Historic Range: This native, subspecies of cutthroat trout is generally believed to have inhabited all cool waters in the Rio Grande watershed, including the Chama, Jemez and Rio San Jose river drainages. It is likely to also have been in the cooler waters of the Pecos and Canadian river drainages.

Habitat Requirements: Clear, cold water, with substrate of cobbles and low levels of silty sediment. Well vegetated, shaded stream banks and diverse stream channels with deep pools.

Threats: Habitat loss from improper livestock grazing,water diversions, excessive logging, road building and urban or agricultural development have all contributedto population decline. Introduction of exotic rainbow and brown trout and their hybridization with cutthroat have also had a huge impact on recovery efforts. Naturally occurring phenomena such as drought, fire and freezing can adversely affect small, isolated populations of cutthroat. With small population size the loss of genetic diversity and population fluctuations present problems.

Current population status: Several stable populations of restored Rio Grande cutthroat trout exist along with dozens of isolated natural populations. These restored populations in small headwater streams will be monitored for years to come. Rio Grande cutthroat trout exists in about 11 percent of their historic range in New Mexico

Natural History: Native Americans were familiar with the Ping P’aa, or mountain fish. The first writ-ten record of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout ap-peared around 1539, with the arrival of the Span-ish in the New World. The Rio Grande cutthroat trout is the first trout in North America mentioned in writing. In 1541, Pedro de Castañeda Najera, a member of Coronado’s expedition, wrote of, “a little stream which abounds in excellent trout and otter.” Historians believe that Glorieta Creek, southeast of Santa Fe, was the stream referred to.

Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout(Oncorhynchus clarki viriginalis)

Ping P’aa, or “Mountain Fish” to the Santa Clara Pueblo Indians

Sport Fish Restoration ActA simple act of Congress passed in 1950 forever changed the face of fisheries management and conservation. The Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act embodies the user pay-user benefit concept. An-glers pay excise and import taxes on fishing tackle, motor boat fuel and boats. In turn, state fish and wildlife agencies, including the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, receive funds managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. States must match money with staff time, volunteer hours and donations of goods and services.

In 2009 the Sport Fish Restoration Act brought into the Dept over $7 million to benefit sport fish restoration efforts and aquatic resource education.

Money is used to improve sport fish habitat, hire fisheries biologists and for teaching aquatic ecology, conservation ethics and fishing skills. It also funds education materials like this poster!

The Sport Fish Restoration Act is a real partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state wildlife agencies, the fishing tackle and boating industries and the anglers and boaters who keep it going by paying excise taxes in the first place.

If you would like to volunteer your time to teach youth fishing skills or aquatic ecology contact the Department at (505) 476-8000.

What is a watershed? Think of a watershed as a large bathtub. When a water drop falls anywhere in that bathtub it eventually finds its way to the drain. Any water that falls on the edge of the bathtub might go inside or it could spill out onto the floor. The bathtub defines the edge of the watershed.

Out on the land the edge of a watershed could be the steep edge of a mountain side. Or it could just be the highest point of a low hill behind your house. A watershed is simply the area of land that catches snow and rain and drains it to rivers, ponds, streams, lakes and wetlands.

Watersheds come in many shapes and sizes. They can be as large as the water that fills the Rio Grande (that would be one giant bathtub!) or as small as the little arroyo in your neighborhood park. Watersheds are everywhere. There are over 2,100 watersheds in the continental United States.

Everyone lives in a watershed. Fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and all wildlife live in a watershed. Watersheds connect people, wildlife and our shared habitat. You and everyone else in the watershed can have an important role in maintaining the health of the watershed.

How we treat the soil, water, plants, fish and other animals impacts us all. We all live downstream.

To keep our watersheds healthy:

l Put all trash and yard waste (including waste from your cats and dogs) into landfill cans. Never dump anything down storm drains.

l Use rain barrels or rain catchment ponds to conserve rain water on your property.

l Try to keep rain from running off into the street. Point downspouts from roof’s onto a garden or grassy area. Use a rain barrel to capture rainwater in dry climates.

l Plant native trees, shrubs and grasses in your yard. This will cut down on any lawn chemicals entering the watershed.

l Wash cars in a grassy area or at a professional car wash that filters wastewater.

l Learn about local watershed associations and how to volunteer to keep waterways clean or to restore native plant communities.

These web sites can help

www.Allaboutwatersheds.orgwww.truchas-tu.orgwww.epa.gov/adopt

www.pecoswatershed.org

WHAT IS A WATERSHED? The Mountain StreamA Macroinvertebrate Story

Cold, clean and well-oxygenated water in the right amount creates healthy habitat for diverse macroinvertebrate populations. What factors contribute

to making and keeping streams cold, clean and rippling with dissolved oxygen? Most cold water streams are in mountainous regions flowing to valleys below.

These streams have some deep holes, some long straight runs and S-shaped meanders through green meadows. Over time, the bottom or substrate of cold mountain streams are shaped by moving waters as boulders, rocks and pebbles get tumbled and mixed. As water moves down stream, sand and gravel settle out to provide ideal substrate habitat for macroinvertebrates to thrive and for fish to spawn. The churning waters mix in oxygen that breathes life into the water. This dissolved oxygen is used by gill-breathing insects and fish.

Growing along healthy streams, thickets of willows and alders shade the rushing waters. Blue spruce and bog willows are found along streams in the Sangre de Cristo range and other areas in the Rocky Mountains. Mosses, ferns and watercress grow near the spray of waterfalls. Collectively, these plant communities are known as riparian areas.

In autumn, falling leaves drop into the swirl of mountain waters. As these leaves decay with the help of bacteria, tiny shredders swim along and eat them. These little macroinvertebrates include stoneflies, crane flies, caddisflies, scuds, and small crustaceans. Then, larger predators, such as diving beetles, dragonfly nymphs and minnows stalk and eat the smaller invertebrates. Trout join in this aquatic food web and devour minnows, dragonflies, caddisflies and stoneflies.

Riparian trees and shrubs shade the streams, keeping the waters cool. Trout that thrive in cool waters spawn as the female trout gather over gravel along the bottom to lay their eggs. Female trout lay their eggs in the gravel bottoms of streams. Male trout then fertilize the eggs. The cool, clean water provides critical habitat for the hatchlings as they grow through the larval and juvenile stages to become adult trout.Such healthy streams support healthy trout

populations such as Rio Grande cutthroat trout, the New Mexico state fish. Healthy streams, rivers and lakes provide food and recreation for people. Many anglers like to fish for trout using artificial flies that mimic the real insects that begin their lives in the water. A few popular flies that can be tied for trout fishing include black alder (alderfly), blue damsel (damsel fly), pheasant tail (mayfly emerger), and partridge yellow (caddis pupa).

As people enjoy outdoor recreation and fishing along mountain streams and lakes, they can also help keep these habitats clean and healthy. It is important to camp and wash dishes at least 200 feet away from the streams. The edges of streams are very fragile places. When riparian plants are destroyed or trampled, the soil cannot stay in place and silt flows into the water, irritat-ing the gills of insects, amphibians and fish.

Light is blocked that growing algae need. As life decays, the oxygen levels are reduced, the water becomes warmer and the sensitive aquatic community of insects and trout can be literally choked out. If such problems occur upstream, effects will show up in aquatic communities downstream.

www.wildlife.state.nm.us

YOU CAN HELPPeople can help restore and protect aquatic habi-tats. To find out more about what you can do to conserve trout habitat, look at the resources below.

New Mexico Trout www.newmexicotrout.org

Truchas chapter Trout Unlimited www.truchas-tu.org

Mesilla Valley Flyfishers www.mvff.org

San Juan Fly Fishing Federationwww.sisjfff.org

Leave No Trace, Center for Outdoor Ethicswww.lnt.org

NM Forest and Watershed Restoration Institutewww.nmfwri.org

Aquatic Invasive Species TaskforcePreventing, controlling aquatic invasive species

www.anstaskforce.gov

Paid for By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Sportfish Restoration Act and funds from New Mexico TroutWritten Content By: Colleen Welch & Kevin HolladayDesign By: Lance CherryPhotos By: Lance Cherry, Dan Williams & Mark GruberMartin Multipliers™ Reel Image Provided By Zebco Brands, a W.C. Bradley Co.