Feds back off Silver King Creek poisoning plan

Federal attorneys withdrew a challenge to a judge’s ruling against plans to restore one of America’s rarest trout by poisoning a remote Sierra stream, a move conservationists are calling a victory but which federal officials characterize as but another development in a lengthy dispute over a project they still intend to pursue.

The government was considering appeal of a September ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Frank Damrell Jr. granting an injunction blocking plans to poison an 11-mile stretch of Silver King Creek to remove unwanted fish and replace them with threatened Paiute cutthroat trout.

LINK (Via: RJG )

The Paiute cutthroat trout is native only to Silver King Creek, which is a tributary of the Carson River in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. It is believed that the Paiute evolved from a sub-population of Lahontan cutthroat trout that became isolated in the creek. Pauites have a purple coloration, and they are distinguished from other cutthroat species because they lack most body spots.

It is a federally listed threatened species.

LINK (Via: Western Native Trout Initiative)