A project to remove rainbow trout from more than 40 miles of Buffalo Creek in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness could begin in August. The project is logistically challenging, requiring gear to be helicoptered in and the use of motorboats and sprayers to kill fish in Hidden Lake and meadows. Once the nonnative fish are killed, the creek will be replanted with native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Biologists estimate it will take about five years to complete all of the work. The project is important to Yellowstone National Park because Buffalo Creek is a source of nonnative rainbows into the Slough Creek drainage. Rainbow trout will interbreed with cutthroats. The high mountain habitat will also provide a cool refuge for native cutthroat as the climate warms.
To read more about the project, check out my story at https://billingsgazette.com/outdoors/.
Written by Brett French | Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette
