Feds Say Bull Trout Still Threatened

By Dillon Tabish, 4-29-08

After five years of review, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that bull trout, one of Montana’s largest native trout, should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, the AP reports.

“The health of bull trout populations varies by location but overall, the species in the United States still needs protection,” said Ren Lohoefener, director of Fish and Wildlife’s Pacific Region.

Bull trout, considered the most environmentally sensitive cold-water fish around, have been listed as a threatened species in the Lower 48 for ten years. But in recent years, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the former governor of Idaho, and the Idaho congressional delegation have contested the trout’s status as “endangered.”

Over the past 150 years, bull trout numbers have dropped about 45 percent due in large part to overfishing and logging and mining operations. However, Kempthorne and others said restrictions on these actions are unnecessary because the bull trout is thriving in places like Idaho.

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