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Opportunities to expand into potentially restorable habitats appear greatest for the Colorado <br />River cutthroat on the west slope with an almost threefold potential increase in stream miles and <br />an increase in lake surface acres by a factor of 2.5. Opportunities to expand habitat for the <br />greenback cutthroat trout, would occur on the east slope, but the full extent of potential restorable <br />habitat is unknown at this time. The potential greenback expansion described in Table 2 <br />represents potential habitats needing restoration to meet recovery goals before delisting. <br />Expanded use of greenback cutthroat trout in suitable habitats on the east slope is likely more <br />limited due to a smaller resource base on the Front Range. Expansion into new habitats is also <br />presently constrained by its federal "threatened" status, which creates added concern from <br />landowners and water resource users over the Endangered Species Act (ESA) restrictions on <br />"take," and Section 7 consultations. Opportunities to expand the habitat for Rio Grande cutthroat <br />are limited by its relatively smaller range within the state and the fact that many recovery efforts <br />have already been completed, leaving fewer options. <br />Much of the current and potential stream and lake habitat for native cutthroats exists in the <br />headwaters of each river drainage, where protection from negative interactions with introduced <br />salmonids via instream barriers is most feasible. Even with the assumption that this expanded <br />resource base for the native cutthroat trout would be realized, their combined habitat <br />would represent only 10% of the Coldwater stream miles available and 1% of the coldwater <br />lake surface area available. <br />Our ability to expand the aquatic resources for native cutthroat beyond these boundaries is <br />limited by an inability to adequately isolate their populations from other salmonid species. The <br />most likely avenue for native cutthroat trout in conservation management will be to establish these <br />species as the primary trout species in headwater drainages. Restoration of native cutthroat to <br />more productive, lower elevation waters will be conducted where appropriate and biologically <br />feasible. The predominant use of native cutthroat trout in fisheries management will likely focus <br />on catch-and-release and limited harvest fisheries in more pristine and hard-to-access high <br />mountain stream and lake systems. <br />Wild Trout and Gold Medal waters occur in 9 of the 15 major watersheds in Colorado, <br />occupying 254 stream miles and 4,360 lake surface acres (Table 3). Opportunities to expand <br />Gold Medal waters are largely nonexistent since the designation is based on habitat productivity <br />and trout size criteria. Most, if not all, of the suitable habitat is already included in this program. <br />Many existing officially-designated Wild Trout waters are already protected by special <br />regulations. <br />Many streams in Colorado, besides those listed in Table 3, support wild populations of <br />brown, brook, and rainbow/cutthroat hybrid trout that are not officially designated as Wild Trout <br />waters. Some of these waters are currently managed using catchable or subcatchable trout <br />stocking to supplement the fishery provided by the wild populations. It is possible that some of <br />these waters could be managed as wild trout waters with little or no supplemental trout stocking, <br />and protected with a reduced bag limit/size limit/terminal tackle restrictions. The magnitude of <br />11