Due to the large spatial scale involved, nonnative fish were removed from the treatment area in four phases, with each phase treated on at least two separate occasions.  The piscicide (antimycin) was applied at a rate of 10 parts per billion (ppb) to remove rainbow (O. mykiss), brook (Salvelinus fontinalis), and Yellowstone cutthroat (O. c. bouvieri) trout from phases 1 and 2.  Rotenone (50 ppb) was used to eliminate the nonnative trout in phases 3 and 4.  While phases were isolated from recolonization during project implementation by a combination of natural and artificial fish movement barriers, the overall project area is protected from reinvasion by an 8 m waterfall at the downstream end of phase 4.  Piscicide applications were completed in 2010.

Native introductions 

WCT introductions into the phase 1 area were initiated in 2006 using remote stream-side egg incubators.  Introductions were completed in 2012 with the stocking of young-of-year fish into phase 4.  During this time, approximately 37,000 eyed eggs and 8,500 young-of-year fish from multiple wild populations and a hatchery conservation broodstock were introduced.  All temporary fish barriers were removed in 2011 to reconnect the phases.  Post-treatment monitoring documented WCT throughout the project area in 2012 and at least two years of natural reproduction, while finding no remaining nonnative salmonids.  We expect that natural reproduction from these introduced fish will continue to fill the project area until the system’s carrying capacity is reached.

Conservation value

The Cherry Creek project is a significant conservation achievement for WCT on the east side of the continental divide.  This project increases the length of stream occupied by WCT in the Madison River basin from 7 km to over 100 km (or from 0.3% of historical occupancy to almost 5%).  Perhaps more importantly, the success of the Cherry Creek project has catalyzed several other cutthroat trout reintroduction projects in southwestern MT.  It is important to note that due to the large barrier falls, the Cherry Creek project area was historically fishless.  Thus, this project actually represents a novel introduction of WCT to a previously inaccessible area within the subspecies’ historical range.  By providing full- and part-time biological staff, purchasing equipment and chemicals, and cost-sharing agency expenses, Turner Enterprises, Inc. carried over 75% of the project cost.

Education & Awardsesearch

The Cherry Creek project is recognized as a model example of a collaborative conservation effort, receiving a Collaborative Group Award from the MT Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) in 2007, a Collaborative Aquatic Stewardship Award from the USFS in 2010, and a Conservation Achievement Award from the Western Division of AFS in 2011.  This and other cutthroat trout projects were a major reason that Turner Enterprises, Inc./Turner Endangered Species Fund received the President’s Fishery Conservation Award from the National AFS in 2012. 

Education & research
The project has also proved to be fertile ground for education and research.  Five graduate students used different aspects of the project to receive doctoral and master’s degrees.  Numerous undergraduate and high school students worked on the project as volunteer or paid technicians.  Throughout the project, researchers and managers collaborated on project implementation and evaluation, allowing for adaptive improvements and greater efficiency as the project unfolded.  The scope of this project yielded innovative research on genetically moderated survival, growth and dispersal of repatriated cutthroat trout stocks, the impacts of piscicides on non-target organisms; habitat moderated movement of fish in renovated habitats, and the genetic fitness of multiple source stocks.  This research and resulting publications in peer reviewed scientific journals will be invaluable to guide and improve future aquatic conservation efforts.