The Troubling History of Colorado’s State Fish and It’s Struggles with the Cameron Peak Forest Fire
By: Ben Haney
Tags: Colorado, Foconow, Wildlife, Foco

By: Ben Haney

Firefighters Standing By a River, (Photo/Colorado Parks and Services)

The Cameron Peak Forest Fire has caused its fair share of damage to the surrounding ecosystem of northeastern Colorado. Its devastating rein has affected human structures, foliage and surrounding wildlife. The latter of which presented a problem to biologists focusing on the nearby Greenback Cutthroat Trout population.

This fish has seen its fair share of struggles in the past, with a large list of dangers that have led to it cycling in and out of the state's Endangered Species List. The Greenback Cutthroat Trout is vital to the nearby ecosystem, as it is important for Colorado’s biodiversity. The fish was also adopted as Colorado’s official state fish in 1994 by an act of the General Assembly.

The History Behind Colorado’s State Fish:

Colorado’s state fish had seen a sheltered existence in small creeks and rivers surrounding the east side of the Continental Divide until mining and human occupation led to a scarcity of healthy waters for the fish to swim in.

The early 1900s brought expensive mining equipment that polluted nearby waters, leading to what was thought to be the fish’s extinction by the 1930s. However, in 1973 two small populations (about 2,000 fish total) were confirmed to exist in a creek around the same habitat.

Greenback cutthroat trout were then introduced in 68 waters with over 639,000 fish distributed between 1985 and 1996. These numbers might seem astounding at a first glance, but the fish’s troubles were far from over.

In the early 2000s, Greenback Cutthroat Trout populations began to decline due to overfishing, which posed a large issue. The species was also blindsided by a new competitor, known as the Brook Trout, which crossed over the Continental Divide, invading the surrounding rivers and streams.

In an interview, Yoichiro Kanno, an Assistant Professor of Stream Fish Conservation and Ecology at Colorado State University, stated that “Brook Trout can outcompete the Greenback Cutthroat Trout, so when the Brook Trout are stocked they typically replace the cutthroat trout in 3–5 years.”

Greenback Cutthroat Trout populations declined rapidly during this time, leading the remaining population to either fizzle out or become genetically similar to Brook Trout.

Most scientists declared the fish extinct by 2010 until another population was discovered in Bear Creek, a zone outside of the Greenback Cutthroat’s habitat.

Scientists were puzzled at first but after further investigation, a local B&B was found to have transported the fish from its original habitat in order to create recreational activities for visitors.

The monetarily driven efforts of a hotel owner had saved a whole species. Biologists were then able to reclaim fish eggs from the creek and transport them to Zimmerman Lake, where the fish were turned into a broodstock (a stable population of fish used to grow waning populations, often kept in natural ponds).

Hatcheries for the Greenback Cutthroat led the fish population to skyrocket from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This leads up to the present population, which is fairly stable but due to the recent Cameron Peak Forest Fire, it has seen a sharp decrease.

How The Cameron Peak Forest Fire Affected Trout Populations:

With over 208,000 acres of forest burned, 461 structures destroyed, and a lasting ecological impact that will last for years to come, the Cameron Peak Forest Fire has been declared Colorado’s most deadly forest fire of all time.

This has led to massive tolls being taken on local waters. When discussing the local Greenback Cutthroat population in the Poudre River, Assistant Professor Kanno said “I have actually talked to local forest service biologists and that’s one thing they are looking into. The trout populations that were occupying smaller habitats, such as the Roaring Brook population, were wiped out by the fire… When the habit is smaller, fish have a harder time with survival.”

Kanno as well as a couple of other professors at CSU were concerned about the well-being of the trout populations due to the fire.

Professor Tony Cheng, Director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, had this to say: “This year they just started putting those fish back into streams and sure enough, the fire blew through these areas. We need to watch and see what happened and if these fish survived.”

Colorado needs the Greenback Cutthroat for a variety of reasons. Assistant Professor Kanno summarized it perfectly by saying “We have a unique strain of Greenback Cutthroat Trout and if we lose it, we won’t be able to get it back. Having high diversity typically provides us with more resilience in environmental change. In this new era of climate change, having more subspecies buffers us from environmental change.”

Kanno stressed the importance of keeping our Colorado waters clean and healthy by promoting an environmentally friendly way of life, as well as becoming more aware of the effects that humans have on the ecosystem around them.