Despite growing up in southwest Montana—and to the alarm of my father—I could count the number of fish I’ve caught in my lifetime on one hand. Until recently, that is. I joined a group of GYC staff in late September on a volunteer brook trout removal mission in Paradise Valley with partners Trout Unlimited and Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. My fish tally exploded.

Brook trout, native to the American Northeast, were introduced in my home state in the late 19th Century and were extensively stocked through the mid-1900s, according to Montana’s state library. “Brookies,” as they are often called, typically favor small, cold streams and ponds, the same habitat as native Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

Therein lies the problem: native trout are in steep competition with nonnatives for habitat and resources. Right now, the Yellowstone cutthroats are losing.

Yellowstone cutthroat trout, native to the Yellowstone and Snake river drainages, once occupied habitat in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and slivers of Nevada and Utah. Myriad factors have created a reduced and fragmented distribution of this crucial building block in the ecosystem’s food web. Grizzly bears, river otters, more than 50 species of bird, and many others rely on Yellowstone cutthroat trout as a food source.

Brook trout play into the complex existence of native trout as, in the first two years of life, they out compete Yellowstone cutthroats, making it hard for the natives to survive and thrive.

Alright, back to fishing. We met partners in a grassy meadow through which the spring-fed Mill Creek meanders, little more than a stone’s throw from Yellowstone’s northern border. The stream has been the target of this work for the last few years as the cold, mellow water is great spawning habitat for trout.

On a sunny fall morning, clad in waders and holding nets, we moved through the narrow, slow-moving stream alongside TU staff wielding an oversized backpack and long pole. The set up is for electrofishing, a practice that uses a mild electric current to temporarily shock fish so we could scoop them into nets and gently plop them into buckets.

After the fish were collected, TU staff “worked” the fish, which largely consisted of identifying species—we caught brook, Yellowstone cutthroat, and rainbow trout, alongside a few cutthroat-rainbow hybrids and some small sculpin—measuring, and recording the fish. Brookies were removed, and the others were returned to the water.

It feels a bit unnatural removing fish, although I imagine it felt that way when brook trout were dropped into Montana lakes from the bellies of airplanes or packed into rivers on the backs of livestock. While the latter was for human benefit, this project truly is for native fish. The Yellowstone cutthroat is a species of concern in Montana, denoting threats of declining population, habitat, and limited distribution. Increasing water temperatures across the ecosystem will provide native fish with challenge enough—the least we can do is try to give the cutthroats a fighting chance.

If you’re interested in supporting the Greater Yellowstone Coalition’s climate resiliency and native fish work, please consider giving a gift today. Thank you for all you do for this remarkable ecosystem!

—Julia Barton, Communications Associate (Bozeman, Montana)