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Date: Thursday, July 25, 2024 Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov Interior and Commerce Departments Announce $240 Million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda for Fish Hatcheries to Support Pacific Northwest Tribes Cross-agency partnership supports Tribal self-determination, advances accessibility, flexibility and equity for Tribes WASHINGTON — The Departments of the Interior and Commerce today announced a $240 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support fish hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead, underscoring the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to empowering Tribal Nations and fulfilling the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities. Fish hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest support essential subsistence, ceremonial and economic benefits for Tribal communities, as well as fulfilling Treaty-reserved fishing rights. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) will partner with the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to deliver this funding to regional Tribes. Today’s investments build on the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented agreement to restore salmon in the Columbia River Basin and follows the Interior Department’s recently released report documenting the historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes. These investments also further the Biden-Harris administration’s historic progress to empower Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and align with Executive Order 14112, which President Biden signed at the 2023 White House Tribal Nations Summit, requiring federal agencies to take action to ensure that federal funding for Tribes is accessible, flexible, and equitable. By executing these awards through Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act contracts and compacts, the Department will lift a significant administrative burden from the awardee Tribes. NOAA plans to continue building on this partnership with BIA for future work opportunities to address Tribal needs throughout the United States. “Since time immemorial, Tribes in the Pacific Northwest have relied on Pacific salmon, steelhead and other native fish species for sustenance and their cultural and spiritual ways of life,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “This funding will help us deliver historic investments from the President’s Investing in America agenda that will empower Indigenous communities and safeguard resources they have stewarded since time immemorial.” “Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda and commitment to guaranteeing equitable access to federal funding for Tribes, this cross-agency partnership will ensure Tribal communities have the resources they need to sustain Pacific Salmon and Steelhead fisheries that are essential to their economic development,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “There’s also more to be done, and I look forward to working with all Tribes and Congressional champions to find future opportunities to support salmon hatcheries.” Tribal fish hatchery production in the Pacific Northwest benefits subsistence fishers as well as both local and global markets, supporting commercial, subsistence and recreational fishing, tourism and the broader ecosystem from California to Alaska. Millions of fish are produced in Tribal hatcheries each year, driving Tribal employment and subsistence, nutrition for Tribal families, and the preservation of cultural traditions and recreation. As habitat is restored and reconnected to better support natural fish production, hatcheries will remain a critical tool to supplement fish for Tribal and non-Tribal fisheries, as well as other salmon-dependent animals and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. As part of today’s announcement, an initial $54 million is available to 27 Tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska to address current hatchery facility maintenance and modernization necessities, and to support Tribal capacity needs. The remaining funding will be made available competitively to help Tribes address the long-term viability and effectiveness of critical infrastructure for the propagation of Pacific salmon and steelhead.   ###   About the U.S. Department of the Interior The Department of the Interior (DOI) conserves and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people, provides scientific and other information about natural resources and natural hazards to address societal challenges and create opportunities for the American people, and honors the Nation’s trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities to help them prosper. U.S. Department of the Interior | 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC

Brookies and Lake Trout reduction.

The Wyoming Game and Fish is going to poison South Paint Rock Creek in the Big Horns  and close it from July 29 through August 2 in order to remove brook trout in an effort to replace them with cutthroat trout.

It has stated:

CODY- In an ongoing effort to maintain a core conservation population of Yellowstone cutthroat trout on the west slope of the Bighorn Mountains, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department plans to remove brook trout from a section of South Paint Rock Creek later this month. 

In cooperation with the Bighorn National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, fisheries biologists plan to remove brook trout beginning July 30 by treating a 6-mile section of South Paint Rock Creek with rotenone, a chemical used in very small doses that is toxic to animals with gills. The treatment should be completed by August 2.  

South Paint Rock Creek on the west slope of the Bighorns is one of the few remaining Yellowstone cutthroat trout populations in the Bighorn Mountains. “Currently, Yellowstone cutthroat trout occupy 21 miles of habitat secured with a downstream natural barrier,” said Joe Skorupski, Cody region fisheries biologist. “The section of the creek treated will extend the core conservation population 6 miles.”  

On July 30, rotenone drip stations will treat the water for six hours within a 6-mile section of South Paint Rock Creek. From July 29 to Aug. 2, the treatment portion of the creek will be closed to entry.  “As an added safety precaution, we do not want anglers fishing in the area during the week of treatment,” Skorupski said. 

A deactivation chemical will be dispensed immediately upstream of the confluence of Paint Rock Creek for the entire time the rotenone is in the stream.

It's also discussing removing the creel limit on lake trout in Flaming Gorge in order to reduce their numbers, as they compete with Kokanee Salmon that are also in the lake. The lake is in Utah and Wyoming.

Kokanee and Lake Trout are both introduced fish.

Related threads:

Trojan Brookies on Game Creek.

Labels: Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), Char (Salvelinus), Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii), fish, Oncorhynchus, Salmon, Salmonidae, Snake River, Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Trojan Brookies on Game Creek.

The Wyoming Game and Fish has released 3,600 "Trojan" male brook trout in Game Creed, a tributary of the Snake River, in an effort to conserve native cutthroat trout.

Trojan brookies have two Y-chromosomes and can only produce male offspring.

Brook trout, which many Wyomingites assume are a native fish, are not to the Western United States.  For the most part the introduced fish has no negative impact on the waterways in which the are not only in, but are abundant in, but there are exceptions, such as apparently this drainage.

Both fish are members of the Salmonidae family of fish, of which Salmon are prominent members, but cutthroat trout are part of the genus Oncorhynchus, which includes twelve species including Pacific Salmon.  Brook trout, however are chars.

New Wyoming Game and Fish Director.

Governor Gordon Appoints Angi Bruce Director of Wyoming Game and Fish Department

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –Governor Mark Gordon has appointed Angi Bruce Director of Wyoming Game and Fish Department. She becomes the first female director in the agency’s 51-year history, replacing Brian Nesvick, who will retire in September. 

Bruce has served as Deputy Director of the agency since 2019, where she oversees fish and wildlife issues as well as Game and Fish participation in federal planning efforts, among other duties. She has also served as Habitat Protection Supervisor with Game and Fish, where she oversaw wildlife Environmental Reviews for the Director’s office and administered the state’s sage grouse Executive Order review process. Bruce previously spent 17 years with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in multiple capacities. 

“The Game and Fish commission forwarded three exceptionally well-qualified candidates reflecting Wyoming’s commitment to wildlife and our natural resource heritage,” Governor Gordon said. “In her role as Deputy Director, Angi has demonstrated the department’s dedication to protecting our state’s leadership role in science and policy on wildlife issues large and small.”

“I am thrilled for this opportunity. I will build off the incredible work of Director Nesvik to grow partnerships, work with the public, and utilize the Department's dedicated and passionate staff to manage our world class wildlife,” Bruce said. “The job will not be short of challenges. Utilizing our citizens’ shared love of wildlife, I have no doubt we can be successful in tackling them together.”

Bruce was one of three finalists for the position who the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission forwarded to the Governor for consideration.

-END

Gordon had three finalists to pick from, the other two were Rick King, chief of the department’s Wildlife Division, and Craig Smith, deputy chief of the Wildlife Division.  Bruce was working as deputy director since 2019 and had a 17-year career with the Iowa fish and game department before that.

But it isn't the same as a lifelong Wyoming career.

Brian Nesvik, whom she replaces, had started off in the agency as a Game Warden in 1995.

Lex Anteinternet: Elemental activities.

Lex Anteinternet: Elemental activities.: 

Elemental activities.

Indeed, if I had power for some thirty years I would see to it that people should be allowed to follow their inbred instincts in these matters, and should hunt, drink, sing, dance, sail, and dig, and those that would not should be compelled by force. 

Hilaire Belloc