Conservation
Lahontan cutthroat trout currently occupy a small fraction of their historic range. The primary obstacle to their recovery is non-native salmonid predation by Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) on fluvial cutthroat and Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)on lacustrine cutthroat. Also hybridization of cutthroat with non-native Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) continues to threaten recovery of the pure Lahontan cutthroat. Only Independence Lake has continuously harbored its historic native Lahontan cutthroat population, although precariously low spawner numbers there have recently increased along with five years of brook trout removal.
Pyramid and Walker Lakes have been re-stocked with fish captured in Summit Lake (Nevada) and Lake Heenan, and those populations are maintained by fish hatcheries. Unfortunately the Summit Lake strain does not live as long or grow as large as the original strain of fish. However in the 1970's fish believed to have been stocked almost a century ago from the Pyramid Lake strain were discovered in a small stream along the Pilot Peak area of western Utah border, and are a genetic match to the original strain. This Pilot Peak strain of LCT is now integral to the reintroduction and planting programs maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Preservation of highly complementary habitats is crucial for survival of the different age classes of cutthroat trout, with clean gravels needed for spawning, slow moving side channel habitats used by juvenile fish, and deeper pool habitats such as beaver ponds for larger adult fish.
They were classified as an endangered species between 1970 and 1975, then the classification was relaxed to threatened species in 1975, and re-affirmed as threatened in 2008.
Although Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) stand little chance of surviving for long in Lake Tahoe, the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) planted LCT instead of rainbow trout on the lake's Nevada shore in summer 2011. The goal is to enable anglers to catch Lake Tahoe's native trout for the first time since 1939. The California state record was caught in Lake Tahoe in 1911 by William Pomin, weighing in at an impressive 31 pounds, 8 ounces.
Because it tolerates water too alkaline for other trout, Lahontan cutthroats are stocked in alkaline lakes outside its native range, including Lake Lenore (alternately Lenore Lake) in central Washington and Lake Mann in Oregon's Alvord Desert east of Steens Mountain.
Read more about this topic: Lahontan Cutthroat Trout
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