Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited Gives Cutthroats a Hand

A Rio Grande Cutthroat from Alamitos Creek in Northern New Mexico.

Shadows dart back and forth in the cold, clear stream here in the mountains high above the Sipapu ski valley.

They’re native cutthroat trout and their purity and abundance in Alamitos Creek could be essential to the survival of the threatened species.

That’s why the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited (TU) is spearheading an effort to build a barrier to protect the population of 4,000 to 5,000 pure strain Rio Grande cutthroats living in about seven miles of the remote creek.

“They may be one of the best allies the cutthroat has,” says Juan Martinez, fisheries biologist for the Carson National Forest. “They’re instrumental in getting projects like this done.”

Due to budget restrictions, manpower limitations and the nature of the federal bureaucracy, such a project could take years for the Forest Service to implement, Martinez says.

But with assistance from the local TU chapter, funds have already been secured to pay for an environmental analysis this winter and construction late next summer if approved.

“This is a beneficial project with minimal environmental impact so it shouldn’t be a problem,” says Martinez, a Taos native with a Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences degree from New Mexico State University.

A concrete fish barrier on the stream would prevent other non-native trout such as brown or rainbow trout from infiltrating the stream and taking over the habitat.

Alamitos Creek links up with the Rio Pueblo which flows through Peñasco and on down to the Rio Grande.

For years, an aging head gate on an irrigation ditch has helped keep invading trout from moving upstream into cutthroat habitat, but a new barrier is needed to guarantee that doesn’t happen.

Now all that protects the Alamitos Creek purestrain population of cutthroats is a vunerable wooden, irrigation headgate.

The pure strain cutthroats in Alamitos Creek could then provide an infusion of life for other cutthroat streams such as Comanche Creek in the Valle Vidal where an ambitious cutthroat restoration project is underway, says Kirk Patten, fisheries biologist with the state Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF).

Comanche Creek will undergo a second attempt at sterilization this summer to eliminate any non-native fish that remained in about 20 miles of stream after an initial treatment last summer.

The NMDGF then hopes to restock the creek and its tributaries by next summer with pure strain Rio Grande Cutthroats.

The overall plan is to return about 120 to 150 miles of water within the Valle Vidal watershed to exclusive cutthroat habitat.

The Rio Grande cutthroat is the state’s native fish but has seen its historic range reduced to just 10 percent with only 13 core populations left in the state, Patten says.

The colorful trout at one time ranged throughout the entire Rio Grande, Pecos and Canadian rivers watershed area, covering about 6,600 miles of water in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, says Patten.

The population of pure strain cutthroats in Alamitos Creek could prove invaluable in helping the native trout recover.

“It’s very important to the overall status of the restoration effort,” he says.

Eggs from Alamitos Creek cutthroats can be used to raise fry at the state’s exclusive cutthroat hatchery at Seven Springs for eventual restocking in other rivers, creeks and steams.

Some of the cutthroats can also join others stored at McClure Reservoir above Santa Fe to be used as brood stock for future breeding applications.

And others could be directly transplanted into a cutthroat stream to mingle with a resident population and increase genetic diversity, Patten says.

Patten, who coordinates the state’s Rio Grande Cutthroat Recovery Project, agrees that without the help of organizations such as Trout Unlimited some of the recovery project’s goals might be hampered.

“We’re financially challenged on some of these projects,” he said. “It’s a big help to have them come up with funds for this.”

Arnold Atkins, current president of the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said the Alamitos Creek barrier would be the second the organization has raised funds for.

The group helped raised $100,000 needed to construct a new fish barrier on Comanche Creek on Forest Road 1950 near the confluence of Little Costilla Creek last year.

That barrier will keep non-native fish in the Costilla Creek watershed from migrating upstream into the cutthroat restoration area.

Then work started on this latest project, which is considered a top priority.

“This may be one of the largest populations of pure strain cutthroats in the state,” says Atkins, a semi-retired surgeon who grew up in the Española Valley and graduated from Los Alamos High School in 1960. “This was something that could do the most good in the shortest period of time, so we got on it.”

From left to right. Arnold Atkins, President of the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited and John Miera, Carson National Forest's Camino Real District Ranger listen as Juan Martinez, Carson National Forest fisheries biologist, talks on the bank of Alamitos Creek.

The group raised about $7,000 from its members and during its annual banquet which features raffles and auctions.

Then they approached a sister Trout Unlimited chapter in Austin, Texas, the Guadalupe River Chapter, which apparently has plenty of money but little in the way of streams to spend it on and secured another $3,000, Atkins said.

The $10,000 should cover the environmental analysis of the project which is required by law.

A fund has been established, the Rio Grande Cutthroat Restoration Fund, specifically to collect funds to be used for environmental analysis because many granting organizations will not cover these costs, Atkins said.

The Truchas chapter, in conjunction with the Forest Service and state Game and Fish, applied for and received a $50,000 grant from the Western Native Trout Initiative for the barrier’s construction.

“They ranked this as one of their most important projects,” he said.

The estimated to cost of construction is $70,000 to $80,000, Atkins says.

Anyone interested in contributing to the cause can contact the organization through their website at www.truchas-tu.org.


The Rio Grande Cutthroat Restoration Project’s goal is to reduce threats to the state trout’s survival and improve its ability to prosper, says Patten.

Success of the department’s long-range plan would also nullify the need for the trout’s protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Such protection could result in land use and sport fishing restrictions.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) this spring filed notice of its intent to pursue listing of the trout on their threatened or endangered species list.

Success of the reintroduction effort in the Valle Vidal would go a long way towards addressing some of the USFW concerns for listing the trout, says Patten.

Much of the groundwork for that success has already been done, for example, roads have been closed off and in some cases eliminated because they cause excessive runoff and erosion that fouls waters.

Stream banks have been rebuilt and restored with native vegetation to create a healthier environment for fish to thrive. And non-native fish such as rainbow trout and white suckers have been eliminated to allow the Rio Grande cutthroats a clean start in their restored home waters.

Much of that work has involved volunteer groups such as the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited, New Mexico Trout, the Quivera Coalition and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

Meanwhile, high in the mountains above the highway between Peñasco and Mora lies a creek teeming with cutthroats just waiting to play their role in the ongoing recovery effort.


This article was originally published in the print edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican on Aug. 28, 2008.

Valle Vidal Cutthroat Restoration Underway Again

A Rio Grande Cutthroat

State Department of Game and Fish staff are back in the Valle Vidal and Vermejo Park this summer for another shot at sterilizing streams to be restocked later with native Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

Crews in August will be re-treating about 20 miles of Comanche Creek and its tributaries north of the newly installed fish barrier on Forest Road 1950 near the confluence of Little Costilla Creek, said Kirk Patten, fisheries biologist for the state Department of Game and Fish.

Last summer, the creek's fish population underwent unlimited angler harvesting, physical removal through electro-shocking and then an application of the chemical rotenone to poison any remaining fish in an attempt to sanitize the creek for restocking with pure-strain, native, Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

But numerous fish survived the onslaught, requiring yet another attempt to eradicate the last of any remaining non-natives, Patten said.

Patten, coordinator of the state's Rio Grande cutthroat restoration effort, said it is not unusual to require repeated attempts at clearing a stream before it can be declared fit for restocking.

"The hope was we could put fish back in this fall," he said. "But it's more likely we won't stock until next summer."

Anglers this summer will be able to fish for cutthroats in the four-mile stretch of Comanche Creek upstream of the confluence of the Rio Costilla at Comanche Point to the barrier just below the confluence of Little Costilla Creek, Patten said.

"There's plenty of fish in there," he said.

An angler fishes at the confluence of the Rio Costilla and Comanche Creek.

Crews will also be heading back into Ted Turner's Vermejo Park ranch adjacent to the Valle Vidal to re-treat another stretch of stream that had been previously cleared and restocked with what were supposed to have been pure-strain cutthroats.

But after restocking the stream with trout from the state's cutthroat hatchery at Seven Springs, Turner ranch personnel reported finding a cross- breed of rainbow and cutthroat trout known as a "cutbow" inhabiting the stream.

Turner has long pursued his own wildlife conservation and reintroduction efforts on his private ranches and is cooperating with state Game and Fish officials to reintroduce the cutthroat throughout the shared watershed in the Valle Vidal area.

Mike Sloan, chief of the Fisheries Division for the state, told state game commissioners at a November 2007 meeting in Raton that rainbow trout were used to test the Seven Springs Cutthroat Hatchery before it came online and some of those were undetected and apparently got mixed in with the cutthroats delivered to Turner's ranch.

The department has since taken a number of measures to ensure that its brood stock of cutthroat trout remains pure and no more mix-ups occur, Patten said.

The department efforts include keeping a population of its cutthroat brood stock in Santa Fe's protected reservoirs and raising their young at the cutthroat-only hatchery at Seven Springs in the Jemez Mountains.

The effort is part of an ambitious, overall restoration plan to return the state's native fish to its historic ranges, such as the Valle Vidal watershed.

Comanche Creek in the Valle Vidal.

Competition from non-native fish, such as rainbow and brown trout; environmental impacts such as mining, logging and cattle grazing; and human development have reduced the trout's habitat to about 10 percent of its native range with only 13 core populations left in the state.

The state's goal is to reduce threats to the Rio Grande cutthroat trout's survival and improve its ability to prosper, Patten said.

Success of the department's long-range plan would also nullify the need for the trout's protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act, which could result in land-use and sport-fishing restrictions.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May filed notice of its intent to pursue listing of the trout on its threatened or endangered species list.

Success of the reintroduction effort in the Valle Vidal would go a long way toward addressing some of the agency's concerns for listing the trout, Patten said.

Much of the groundwork for that success has already been greatly enhanced by habitat work done on Comanche Creek and the surrounding countryside.

Roads are nearly closed off or, in some cases, roads that cause excessive runoff and erosion that fouls waters have been eliminated.

Stream banks have been rebuilt and restored with native vegetation to create a healthier environment for fish to thrive. And non-native fish such as rainbow trout and white suckers have been eliminated to allow the Rio Grande cutthroats a clean start in their restored home waters.

Much of that work has involved volunteer groups such as the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited, New Mexico Trout, the Quivera Coalition and the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

This article also appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section.

Valle Caldera Opens East Fork of Jemez River to Public Fishing

The Valles Caldera National Preserve has opened the East Fork of the Jemez River to fishing by reservation and for a fee.

The new program is more flexible than the lottery system already in place for those who want to fish the Rio San Antonio on the backside of the sprawling ranch located between Los Alamos and Jemez Springs on State Road 4, says Preserve Manager Dennis Trujillo.

Customers can now spend a day on the front half of the 89,000-acre ranch, stalking trout in about 10 miles of stream including the East Fork of the Jemez River and Jaramillo Creek, he said.

Ten reservation slots are available daily, six for the public and four for preserve-approved guides and the cost to the public is $50 for a day’s access and fishing and $125 for guides’ clients, Trujillo said.

Interested anglers can reserve slots online for a future date or call the preserve at (505) 670-1612 or drop by to see if any slots remain unfilled on any given day.

Fishing is catch and release with barbless hooks, no waders of nets allowed to protect against whirling disease. Pets are not allowed.

Anglers can then hike in and fish anywhere they want on the East Fork of the Jemez River and Jaramillo Creek anytime between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. and will share the water with their fellow anglers.

“It offers more flexibility for the customer,” Trujillo said.

In contrast, the San Antonio fishing program relegates anglers to a “beat” or section of the stream about a mile or so long with no swapping of beats allowed.

Fishing is catch and release with barbless hooks, no waders of nets allowed and a bag limit of five fish.

San Antonio anglers are also ferried to their assigned location on the river and must remain there until picked up by a preserve employee or volunteer.

And San Antonio anglers must arrive by 5:45 a.m. and leave by 2 p.m. They pay $5 per chance to win in the lottery and $25 to fish if they win.

The author and a fishing partner, former Albuquerque Tribune fishing columnist and Rio Grande Sun reporter, Glenn May, were recently granted access to try out the fishing on the ranch formerly known as the Baca.

Purchased by the federal government from the Dunigan family of Texas in 2000 for a little over a $100 million, the preserve is mandated to operate as a working ranch with public access and become self sufficient by 2015.

According to its latest report to Congress the preserve was budgeted $3.5 million in 2007 for operations, earned $750,000 from its recreation and other programs and saw about 12,000 visitors that year.

See the preserves' website at www.vallescaldera.gov for more information about its operations.

Driving through the early morning fog as elk bounded across the gravel road, we couldn’t help but be struck by the beauty of the ranch, its wildlife and scenery.

Coming around a corner as we searched for the headwaters of the East Fork we encountered two bull elk staring us down, their velvet covered racks impressively highlighted by the mist behind them.

At another point a wary coyote ran up a hillside, constantly looking over its shoulder as it headed for safety.

And elk herds hung out in the tree line, gazing down at us before slowly disappearing into the shade.

We never did find the headwaters of the East Fork but we did stumble across little Jaramillo Creek meandering through the tall grass.

And a few casts in a pool by the road produced strikes from one of its residents.
On to the lower East Fork of the Jemez River we choose a stretch between the parking area and the front gate. We felt rushed as menacing thunderclouds loomed overhead and the possibility of lightning advanced.

Fighting through relentless swarms of painful deer flies and eager strikes from chubs sharing this slow moving, shallow stretch of creek, May caught and released a nice, 14-inch rainbow trout while I picked up a smaller version upstream.

Photo courtesy of Glenn F. May.

Trujillo says the stream is chock full of 8- to 12-inch average sized fish with some bigger ones in the lower stretch of the stream and some anglers have reported 50 fish days.

May noted one might have similar luck on other public streams for far less money but concluded it was the scenery that really made it worth the trip.

“This would be a great gift to give someone who loves the outdoors and fishes,” he said.

And perhaps that’s really what makes the Valles Caldera so unique, it’s a special treat to visit and enjoy for a day.


If You Go:

From Santa Fe head north on US84/285 to Pojoaque and take State Road 502 to White Rock and then follow State Road 4 up through the mountains and upon emerging into a great, open area look for the entrance to the preserve on your right, about 65 miles. A much longer but scenic round trip involves heading south on I-25 to Bernalillo and taking State Road 550 west to the State Road 4 turnoff at San Ysidro, passing through Jemez Pueblo, Jemez Springs and La Cueva to the preserve and then heading back to Santa Fe through White Rock and Pojoaque, about 170 miles.

This article also appeared in what was the last edition of the Santa Fe New Mexican's Outdoors section which has since been eliminated along with several other sections as a cost cutting measure.