This summer, Water Matters and other like-minded Alberta-based organizations sent a letter to senior federal and provincial decision makers requesting the formal protection of the Westslope Cutthroat Trout. Our letter responded to the government's request for input on whether Alberta native populations of this fish species should receive special protection under federal laws. We responded with a resounding yes.

Read our letter • Get the westslope cutthroat trout fact sheet

Westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) are an important part of Alberta's aquatic ecosystems and natural heritage. Alberta's WCT populations have declined dramatically since the early 1900s due primarily to human activities within watersheds. To prevent further demise of the species and to enhance the integrity of genetically pure WCT populations in the Bow and Oldman watersheds of Alberta, rapid and comprehensive action is necessary.

Listing the WCT as a Threatened species under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) will provide legal protection for the species and will trigger the provincial and federal governments to jointly develop a recovery and implementation plan. This plan will protect remaining native populations and promote recovery of the species by:

• Addressing known threats to the species
• Identifying and protecting critical habitat
• Addressing gaps in knowledge, especially the gap between terrestrial landscape condition and fish assemblages

The failure to take these actions will lead to a continued decline in this population to the detriment of aquatic ecosystems, citizens, and future generations in Alberta.

What is the current situation?

Current restrictions on fishing — for example, closures during spawning periods, in certain streams, and catch-and-release requirements — are good but are not enough on their own to protect this dwindling species in Alberta. There are many threats beyond fishing pressure that the recovery plan and implementation must address.

Introduction of non-native trout species to Alberta's rivers and streams has been the biggest threat to native WCT populations. Hybridization and competition are slowly leading to genetic extirpation. Early stocking programs of non-native brook trout or species such as lake whitefish have eliminated WCT populations from large areas of habitat. Rainbow trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout introductions have lead to significant interbreeding, or introgressive hybridization, throughout much of the westslope's native range (Costello 2006).

Landscape changes from a variety of human activities and developments have been and continue to be a primary cause of the species' extirpation from most of southern Alberta. The cumulative effects of dispersed land-use activities over space and through time are putting WCT at increasing risk of extirpation.

Native to the Bow and Oldman drainages of the South Saskatchewan River Basin in Alberta, the WCT's range once extended from the upper headwaters of the Bow watershed above Bow Lake in Banff National Park (including the tributaries of the Cascade and Spray Rivers) downstream to the plains below Calgary. In the Oldman, original native range reached from the headwater falls below Cache Creek to the plains and in all of the Oldman's tributaries (Livingstone, Castle, Crowsnest, and Belly Rivers and Willow Creek) (Costello 2006).

Today, populations in the Bow drainage are generally small and restricted to the extreme upper headwaters in the mountain parks and surrounding areas. In Banff National Park the population is found in the Bow River above Lake Louise, in the upper headwaters of some of the Bow River's tributaries (SARA Public Registry 2006), and in isolated alpine lakes (Blank and Clevenger 2008). Genetic analysis currently being conducted will determine where exactly pure populations are in the Bow drainage. In the Oldman drainage, native populations occur in the upper Oldman, Livingstone, and Castle Rivers, uncommonly in the Belly and St. Mary Rivers, and seem to be extirpated from the Crowsnest River. Overall, the existing native populations occur, at most, in 20% of the species' historical range (Costello 2006).

WCT have very strict aquatic habitat requirements and are extremely sensitive to change, especially introduction of non-native species, waterway fragmentation, and water quality and quantity changes as a result of land-use changes within a watershed. Therefore, WCT tend to be more abundant in watersheds or headwater streams with low anthropogenic disturbance (Sestrich 2005).

The majority of remaining habitat for the WCT lies within federal or provincial Crown land. Therefore, protection of this habitat is well within control of federal and provincial managers. Indeed, it is their responsibility to do so in the public interest of protecting Alberta's natural heritage.

Why is legal protection important?

If regulatory action is not taken to manage human disturbances, especially land-use changes in critical habitat zones, the range retraction for WCT in Alberta will continue until populations are too small to sustain themselves.

Stronger regulatory policy and legislation followed by enforcement are necessary to prevent negative impacts from cumulative effects on WCT. Immediate action to move WCT to a Threatened species under SARA and the development of a recovery strategy and implementation plan are critical first steps.

Additionally, emerging Government of Alberta initiatives, including the Land-use Framework and Alberta Environment's proposed Cumulative Effects Management Framework, should specifically identify and protect critical habitats for WCT including surrounding landscapes.

Our first recommendation is for the federal government to establish immediate protection for the WCT. Listing the species as a Threatened species under SARA will create an enforceable prohibition against actions that negatively impact WCT. Alberta manages endangered species through a nonbinding list, the Status of Alberta Wildlife, and through endangered species provisions in Alberta's Wildlife Act (Francis 2000). This nonbinding approach is unlikely to produce significant protection actions in the province without federal support of legal protection.

Once listed under SARA, both levels of government must commit, in compliance with the 1996 National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, to protect habitat of the WCT, to consider its needs in environmental assessment processes, and to develop a recovery plan for the species (Francis 2000).

What action to protect the Westslope Cutthroat Trout?

We recommend several actions for the recovery plan. These recommendations are based on a review of recent literature and discussions with local experts. While they are not an exhaustive list of what is needed to protect this species in perpetuity, they do outline a number of important considerations for first steps.

• Protect and enhance habitat necessary for the WCT.
  To address a key threat, off-highway vehicle activity should be prohibited — due to the habitat damage and downstream sedimentation such activity causes — in areas where there are WCT populations, such as MacLean Creek. Livestock activity on either public or private land should be limited near stream headwaters frequented by WCT populations.

• Introduce no-development zones in alluvial areas around rivers identified as critical habitat.

• Minimize or prohibit peat extraction where it harms downstream fish populations.

• Minimize road construction, or decommission roads, where possible in areas that may harm fish and/or fish habitat.

• Remove or upgrade culverts that prevent upstream and downstream movement of fish.
  However, where studies reveal that there are WCT upstream of a culvert barrier and non-native trout below the barrier, then the barrier should not be removed if the non-native trout pose a threat of hybridization or competition.

• Develop and implement better design standards for road construction to protect habitat in areas of present or potential future WCT range.

• Reduce use of salts and other de-icing chemicals on roads.

• Upgrade or modify dam operations to better mimic natural flow regimes by increasing base flows and incorporating periodic flushing and scouring flows.
  Change in dam operations should also allow for silt and gravel movement and should maintain natural water temperature regimes.

• Prohibit further introduction and spread of non-native species, remove non-native species, and isolate pure populations from hybridization as much as possible.
  
• Study opportunities and implement different strategies for stocking programs in Alberta for genetically pure populations of native WCT.
  
• Minimize angler fishing where harmful to fish populations without a total ban on angling.
  A total ban could result in unscrupulous anglers intentionally introducing rainbow trout into the water body so that resulting hybridization would remove any justification for prohibiting angling while further damaging pure WCT populations. An education and ethics component along with different management strategies could minimize angling pressure on WCT while ensuring anglers' presence prevents poaching. Greater enforcement of angling requirements may be necessary.
• Endorse research that addresses the knowledge gap between terrestrial landscape condition and fish assemblages.

• Include climate change in research and decision-making.
  Climate change will significantly impinge on the WCT's high sensitivity to warmer water.

If the WCT are to have a future in Alberta, the federal and provincial governments must immediately develop and implement an effective recovery strategy and action plan to protect and promote recovery of the species by addressing known threats to the species, identifying critical habitat, and filling gaps in knowledge.

Listing the WCT on the SARA List and implementing a recovery plan are necessary to protect part of Alberta's natural heritage and contribute to healthy aquatic ecosystems.

Sources

Blank, Matt, and Tony Clevenger. 2008. Improving the Ecological Function of the Upper Bow River: Bow Lake to Kananaskis Dam. Prepared for: Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Canmore, Alberta.

Costello, Allan B. 2006. Status of the Westslope Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) in Alberta. Prepared for: Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) and Alberta Conservation Association (ACA). Alberta Wildlife Status Report No. 61.

Francis, W. 2000. Endangered Species Protection in Alberta: "Where's the Beef?" In L. M. Darling, editor. Proceedings of a Conference on the Biology and Management of Species and Habitats at Risk, Kamloops, B.C., 15 — 19 Feb.,1999. Volume One. B.C. Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, Victoria, B.C. and University College of the Cariboo, Kamloops, B.C. 490pp.

SARA Public Registry. 2006. Species profile: Westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) website.

Sestrich CM. 2005. Changes in Native and Nonnative Fish Assemblages and Habitat Following Wildfire in the Bitterroot River Basin, Montana. Thesis (M.S.), Montana State University. 93p.