- Utah Division of Wildlife Resources biologists introduced 2,258 Bonneville cutthroat trout into Beus Creek.
- The stocking aims to establish wild populations of Utah's state fish in small creeks.
- Conservation efforts include stocking other Wasatch Front creeks with cutthroat trout over 15 years.
Have you ever considered carrying a backpack containing a heavy-duty trash bag filled with five to six gallons of water, weighing approximately 60 pounds, up one of the steep Wasatch Front canyon trails? Sounds like the training regimen for an ultra-trail athlete preparing to run hundreds of miles in the mountains.
Would it surprise you to find out that this is exactly what biologists from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources do to introduce small Bonneville cutthroat trout into some of the small creeks along the Wasatch Front in efforts to hopefully establish wild populations of Utah's state fish?
At the end of October, division biologists introduced 2,258 Bonneville cutthroat trout, just a little over 3 inches, into Beus Creek in Weber County.
"We loaded fish and water into heavy-duty trash bags placed inside backpacks and used battery-powered aerators to keep the fish happy while we hiked up the trail as fast as we could," said Matt McKell, a biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, whose job is to protect cutthroat trout in northern Utah.
"Yes, they're heavy with 5 to 6 gallons of water and around 400, 3-inch cutthroat, totaling about 60 pounds or so," said McKell, adding, "The hips feel it!"
One might ask: Why would the Wildlife Resources plant such a small creek with small Bonneville cutthroat trout? Did Bonneville cutthroat trout inhabit Beus Creek historically?
"While I'm not aware of any historical record, I would be surprised if cutthroat trout did not occupy Beus Creek at some time(s) in the past," McKell said. "It is a perennial stream with decent flows and fairly good habitat, at least in the canyon."
Good habitat for trout would include clean, cold, well-oxygenated water and food sources, according to McKell.
"Beus and other small creeks support good aquatic insects, and although we haven't conducted invertebrate samplings at Beus, I would expect to find the three major indicators of clean, cold water: mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies, as well as others that are sensitive to pollution or other water quality issues."
Historically, larger rivers along the Wasatch Front, like the Ogden, Weber and Provo rivers, held cutthroat trout.
"I'm sure that prior to modern settlement and subsequent damming and diverting of streams, there was a good, unobstructed connection between Beus Creek and Burch Creek, and ultimately the Weber River, too, which would have held a source of cutthroat trout for its tributaries. Granted, there are steep portions of Beus Creek in the canyon that fish may not have been able to ascend, but I'm sure cutthroat occupied all accessible habitat, at least until a landslide or high flow event pushed them out, which has happened in other steep canyons along the Wasatch Front," said McKell.
Beus Creek has been on the radar as a possible creek for introducing Bonneville cutthroat for several years, he said. Sometime around 2009, Beus Creek was surveyed and found to be void of fish. This made it a good candidate for Bonneville cutthroat. The timing and availability of cutthroat, as well as other factors, aligned to place them in Beus Creek this fall.
"The hatchery had some extra fish. There was a recent change in the status of Bonneville cutthroat trout that made it easier to stock now than it was previously; it was the right time of year for my work schedule, and I was able to receive rapid approval from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources administration, McKell said.
The small cutthroat trout were stocked strategically throughout the creek, starting at about ΒΌ mile above the trailhead and up the creek about 1.5 miles.
"I especially wanted to put them upstream of the waterfall that's about a mile up, so they'd have access to the good habitat upstream," he said.
When asked about fishing opportunities on Beus Creek, McKell pointed out that "Beus Creek will be a real challenge to fish."
With lots of tree cover, brush and streamside vegetation, finding a place to drop or cast a line would be near impossible, and probably not much fun. The creek will be open to fishing, but that is not the reason the cutthroat were stocked.
"The stocking of cutthroat trout in Beus Creek is intended as a conservation measure to increase the distribution (number of occupied streams/miles) on the landscape, even if it ends up as only a small population of small fish. I expect the average size of those cutthroats to reach somewhere around 6 inches," said McKell.
It was remnant populations of Bonneville cutthroat and Lahontan cutthroat found in small creeks and streams in the Deep Creek Mountains (Bonneville cutthroat) and Pilot Peak Mountain (Lahontan Cutthroat) that saved and bolstered the numbers and conservation efforts of these two trout species.
Lahontan cutthroat trout from the Pilot Peak Mountain creek is a particularly interesting find. Thought to be near extinction if not extinct, the Lahontan cutthroat discovered in 1977 in that small Pilot Peak Mountain creek helped save the Lahontan.
"The Pilot Peak fish were then used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their development of the propagation program in place today to reestablish Lahontans in Pyramid Lake and the Truckee River," said McKell.
He noted that Beus Creek in Weber County is not the only creek stocked with small Bonneville trout along the Wasatch Front as part of this conservation effort.
The stocking of cutthroat trout in Beus Creek is intended as a conservation measure to increase the distribution in the landscape, even if it ends up as only a small population of small fish.
–Matt McKell, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
"During the past 15 years, we've stocked cutthroat trout into several similar streams in Davis County, including Mill, Stone, Barnard, Ricks, Steed and Holmes creeks, all in the name of conservation. At least a few of them now support self-sustaining populations of Bonneville cutthroat trout."
When asked about other efforts to preserve, propagate and protect Utah's state fish, McKell mentioned another small Weber County creek in the canyon just north of Beus Creek Canyon.
"Burch Creek currently sustains a wild population of small rainbow trout in the canyon, which I'm sure were stocked decades ago. I've been thinking about stocking cutthroat in the canyon upstream of the rainbow section sometime in the near future."
Hopefully, the efforts to establish wild, self-sustaining populations of Utah's state fish in the steep creeks along the Wasatch Front will be successful and provide sanctuaries for these fish.
Who knows, perhaps as you hike along one of these beautiful small creeks and stare into a small plunge pool or riffle of water, you will get a glimpse of a small, beautiful cutthroat trout.
