Bull Trout, A Quick Overview

Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), members of the family Salmonidae, are char native to the Pacific Northwest and western Canada. Bull trout populations have declined across much of their former range due to a variety of factors, including effects of dam construction, agricultural practices, introduced non-native fishes, and forest practices. Existing regulations have not arrested the decline of bull trout in many areas. The status quo isn't enough—we need to actively work to protect bull trout and their habitat. AWR has led a legal and educational campaign to protect bull trout, the leading indicator of aquatic ecosystem health and water quality, In 1992, AWR and two member groups filed a petition for Endangered Species status for the bull trout, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) declared that protection was warranted. We also filed three lawsuits that led to the formation of state bull trout recovery teams, created draft habitat protection standards, and stopped a plan to raise hatchery bull trout that would have caused genetic damage to wild populations.

These efforts led to the monumental endangered species listing, in 1998, of the Klamath and Columbia River basin bull trout populations and in 1999 of the Jarbidge population in northern Nevada, the coastal Puget Sound, and the St. Mary River populations as threatened. In 2001, AWR and Friends of the Wild Swan filed suit against the USFWS for failing to designate critical habitat for bull trout as required under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS admitted that they should have designated critical habitat and, in December, 2001, reached settlement with AWR and FOWS setting out a timeline for critical habitat designation and allowing for a 120-day comment period prior to draft habitat notice. That comment period recently ended and the USFWS is expected to publish a draft critical habitat designation for the Columbia and Klamath populations in October, 2002, and then take public comment on that draft before issuing a final rule in October, 2003. Draft rulings for Jarbidge, Puget Sound, and St. Mary River populations will come out in October, 2003, with a final rule on critical habitat in those three areas published in October, 2004.

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