2020-10-27_PERMIT FILE - C1981035 (20)

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Biological Assessment Federal Coal Lease Modification(COC-62920)and Federal Mine Permit(CO-0106A)Revision and Renewal At this time, greenbacks are present in the wild only in Bear Creek(Pikes Peak), Rock Creek (Lost Creek Wilderness), and Herman Gulch (Clear Creek drainage) as well as Zimmerman Lake (headwaters of Poudre River). Bear Creek is located on the eastern side of Pikes Peak in the Arkansas River drainage, and therefore, outside its native range. The Bear Creek population is believed to be present at this location due to the stocking of ponds in 1882 at a guest hotel in the upper reaches of Bear Creek. Upper Bear Creek was likely fishless due to its location above a series of waterfalls (Metcalf et al. 2012). Zimmerman Lake is located at the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River in the South Platte River drainage and was stocked in 2014 and 2015 with hatchery fish collected from Bear Creek. Greenbacks are also present in the Leadville National Fish Hatchery and several State hatcheries. At this time, other reintroduction projects are being planned for sites in the South Platte River drainage with hatchery fish collected from Bear Creek. The Service listed the greenback cutthroat trout as an endangered species in 1967 (32 FR 4001). The Service downlisted the greenback to a threatened status in 1978 because of recovery efforts that removed non-native trout from suitable habitat, established captive brood stocks, reintroduced greenbacks, developed stable populations, and initiated catch-and-release fisheries (43 FR 16343). Taxonomy When the greenback was first listed, morphology and meristic analyses wereqo a prominent genetic determinant for cutthroat trout subspecies, based on phenotypic expression, which included spotting patterns, number of scales, coloration, number of basiobranchial teeth, etc. (Policky et al. 2003). Some of the first genetic analysis completed was University of Montana's electrophoresis work(Kanda and Leary 1999a, 1999b, 1999c, 2000). More recently, techniques for genetic analysis have focused on mtDNA and nuclear DNA(nDNA). With regard to taxonomy, Behnke (2004) has argued that genetics should not be the sole factor in determining taxonomic distinctions, and that morphological traits may sometimes be distinguishing factors. In a 2007 study, Metcalf et al. used molecular markers from the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes to analyze individuals from greenback and Colorado River cutthroat trout. Phylogenetic analysis of the combined cytochrome oxidase I(COI) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase 2 (ND2) mitochondrial gene sequences (n=1530 base pairs) revealed two divergent lineages within the ranges of greenback and Colorado River cutthroat trout consisting of 10 unique haplotypes. Metcalf et al. (2007) determined that these two lineages corresponded with the two described subspecies. However, the divergent evolutionary lineages defined by mitochondrial and nuclear DNA markers did not separate geographically on either side of the Continental Divide as expected. Results from that study identified five populations with what the authors felt were Colorado River cutthroat trout genetic markers on the east side of the Continental Divide and one population with what they felt were greenback genetic markers occurring on the West slope of Colorado, in what should be Colorado River cutthroat habitat. July 2017 24