Re-introduction of Lahontan cutthroat trout displacing rainbow trout at Fallen Leaf Lake
By Kathryn Reed
It may come down to Lahontan cutthroat trout vs. rainbow trout. And if the Lahontan trout don’t take hold and the rainbow is basically eradicated, there may be no fish left.
That is the worst-case scenario for Fallen Leaf Lake and Glen Alpine Creek. It’s also one the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is not talking about.
When directly asked Wednesday night at the El Dorado County Fish & Game Commission meeting, the feds didn’t have an answer to what happens if the Lahontan are not successfully reintroduced to this water body.
“Never did we hear until this year that the long-term goal would be to not have rainbow trout. We were assured of the cohabitation of rainbow, lake and Lahontan cutthroat trout,” Jane Mitchell, who lives most of the year at Fallen Leaf Lake, said during the May 29 meeting at the U.S. Forest Service office in South Lake Tahoe.
While a USFWS rep vehemently refused to say the goal is eradication of the rainbow trout, a fact sheet created by her agency asks and answers a question in such a manner that complete elimination is the presumed goal.
Why do all the rainbow trout have to be removed from Fallen Leaf Lake and Glen Alpine Creek?
• Rainbow trout are not native to the Tahoe basin
• LCT and rainbow trout are ecologically similar and will spawn together and hybridize
• Hybridization results in the loss of the native, lacustrine LCT delaying and creating additional challenges for the reintroduction and recovery program at Fallen Leaf Lake
• Rainbow trout currently occupy the same feeding level as LCT in Fallen Leaf Lake and their presence is slowing the growth rate of LCT
• Rainbows removed during the spawning season are donated to the food bank
• Data such as food habits, age, and reproductive maturity.
Source: USFWS
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed the reintroduction of the native species to Fallen Leaf Lake in 1999, with the first stocking occurring in 2002. The plan from the start was to stock the lake with 30,000 to 50,000 Lahontan yearlings each year.
Jane Mitchell talks May 29 about how the information coming out about the Lahontan cutthroat trout program has changed, while Victor Babbitt listens. Photo/Kathryn Reed
This strain of the LCT is the Pilot Peak. It doesn’t exist outside the Tahoe area. And it’s on the federal threatened species list.
After researchers in 2012 documented spawning of LCT, they also realized this trout was breeding with rainbow. According to Lisa Heki with the USFWS, allowing crossbreeding to continue would eventually wipeout the LCT.
Two weirs have been installed in the creek in March – one near the mouth and one by the bridge at Stanford Camp – to separate the two species. The rainbows that are caught are killed to see what’s inside. The fillets are given to a food bank. So far this has only happened to a handful of rainbow.
The USFWS would not answer why the rainbow weren’t relocated to another section of Glen Alpine Creek or into Fallen Leaf Lake.
Tom Barnes, a local resident, said, “It sounds like you want to destroy the rainbow trout fishery. It sounds like there is no recovery plan if this doesn’t work.”
Even though the LCT have not had a presence in this area for about 100 years and the rainbow are well established, government policy is for the native to take precedence over the non-native.
Some in the room wanted the USFWS to set an end date for what everyone calls an experiment. An end date defining success or failure.
“I’m not going to go there at this point because we have not given them a fair opportunity,” Heki said.
Even though the project has been going on for a decade, Heki said much of the first five years was not effective and involved a lot of learning.
It surprised most people in the room that the area where the LCT spawn can still be fished. Working on getting a temporary ban or at a minimum placement of signs discouraging the practice was talked about.
Victor Babbitt, who is on the local fish and game commission and runs a fly fishing business in South Lake Tahoe, is most frustrated with the economics of the situation.
He believes the decimation of rainbow trout in the Fallen Leaf Lake area along with what has been done to other local fisheries has the potential to cripple the local fishing industry and cost the area millions in lost revenue. The revenue is from fishing expeditions, sales of fishing supplies and tourists just not coming to town.
The reintroduction program has cost taxpayers about $2.5 million to date.
No action was taken May 29, but it was agreed better communication between the USFWS and the community is needed.
I think this effort is just to justify the Feds. a jobs.
What a waste of money!!
So we have a non native dam regulating water to Taylor creek which showcases the favorite non native Kokanee every year to tens of thousands of people. We have non native humanoids creating non native interpretive centers for the masses then eliminating the only fish that was actually born in the creek and lake, the rainbows and browns. Introduced or not they have adapted just as the usfs employee who promotes this stuff. Trying to keep this area pure bred while allowing the masses to disturb it is futile. Just leave it alone. Nature will have its way and unless you eliminate the human problem we are just spending money. The browns, rainbows and brooks were born there and are amazing species. To kill them all is crazy. The past success or lack therof does not warrant further efforts to restore this species in all these areas. Leave it alone. The fisheries are beautiful in this neck of the woods.
We’re from the government and we’re here to help you.
Interesting no comment about the mackinaw consuming those LCT. Stop playing creator.
I assume the rainbow trout were introduced into Fallen Leaf Lake by either individuals or the government. The result sounds like the LCT were eradicated.
Now the government has reintroduced LCT.
Read the following book to forecast the outcome.
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
It’s available on the web at: http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/pdf/Origin_of_Species.pdf
Rainbow trout have been in the Tahoe basin so long as I can remember, so to me they are now Native.
Rainbow trout do well.
I say hey lets just not try to play god in Fallen leaf lake. Lets not spend any more money on this.
How far do we go? Anglo-saxon peoples are “Non-native” shall we try to relocate or remove this group? Lets face the truth: If there were a way to restore this country back to its original beauty, it would be to ‘relocate’ destructive humans…
Way more than 2 million has been spent on this. Anyone know How much of the snplma funding was spent on this lahontan cutthroat effort? I’m guessing over 50 million in the last 18 years.
What a waste of money. The new, unknown life form they just found in Fallen Leaf will probably take over everything anyway.:-)
I would like to see if this LCT re-introduction plan can be successful, but in the event that it isn’t the F&WS needs a “back-up” plan to make sure Fallen Leaf Lake has a viable fishery. The rainbows that are in the Tahoe Basin came from hatchery stock, and since there is no short supply of hatchery rainbow’s (or steelhead) that wouldn’t be a difficult plan of action to take in the event that the LCT re-introduction plan doesn’t work.
It’s going to probably take a decade or two to see if the LCT have been successfully re-introduced into Fallen Leaf Lake, but if they can be it would be a huge draw for the area given the repetition that the LCT of Pyramid Lake have. It would make Fallen Leaf Lake a world class cutthroat trout fishing designation, which is something that the Basin currently doesn’t have.
I also agree that the Macks need to be considered in this plan in order to successfully re-introduce LCT.
I believe that society owes it to endangered species to try to bring them back from the brink of extinction, after all, it was the actions and decisions of our forefathers that made this mess in the first place. Now, the agencies that the people have given the leadership role in this task need to make sure that they use the best available science, are transparent, and have full public participation and cooperation in the species recovery plan. This is what seems to be missing from some of the comments presented in this article.
The Fed Fish people have money, and they’re making a mess at Fallen Leaf. They should have a plan B, and a deadline for implementing it. If the LCT don’t flourish or hybridize, the Rainbow should be left alone and augmented not eradicated.
The local DFG has been successfully planting them for half a century. Fallen Leaf Anglers deserve a fishery.
Back in 1960 the DFG poisoned everything in Echo Lakes to get rid of the ‘rough fish,’ and stocked Rainbow and Kokanee. Result: total failure. The rough fish are back. The experts should quit fooling with nature and stick with what they know works.