teton River with myriad solutions.

Friends of the Teton River is trying to help recharge the aquifer by diverting canal water and flood irrigating in select areas. The aquifer recharge is considered an instrumental component to restoring the health of Teton Valley's fisheries and wetlands. By diverting water into key areas, such as the Fox Creek area, the group hopes to raise the groundwater levels back up to where they were when it was common practice to flood irrigate in the Valley.

The group is also working with local landowners to rehabilitate riverbanks and riparian areas. They have already led bank restoration projects on five sites and now plan to concentrate their efforts on Fox Creek and Teton Creek. The restoration projects change depending on the need of the section, but many include planting new vegetation, fencing select locations and general re-stabilization of the banks.

FTR is funding programs to pinpoint areas on the river where whirling disease is prevalent and help reduce spread of the disease. By testing multiple locations on the river for the disease, the group will be able to determine infected and uninfected areas. This is important because the disease is transmittable by many different hosts traveling through the area, such as a fisherman's waders. If the location of the infection is known, steps can be taken to reduce the spread of the disease, such as careful washing of exposed equipment before entering uninfected areas.

FTR is also participating in programs to isolate and reduce pollution sources in the Teton River. Last summer, E. coli and nitrate levels shot up to unhealthy levels in certain areas of the Teton River. Many theories about where the pollution came from were discussed and analyzed. There are no conclusive findings as yet; however, FTR plans to invest more monies into the study if the pollution is determined to be non-source related. One theory is that if the pollution is non-source related that it might be contaminated run off out of pastures containing domestic animal feces. A RNA study of the pollution would be able to determine the source.

At the same time it is juggling all of these projects, FTR is trying to conserve the remaining Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout by rehabilitating upper sections of tributary spawning habitat. The group is hoping to protect the isolated groups of cutthroat in the very upper sections as a last holdout in case the rehabilitation takes a further downward trend.