Agency says bull trout should stay 'threatened'
Bull trout should retain their "threatened" status under the Endangered Species Act and there should be distinctions established between populations across the Northwest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday.
The five-year status review for bull trout populations in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Nevada was developed by two panels of scientists and agency managers.
"This status review considered information that has become available since the time of listing and included a rigorous analysis by independent scientists and Fish and Wildlife Service managers," said Ron Lohoefener, director of the federal agency's Pacific Region. "The health of bull trout populations varies by location, but overall, the species in the United States still needs protection."
Bull trout were listed as a threatened species in 1998, after extensive litigation, and in doing so, five "distinct population segments" were identified, but only two were afforded Endangered Species Act protection.
After more litigation from groups that included Montana-based Friends of the Wild Swan, all bull trout populations were listed in 1999.
But they were uniformly listed, and now the service recommends that the distinct populations should be listed separately.
"We can focus regulatory protection and recovery resources to bull trout populations in trouble, we can remove the regulatory burden of the ESA where its protections are not needed, we can provide more incentives locally to implement recovery actions, and we can analyze effects of projects over a more discrete and biologically relevant area," Lohoefener said.
Arlene Montgomery, conservation coordinator for Friends of the Wild Swan, said defining separate populations will be a time- and resource-consuming process that will mainly be aimed at allowing separate populations, or portions of those populations, to be gradually delisted.
"Instead of defining and tweaking the distinct population segments, they need to move forward with recovery," Montgomery said.
The service started developing official recovery plans for bull trout populations in 2002. But since then those plans have been "languishing because they put them on hold to do the status review," Montgomery said.
The status review also evaluated threats such as invasive competing fish species and degradation of bull trout habitat across the region.
With roughly 62 percent of 121 identified "core areas" for bull trout facing imminent threats, Montgomery contends that "scarce time and resources should be put on the ground. Finalize the recovery plans, and let's get working on addressing the threats."
The status review and related information can be found on the Internet at:
http://www.fws.gov/pacific/bulltrout
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com