Yellowstone to clear Soda Butte Creek of nonnative fish

Yellowstone to clear Soda Butte Creek of nonnative fish

(sergioboccardo/Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Before moving ahead with a plan to destroy exotic brook trout in Yellowstone National Park's Soda Butte Creek, fisheries managers will first try to capture native cutthroat trout from the stream to salvage them.

In response to public comment, Yellowstone decided to sweep Soda Butte to gather live cutthroat, adding a step to its usual protocol for restoring a fluvial fishery back to its native fish. Rotenone, a piscicide, will then go into Soda Butte's waters to kill off the mostly remaining nonnative brook trout, Yellowstone fisheries program leader Todd Koel said.

"The idea is that we're going to electroshock the existing cutthroat trout that are in upper Soda Butte and move them to a refuge," Koel said. "They'll stay in the system."

A temporary home for the cutthroat has not been determined, but they will likely be held in headwater tributaries that will not be treated with rotenone or in big stock tanks or hatchery trucks, Koel said.

Soda Butte parallels U.S. Highway 212 along much of the treatment area, so the cutthroat will be able to be quickly transported, he said.

"We should be able to gather up the fish and then move them into trucks with tanks," Koel said. "Logistically it adds a lot to the project, for sure."

The Yellowstone strain of cutthroat being pulled out are in the "high 90 percent range" of genetic purity and have "a lot of conservation value," he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/1MCoaJO ).

A major tributary of the Lamar River, Soda Butte Creek flows from headwaters in southern Montana and northern Wyoming in the peaks surrounding Cooke City, Montana.

Because the creek runs through many jurisdictions, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Forest Service are all collaborating on the project with Yellowstone.

For a fisheries restoration project, Soda Butte is a large system. In all, 38 stream-miles will be cleansed of brook trout. Some 60 percent of the treated watershed will be in Wyoming and 40 percent in Montana, according to a Yellowstone planning document.

Work will start in late August, Koel said.

After several days of rotenone treatment, the cutthroat will be dumped back into Soda Butte Creek.

Koel was confident that enough insect life would remain after the poisoning for the fish to be able to find their dinner.

The whole process, including taking the cutthroat back out, will need to be repeated next year before the stream can be considered restored, Koel said.

"In theory it'll work," he said, "but it does add logistical challenges to try to get the project completed."

Genetically pure cutthroat from Yellowstone's Pebble and Antelope creeks will be added to Soda Butte to supplement the population, Koel said.

___

Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Related stories

Most recent Outdoors stories

Related topics

U.S.Outdoors
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast