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MILLCREEK — The Bonneville Cutthroat trout, which is Utah's state fish and almost on the endangered list, is making a big comeback and being re-introduced to the waters of Millcreek Canyon.
The U.S. Forest Service and Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources are making changes first.
"We have an opportunity to restore, if you will, a whole watershed," said Mike Slater, aquatic program manager for the Division of Wildlife Resources.
Slater and others are removing non-native fish and re-introducing the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout to the canyon.
"The Bonneville Cutthroat trout used to live in Lake Bonneville," he explained. "They used to run up these streams all along the Wasatch Front, spawn, reproduce, do their thing and be able to return to the lake."
However, in order for the Bonneville Cutthroat trout to thrive in the waters of Millcreek Canyon, other fish currently in the water must go. They include cutthroat, brown and rainbow trout as well as cutthroat-rainbow hybrids. If those fish remain in the creek, they will breed with the pure-strain Bonneville cutthroats and thwart the restoration effort, according to the DWR.
"One of the best management tools we have to remove fish or restart a system is called rotenone," Slater said.
- Begin: fall of 2013 in the upper reaches of Millcreek Canyon
- Creek will be divided into three sections
- Each section will be treated in two consecutive years (during the fall), then native Bonneville cutthroat trout will be restocked in that section
- Lower and final section treated and restocked in 2016
- Trout will come from Little Dell Reservoir, which is a wild brood source of Bonneville cutthroat trout
It's a chemical put into the water that Slater said only affects fish.
"It's nothing we need to be concerned about," he assured, "our dogs, our pets, us as individuals. It's a root-based substance that basically inhibits the fish's ability to utilize the oxygen in the water."
Besides changes to the fish population, the old dam in Millcreek Canyon will most likely be removed, and public access to the water will be improved.
"I'm very excited about it," said Robert Dibblee of the group Trout Unlimited.
He supports the entire plan and said it's not so much changing the canyon as it is restoring it to what it once was.
"This is a great opportunity to really enhance the cutthroat population and enhance the beauty of the creek," he said.
