7999

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7999
• Author: Colorado River Wildlife Council.
• Title: Minutes, Colorado River Fish & Wildlife Council.
• USFW Year: 1996.
• USFW - Doc Type: April 23-24, 1996.
• Copyright Material: NO

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will be considered within the plan. The report identifies
waters which will be actively included in the plan and the
scope of work of protection to those populations already
existing or restoration of populations and suitable habitat.
Part of the report includes survey of additional waters and
ranges to determine the presence and viability of
populations which may yet exist. The document was developed
by biologists working with the Colorado River cutthroat and
was separately reviewed by group authors including federal
agencies such as FWS, USBR, Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, etc. The states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
have coordinated plans for their waters and overall needs of
the species and these combined provide an overall plan
which, if carried out, will provide for the long term needs,
maintenance, and enhancement of the species. The strategic
plan is absolutely workable, especially since each
individual state is providing for the enhancement of the
species separately and, therefore, all are agreeable on
their own to cooperating together. The three states are
currently working to implement the plan through signed
agreements with the land administering agencies including
private owners.
Remaining to be done in the plan is a more quantifiable
statement of objectives. The concept of meta-populations
has not been addressed now that the three states are
cooperating nor what populations would qualify or how the
meta-populations would be placed and structured. Another
large topic yet remaining is the definition of acceptable
genetic purity and what purities will be accepted in the
various waters and populations. This will probably involve
the larger professional community. The plan does not yet
define the recreational fishery characteristics or
relationships of other exotic fish.
The strategic plan should meet the Council's needs in
terms of defining a conservation strategy for the Colorado
River cutthroat trout and should be an excellent foundation
for an agreement between the states and the FWS to proceed
to preclude the need for listing. The first step is to
finalize an approved draft. The next step is to develop an
agreement utilizing the strategy among the three states and
the FWS to begin work as planned. Some problems remain
unsolved with regard to New Mexico, a peripheral habitat of
the Colorado River cutthroat, and which, from field contact,
indicates little interest in establishing a program or
putting funds into a conservation plan. Wyoming is very
active in carrying out the Wyoming conservation plan and has
made their own agreements with the federal and private land
administering agencies and they currently see little need in
signing an agreement through the Council to become part of
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