Pushed by a federal judge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service says it has started the process of listing the bull trout
under the Endangered Species Act.
The
announcement was sad news for the governors of Idaho and Montana,
who both have crafted state recovery plans for the
cold-water-loving species, partly in an attempt to head off a
listing (HCN, 5/15/95).
But environmentalists,
who originally asked the agency to list the bull trout back in
1992, greeted it enthusiastically.
“Bull trout
are the indicators of healthy streams and rivers,” says Mike Bader
of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. “Protecting and restoring
their habitat would benefit the entire ecosystem.” Bader says a
listing will force the Forest Service to re-evaluate the effects of
grazing, logging and mining on riparian areas, especially in the
fish’s roadless strongholds at the top of
watersheds.
The Fish and Wildlife Service decided
against a federal listing in 1994, claiming that while the species
warranted protection, other species deserved more attention. The
alliance challenged that decision as illegal and last November a
federal judge agreed.
Fish and Wildlife
spokeswoman Susan Saul says her agency will now propose a listing
by June for two bull trout populations – one in Oregon’s Klamath
River Basin, the other in the massive Columbia River Basin, which
includes portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. From
that date, the agency will have a year to make a final
decision.
* Paul
Larmer
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Judge is bullish on trout protection.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
