NM state fish back in Rio Grande

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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

Associated Press Writer

LA JUNTA POINT, N.M. (AP) -- New Mexico's state fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, has returned to its namesake river.

Dozens of volunteers released 2,000 fish into the Rio Grande on Wednesday after making an arduous trek down steep basalt cliffs to the confluence of the Rio Grande and Red River in northern New Mexico. On their backs, they carried heavy jugs and plastic bags full of the 2- to 3-inch fingerlings.

This marked the first time the fish, a candidate for federal endangered species protection, has been released in the upper reaches of the infamous Rio Grande Gorge.

"It's a release that's intended to get people interested in the fish, understand its situation and hopefully over time, we'll be able to restore the cutthroat to its native range," said Greg Gustina, a biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Wild Rivers Recreation Area where the fish were released.

Like many other native fish, the Rio Grande cutthroat has all but disappeared from its historic range throughout the Rio Grande basin in New Mexico and Colorado.

The fish, known for the red slash marks below its jaw and its large irregular spots, was the first North American trout to be recorded by Spanish explorers nearly 470 years ago.

Over the last century, the fish has struggled to keep pace with its nonnative competitors, and has seen its habitat disappear thanks to pressures on the arid region's water resources, logging, grazing and other threats.

The number of secure populations dropped from 13 to just a handful in the last few years, and many of the other populations are isolated and occur in short stream segments. One concern is that disease, nonnative fish or events such as forest fires, droughts or floods could wipe out those isolated populations.

Conservationists have fought for years to have the Rio Grande cutthroat listed under the Endangered Species Act. After three lawsuits, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed last year to designated the fish as a candidate for possible protections under the act.

"Our hopes are if we progress further with our restoration efforts we can keep it off the list," said Eric Frey, a fisheries manager with the New Mexico Game and Fish Department. "... We would feel that we failed at management of the cutthroat if it is fully listed."

The Game and Fish Department and other partners have a long-range plan to restore the fish to about 150 miles of streams and several lakes in the subspecies' historic range.

Wednesday's release is part of an effort to spur interest in the state fish, while other projects on the Costilla and Comanche creeks are aimed at restoring populations in northern New Mexico's coldwater streams and tributaries, Frey said.

The Rio Grande cutthroat is not alone. Biologists across the West are trying to re-establish native populations -- for example, Apache trout in Arizona, the Rio Grande silvery minnow in New Mexico and Texas and the rare least chub in Utah.

Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said fresh water aquatic fauna, particularly in the Southwest, is disappearing rapidly in the face of invasive species, pollutants and water diversion.

"Just multiple threats," he said. "And then you lay climate change over all of that and it's just concerning. It's a grim situation."

Arnold Atkins, president of the Truchas chapter of Trout Unlimited, said Rio Grande cutthroat already were gone from the river by the time he arrived in New Mexico in 1946.

"To actually find a Rio Grande cutthroat and catch it and admire it and release it is a lot of work. There are very few places in New Mexico where you can actually drive to a stream and catch a Rio Grande cutthroat," Atkins said.

He was among the 40 volunteers who negotiated the steep switchbacks and basalt boulders to get to the bottom of the gorge. Once there, the volunteers acclimated the fish to the near-freezing water before setting them free.

Despite competition from brown and rainbow trout, Frey said he hopes at least 10 percent of the fish released Wednesday will grow to at least 12 inches. Those survivors, along with future releases in the Rio Grande, could help the fish reclaim the river, he said.

Atkins said the effort is admirable.

"The average angler in New Mexico has never seen our state fish," he said. "If we can get them where we can see them and see how unique they are and appreciate them, then we'll have a better chance of conserving them and restoring them."