Bonneville Cutthroat Trout Reintroduced to Snake Creek

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 19, No. 2, Winter 2019.

Park staff, NDOW, and volunteers help find Bonneville cutthroat trout in Hendry’s Creek to release in Snake Creek.

NPS Photo by Julie Long

by Jonathan Reynolds, Fisheries Biologist

In July of 2018, Great Basin National Park conducted a second rotenone treatment in the upper portion of the Snake Creek watershed to remove any non-native brook trout that had survived the 2016 treatment. In October of 2018, 74 sites (one site for every 200 meters of stream) were sampled for the presence of fish DNA. Processing of the samples was delayed due to the government shutdown, but by April of 2019 Great Basin National Park received the official report from the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Bonneville cutthroat trout being released into Snake Creek.

NPS Photo by Jonathan Reynolds

The results were negative for the presence of fish DNA at all 74 sites. This good news allowed the Park to focus on the final step of the project, reintroducing native Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah, BCT) into Snake Creek.

The Park teamed up with the Nevada Department of Wildlife and BLM staff to collect 118 BCT from Hendry’s Creek located in the North Snake Range. The BCT were transported to Snake Creek and released at various locations throughout the stream. The population will be closely monitored and more BCT will be released into Snake Creek if necessary. The population of BCT in Snake Creek should grow rapidly in the years to come, creating a conservation population and providing park anglers with a productive recreational fishery.