Steps to BCT Recovery on Snake Creek

This article was originally published in The Midden – Great Basin National Park: Vol. 17, No. 1, Summer 2017.

Electrofishing Snake Creek to relocate native fish before treating the creek with rotenone.

NPS Photo by Nathan Cullen

By Jonathan Reynolds, Fisheries Biologist

In August of 2016 Great Basin National Park, in collaboration with Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) and staff from other NPS units, conducted a rotenone treatment on Snake Creek. The goal of the treatment was to eradicate all non-native fish in the section of Snake Creek that is located within the park boundary. This will allow the park to reintroduce Bonneville cutthroat trout (BCT) into the largest South Snake Range stream identified as a BCT conservation population in the 2006 Conservation Agreement and Conservation Strategy for Bonneville Cutthroat Trout in the State of Nevada.

This summer, the fisheries crew will conduct electrofishing validation surveys to ensure the treatment was successful. The entire length of the treatment area will be electrofished twice by a three-person crew. After the validation surveys are completed, an extensive eDNA analysis of Snake Creek will be conducted. This fairly new, but rapidly evolving technology, allows fish biologists to detect fish species by simply testing the stream water for their DNA. Using the protocol provided by the United States Forest Service, samples will be collected by filtering five liters of stream water. The filters will then be sent to the Rocky Mountain Research Station where Forest Service scientists will test them for brook trout, brown trout, and rainbow trout DNA. A total of 74 sites (one site for every 200 meters of stream) will be sampled in order to thoroughly cover the entire watershed. If fish are not encountered during the validation surveys and fish DNA is not detected during the eDNA analysis, then Snake Creek will be ready for the reintroduction of BCT.

Filtering stream water to test for fish DNA.

NPS Photo by Nathan Cullen

Great Basin National Park will work closely with NDOW to determine which Snake Range BCT population will be the source for the reintroduction. NDOW will also assist with collecting BCT from the source population, transporting them to Snake Creek, and releasing them into predetermined locations. If everything goes as planned, the reintroduction will occur in June of 2018.