COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado’s celebrated state fish that was once believed extinct only to be discovered hiding in tiny Bear Creek on the southwest edge of Colorado Springs, is on public display on the banks of its adopted home waters.
On Nov. 15, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff delivered 14 greenback cutthroat trout from the U.S. Fish Hatchery in Leadville to a new aquarium in El Paso County’s Bear Creek Nature Center, along Bear Creek, where they will live on permanent public display.
These greenbacks, which are listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a threatened species, have been part of the breeding stock at the Leadville National Fish Hatchery. Since 2010, they have helped produce thousands of new greenbacks that CPW has stocked into their historic native waters in the South Platte River drainage.
“We are happy to put these fish in locations where the public can actually see them and learn about them,” said Cory Noble, CPW aquatic biologist who is part of a team that catches and spawn greenbacks each spring just upstream from the nature center. “I can’t think of a more appropriate place for the greenbacks to live than in the Bear Creek Nature Center.”
The fish now on display were retired from the hatchery after they became too old to reliably reproduce. The nature center secured federal permits to possess the threatened fish and built a special 300-gallon aquarium to meet their unique needs for continuously filtering, 45-degree water.
“The mission of El Paso County’s Bear Creek Nature Center is to connect people to their natural and cultural resources and inspire them to be stewards,” said Mary Jo Lewis, nature center supervisor. “Interpreting the fascinating story of the greenback cutthroats is a wonderful way to do this.
“This display also sends an important message about stewardship and of humans adopting sustainable practices and behaviors to protect and maintain sensitive species such as these fish. Because the remaining population of pure greenback cutthroat trout was discovered in Bear Creek, we feel that we are a perfect resource to help tell this story to the community and allow them to observe real greenback cutthroat trout.”
Recovering and conserving the greenback is a top priority for CPW aquatic biologists and it involves a team that includes staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, Trout Unlimited, Great Outdoors Colorado, El Paso County, Colorado Springs and other local governments.
In 1937, greenback cutthroat trout were considered extinct, the victims of pollution from mining, pressure from fishing and competition from other trout species. Then, in the 1950s, small pockets of fish thought to be greenbacks were discovered in several drainages along the Arkansas and South Platte rivers. Biologists at the time gathered them at breeding stock in hatcheries and began spawning what they thought were greenbacks.
In 2012, researchers using modern genetic analysis determined nearly all the fish previously believed to be greenback cutthroat trout were, in fact, descendants of fish stocked from sources in the Colorado and White River drainages.
The only population of authentic greenback cutthroat trout with the original South Platte genetics was in Bear Creek, even though they are not native to those waters. It is believed that in the 1870s, innkeeper Joseph Jones wanted cutthroat for his guests to catch. So he stocked them in ponds he built along the creek, which is part of the Arkansas River drainage.
The Bear Creek Nature Center is at 245 Bear Creek Road, Colorado Springs, 80906. It is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday.
PHOTOS: Courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife / Bill Vogrin
Josh Nehring, senior aquatic biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, dips greenback cutthroat trout into a new 300-gallon aquarium at El Paso County's Bear Creek Nature Center, which sits on the banks of the creek not far from where CPW discovered the fish, once thought to be extinct.
News media crowded around a new 300-gallon aquarium at El Paso County's Bear Creek Nature Center to watch threatened greenback cutthroat trout stocked in the tank. The nature center sits on the banks of the creek not far from where CPW discovered the fish, once thought to be extinct.
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CPW is an enterprise agency, relying primarily on license sales, state parks fees and registration fees to support its operations, including: 41 state parks and more than 350 wildlife areas covering approximately 900,000 acres, management of fishing and hunting, wildlife watching, camping, motorized and non-motorized trails, boating and outdoor education. CPW's work contributes approximately $6 billion in total economic impact annually throughout Colorado.
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