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Introduction The information contained in this status review focuses upon 5 subspecies of North American inland cutthroat trout, i.e. the Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki bouvie,,) and the fine-spotted cutthroat trout, (0. c. subspp.), principle subspecies of cutthroat trout that historically occupied the upper portion of the Snake River, within the Columbia River basin; the westslope cutthroat (0. c. lewis/) which occupied the Northern Rockies in Montana, Idaho, and eastern Oregon and Washington; the Bonneville cutthroat (0. c. utah), which occupied the Bonneville Basin within the Great Basin; the Colorado River cutthroat (0. c. pleuriticus), of the upper Green River and Colorado River basins in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming; and the Rio Grande cutthroat (0. c. virgina/is) of the upper Rio Grande River basin in New Mexico and Colorado. Figure 1 illustrates the inland cutthroat trout subspecies historic distribution within their separate hydrologic sub-basins. General concern for the well being of these native trout species has been elevated as a result of recent assessments (Williams et aI. 1989 and Warren and Burr 1994). The assessments pointed to a dramatic decline in the status of many freshwater fish species with as many as 364 freshwater fish (about one-third of the American native freshwater fishes) identified as endangered, threatened or of special concern (Williams et aI. 1989). The situation is particularly bleak within the western states (Warren and Burr 1994) which have a proportionately higher percentage of imperiled native species. Western trout (Behnke, 1976, 1992) and salmon (Nehlsen et aI. 1991) have suffered catastrophic declines in abundance due to essentially similar factors (e.g. exotic species introduction, habitat degradation, and overharvest). Concern for the status of western cutthroat prompted the Forest Service to initiate Habitat Conservation Assessments for many interior cutthroat trout subspecies. In 1992. the Chief asked the Forest Service Regions to develop inter-regional habitat conservation assessments (HCA) addressing species' habitat requirements throughout their inhabited range on National Forests and Grasslands. The purposes of these HCA's are to update and synthesize existing management and research information and to develop a common base of technical knowledge for decisionmakers. To encourage shared ownership and to solicit technical assistance as well as an opportunity to facilitate informed consensus with partners, ie. state, federal, interest groups, and public interests, the HCA's were viewed as an interdisciplinary effort among resources. The HCA's provide baseline data from which to make future resource decisions on National Forest System (NFS) lands. Rather than decision documents, the HCA's are technical tools to be used by line officers and decisionmak- ers to develop management strategies and to identify necessary changes in current management direction or in project planning. In 1994, the Chief further reiterated the need for HCA's to receive priority emphasis for species protection and management. Many HCA efforts require inter-regional and multi-state coordination on wide ranging species that cover more than one FS region. Examples include recent multi-agency and inter-regional efforts on bull trout (Sa/velinus confluentus), and the Inland Native Fish Strategy. The information contained in this HCA focuses on the five inland cutthroat trout. The goal associated with this cutthroat trout HCA is to provide information linked to habitat conditions necessary to ensure the long term survival of these subspecies within the interior western United States. In addition, population status, distribution, and trend is addressed and related to habitat and species management within the historic range of these cutthroat trout subspecies. This status assessment is designed to complement and to be an extension of an earlier HCA document on the inland cutthroat for these five subspecies which was prepared by Forest Service research fisheries "