Golden trout get a break
State and federal wildlife authorities signed a landmark pact last week to save California’s golden trout, a native species struggling for survival.
The recovery effort, part of a broad program in California to save native fish species, would restore beleaguered habitat in the backcountry of the southern Sierra.
The golden trout is a vivid beauty and the state’s official fish, yet its numbers have declined sharply over the last 30 years.
Among the restoration projects: restrictions on cattle grazing and fewer plantings of rainbow trout as well as barriers along the south fork of the Kern River to prevent nonnative trout from diluting the golden trout gene pool.
“Without this agreement, golden trout populations would continue to decline,” says Ryan Broddrick, director of the Department of Fish and Game.
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Gary Polakovic
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