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. . '" . ..... ~ .. .. "- 49 urAH ACADEMY PROCEEDINGS, VOL. 51, PART 2.1974 Nevada. A recently identified population exists in the headwaters of Trout . Creek on the east slope of the Deep Creek Range in Utah. Factors Influencing Decline Hybridization with introduced cutthroat strains (Yellowstone usually) and rainbow trout is the major decimating factor in the loss of all cut- _ throat subspecies. Water manipulation may be a second factor often integrally tied with the first. Recent Studies Dr. Robert Behnke is continuing long-term studies of cutthroat trout morphology at Colorado State University. Dr. Gair Stalnaker and Gerald Klar (Utah State University) are presently studying biochemical genetic characteristics of cutthroat trout populations. Wernsman (1973) sum- marized knowledge of the Colorado cutthroat. The U.S. Forest Service has recently installed a fish barrier on the Little West Fork, Blacks Fork River, to stop upstream movement of other fishes from Meeks Cabin Reservoir. The Bureau of Land Management is currently studying Green River tributaries in Desolation Canyon for presence of Colorado cutthroats. Present populations of the Snake Valley cutthroat in Nevada are being protected by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Nevada Fish and Game Department. Frank Dodge (Nevada Fish and Game, Ely) has done much of the field work 00 this rare form. . Recommendations .. A thorough search should be undertaken of all possible sites where the three subspecies may be located. This is especially important on the south slope of the Uinta Range, as oil shale and other developments may soon eliminate the Colorado form before populations are identified. Complete protection to ensure continued vitality of this subspecies in the Little West Fork is recommended. Streams that will support pure populations should be enumerated and protected from modification, with the anticipation of future transplants from available populations should investigations of range and abundance so indicate. ....~ .......-"l!'III"f~- , ~ 1- , ,