9/22/1998 442

ANTIs CONTAMINATE STREAM, TRY TO DERAIL GILA TROUT RECOVERY EFFORT

According to the Albuquerque Journal, opponents to Gila trout recovery efforts purposefully placed non-native brown and rainbow trout in a wilderness stream to sabotage a plan to reintroduce Gila trout there in October. Non-native trout which compete with, prey upon and hybridize with Gila trout are a major threat to the species. New Mexico Game and Fish and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had planned to reintroduce Gila trout to Black Canyon in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness after building a barrier to keep the non-native trout separate from the Gila trout. They recently discovered, however, that someone had purposely placed brown and rainbow trout above the barrier, jeopardizing the entire reintroduction effort.

The Gila trout was first recognized as imperiled in the 1920's. In 1967, it and the Apache trout were listed as endangered in the precursor to the Endangered Species Act. The species has continued to disappear due to overgrazing and non-native trout introductions- of five relict natural populations which existed in 1967, only three remain. Several Gila trout populations have been contaminated in recent years. The Southwest Center filed suit against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife in August seeking a new, stronger recovery plan.