Use of Cft Legumine Rotenone to Restore Native Fish in Yellowstone National Park

Over the past decade, Yellowstone National Park has taken several actions to preserve and restore native fish. Natural bedrock barriers have been improved and manmade barriers have been constructed to protect headwaters from invasion by downstream sources of nonnative trout. Rotenone in the CFT Legumine formulation has been used to remove nonnative trout from 51.1 miles of 4 large stream systems and 49 surface acres of 4 lakes. In addition, nonnative trout are being suppressed via electrofishing 30 miles on large streams, including Slough and Soda Butte creeks. Must-kill angling regulations also serve to suppress nonnative trout in priority waters, including a majority of the Lamar River drainage. Sources of genetically-unaltered Yellowstone cutthroat trout, westslope cutthroat trout, and Arctic grayling have been developed for reintroduction to restored habitats.  Most recently, partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks; Gallatin National Forest; Turner Enterprises; and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service allowed for successful completion of a large-scale rotenone treatment of the Grayling Creek watershed. Reintroduction of westslope cutthroat trout and fluvial Arctic grayling to Grayling Creek will begin in 2015. A Native Fish Conservation Plan / Environmental Assessment describe future actions and an adaptive management strategy for conserving native fish through 2031.