Federal bull trout recovery plans online for review, input

Bull trout, whose presence is associated with pristine mountain lakes and streams, should soon have a federal recovery plan.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court-ordered deadline to release a recovery plan by Sept. 30 for bull trout, which were once abundant across a six-state region. Starting this week, citizens can review and comment on six regional plans developed to rebuild populations, at www.fws.gov/pacific/bulltrout. Comments will be accepted through July 20 on the plans, which will help guide the final recovery document.

Bull trout’s reliance on cold, clean water put them at risk as the West developed, with logging, mining and other activities affecting streams. Introduced fish, such as lake trout, have also hurt bull trout populations. And a warming climate is expected to make more streams inhospitable to the fish.

The regional plans focus on managing specific threats to different bull trout populations. The plan for the Columbia headwaters includes Lake Pend Oreille, which has one of the strongest remaining bull trout populations, with about 10,000 of the federally protected fish.