The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed the 5-year status review and a Species Status Assessment for bull trout in the lower 48 states, recommending no change to the current threatened listing status of the bull trout under the Endangered Species Act.
The agency says the recommendation follows “a thorough review of the best available science informed by an independently peer-reviewed Species Status Assessment.”
The ESA requires the Service to review the status of threatened and endangered species every five years to determine whether they are receiving the appropriate level of protection. The bull trout 5-year status review is informed by a peer-reviewed Species Status Assessment, which includes the best available scientific information to assess the species’ current needs, conditions, and threats, and models of future scenarios. This analysis involved significant contributions from bull trout working groups comprised of scientific experts from federal, state, and Tribal agencies; a Tribal-specific review; as well as an independent peer review.
Progress toward recovering bull trout has been made through close partnerships with local, state, federal, and Tribal agencies since the original listing of the coterminous U.S. population in 1999, says USFWS.
“This work among recovery partners is a significant factor in the species not being recommended for listing as endangered. However, considerable challenges remain to recover the bull trout, resulting in the recommendation to continue its listing as Threatened. The science has indicated that an increase to current levels of bull trout conservation is needed to stabilize future viability, and remaining threats, such as climate impacts, past and current habitat threats, and expanding distribution of non-native fishes. The Service looks forward to continuing bull trout conservation alongside partners at local, state, Tribal, and federal agencies to fully recover the species.”
Bull trout are distributed from coastal Alaska and western Canada, south to the Pacific Northwest, and east to portions of the middle and northern Rocky Mountains. Within the United States portion of the range, bull trout are currently known to occur in the Columbia and Snake River basins, the Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula coastal basins, and the Saint Mary and Upper Klamath River basins. At the time of listing in 1999, bull trout in the United States, although still widely distributed in portions of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada, were considered to be in widespread decline.
The status assessment says “the challenges of targeting, funding, and executing more conservation across the range and the uncertainty in whether climate change impacts will be limited to moderate levels suggest that it is unlikely that bull trout viability will increase beyond current levels.”
See the status review here. https://ecosphere-documents-production-public.s3.amazonaws.com/sams/public_docs/species_nonpublish/19548.pdf
Also see:
–CBB, August 18, 2020, USFWS BiOp For Listed Bull Trout, Kootenai River Sturgeon Included In Columbia/Snake EIS Details Needed Conservation Measures