

The concepts identified and followed by the Project are: locating and identifying Golden trout populations throughout the Sierra removing non-native and predatory fish from Golden trout waters restoring riparian habitat that has been damaged by cattle grazing and public education and outreach.

In 2006, The Golden Trout Project was initiated and is a collaboration between state and federal agencies, and conservation organization and takes a four-pronged approach to working towards protecting and restore the Golden trout in its native habitat. In addition, the regulatory mechanisms of the federal and state agencies responsible for managing California Golden trout habitat and preventing further loss of its genetic integrity have not to been sufficient to prevent extinction. The California golden trout is in danger of extinction caused by hybridization and by the destruction and adverse modification of its habitat. Forest Service estimates that the Golden trout is secure in only 4 percent of its native habitat, or 20 square miles out of the original 450 square miles. The species' range, which once encompassed an estimated 450 miles of stream is today a small fraction of that historic range. The Golden trout has fallen victim to the careless stocking of non-native fish and more than a century of overgrazing by cattle and sheep. Whitney in the Inyo and Sequoia National Forests. The Golden trout is native to only two streams, the South Fork of the Kern River and Golden Trout Creek, just south of Mt.

It's estimated golden trout now occupy a native range of less than 20 square miles. The third is the threat posed by the predation on Golden trout by non-native species that have been introduced into the last remaining habitat of the species. The second is livestock grazing, and it continues to damage habitat along streams and by reducing vegetation, changing the width/depth ratio, adding sediment to the channel, and lowering the water table, all of which are vital to the survival of the species. The first is the threat of non-native trout stocked into the watersheds that are home to the Golden trout which are proving to interbreed with and hybridize the species. There are three primary threats to the Golden trout. Golden Trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss gilberti) ThreatsĬalifornia's state fish, the Golden trout is at risk of going the way of our state mammal, the Grizzly bear.
