Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Upper Truckee River ...

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Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Upper Truckee River: Restoration of a Threatened Species in a Fluvial Headwater Environment

Transcript of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Upper Truckee River ...

Page 1: Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Upper Truckee River ...

Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in the Upper Truckee River:

Restoration of a Threatened Species in a

Fluvial Headwater Environment

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Project Area

Meiss Meadows

1988-1990: rotenone to remove brook trout

early 1990s: LCT re-introduced & brook trout found

mid 1990s: manual removal of brook trout in

upper 5 miles stream & 8 acres lake

2007-2009: no brook trout found, resting treatment

one of the only high meadow LCT populations

in Sierra Nevada

Expansion Area

2008 -2011: beginning of manual removal of brook trout in additional 10 miles stream

Future - 2023: continue implementation in streams and begin removal of brook trout in 85 acres of lake

N

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Project Area Expansion Area

Meiss Meadows

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Manual Removal Methods

• Late August thru October

• Delineated reaches by natural barriers

(low water barriers, falls, and beaver

dams)

• 3-pass depletion, on varying reach

lenght

• Species identified and measured to

size class

• Brook and Rainbow trout sacrificed

• Speckled dace returned to upstream

reach

• LCT returned upstream of Barrier

T1BA4 in RL trib and 36B in UTR;

sacrificed below due to hybridization

threats

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Depletion B34-B33 (254 m) LCT

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Depletion B37-B36A (307 m) LCT

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3 Pass Depletion

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Meiss Meadows

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2009200720052003200119991997

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Lahontan Cutthroat Trout CatchUpper Truckee River 1996 - 2009

LCT in Meiss Meadows 1996-2009

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2009 2006 2003 2000 1997

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Brook TroutUpper Truckee River Electrofishing Catch 2009 - 1996

Brook Trout Catch in Meiss Meadows

1996-2009

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Expansion Area

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Accomplishment Summary

• 2008 • 0.8 miles treated

• 3 passes completed

• 230 brook trout removed

• 213 speckled dace sampled

• 194 LCT sampled

• 2009 • 1.1 miles treated

• 2-3 passes completed

• 100 brook trout removed

• 353 speckled dace sampled

• 369 LCT sampled

• 2010 • 5.8 miles treated

• 1-3 pass completed

• 9,252 brook trout removed

• 82 rainbow trout removed

• 211 speckled dace sampled

• 509 LCT sampled

Round Lake

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2011

• 3.6 miles treated

• 1-3 passes completed

• 729 brook trout removed

• 27 rainbow trout removed

• 337 speckled dace sampled

• 820 LCT sampled

– 734 returned upstream of T1BA4 and 36B

– 86 removed below T1BA4 and 36B

Round Lake Round Lake Hybrids sampled in 2010 (thanks USFWS & M. Peacock!)

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Upper Truckee River

0-5cm 5-10cm 10-15cm 15-20cm 20-25cm 25-30cm 30+cm

LCT 22 116 84 85 37 3 0

BKT 39 68 96 83 18 2 0

SPD 123 5 1 0 0 0 0

RBT 0 7 3 6 0 1 0

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Rainbow trout

LCT

Speckled dace

Brook trout

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Round Lake tributary

Round Lake

Species

Rainbow trout

LCT

Speckled dace

Brook trout

0-5cm 5-10cm10-

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LCT 52 196 153 54 0 0 12

BKT 29 86 162 122 24 0 0

SPD 162 46 0 0 0 0 0

RBT 0 9 1 0 0 0 0

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•LCT had last been planted in Round Lake in 2008

•CDFG surveyed Round Lake in summer 2010, and found only LCT and dace

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2011 Round Lake tributary

LCT

BKT

SPD

RBT

2011: TOTAL FISH = 1,193

2010 Round Lake tributary

brook trout

Lahontan cutthroattrout

rainbow trout

speckled dace

2011 UTR mainstem

LCT

BKT

SPD

RBT

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Progress Reach B41-B41A = the most upstream reach in the Expansion Area

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UTR Fish Assessment

• CTC, CalTrout, CDFG, UC Davis, City SLT

• Late July and August

• Survey mouth to headwaters of perennial

streams (where possible)

• 1 pass electro-shocking

• 100 meter reaches where possible

• Record species and size class

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UTR Fish Assessment

Species Total

bluegill 44

brook trout 6

brown bullhead 9

brown trout 1954

Lahontan cutthroat trout 2

Lahontan redside shiner 108

mountain sucker 119

mountain whitefish 12

Paiute sculpin 1613

rainbow trout 971

speckled dace 7528

Tahoe sucker 118

unknown sucker 37

bluegill

brown bullhead

brown trout

Lahontan redside shiner

mountain sucker

Paiute sculpin

rainbow trout

speckled dace

Tahoe sucker

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UTR Fish Assessment

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