By Greg Fitz/Trout Unlimited
Josh Duplechian/Trout Unlimited Photos
California golden trout have been transplanted across the American West, but the native range of these undeniably beautiful fish is limited to the headwaters of the Kern River in the southern Sierra Nevada in California. Treasured by anglers, golden trout only occupy a small portion of their original home water, much of which is contained within the Golden Trout Wilderness, a protected backcountry part of the Kern Plateau spanning the Sequoia and Inyo National Forests. All of it is above 7,500 feet in elevation.
Within this small remaining geography, golden trout are struggling. The legacies of extensive habitat degradation along with hybridization and competition with nonnative trout have deeply reduced their numbers. Rising temperatures and extended droughts brought about by climate change add compounding threats to already fragile populations of the rare, iconic trout. During the first decade of the 21st century, the federal government weighed listing golden trout as an Endangered Species after Trout Unlimited filed a petition. In California, these fish are designated as a State Species of Special Concern.
The threat of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing was a wake-up call. After years of deliberation, the listing was avoided because the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) made commitments to work with Trout Unlimited and the US Forest Service to create a plan to restore golden trout habitat and recover their populations. Much of this work was built on expanding the existing advocacy, science, and restoration work of the Golden Trout Project, a long-standing collaboration between dedicated Trout Unlimited volunteers, Fly Fishers International (née Federation of Fly Fishers) clubs, CalTrout, the US Forest Service, CDFW, and other regional conservation organizations and volunteers.
The volunteers worked with scientists at the University of California–Davis to identify the remaining strongholds of unhybridized golden trout. They hiked far into the backcountry, taking scale samples of fish they caught and systematically mapping locations throughout the watershed. Elsewhere, they conducted electrofishing surveys, installed and maintained fences to keep livestock away from stream banks, repaired trails, and worked on habitat restoration projects. Key funding from Orvis helped support the effort.
In the years since the ESA petition, the Golden Trout Project has expanded to include a comprehensive, landscape-scale approach to restoration across the remaining native range of California golden trout. With key planning funding provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Jessica Strickland, the director of Trout Unlimited’s California Inland Trout Program, spent years working closely with partners at the CDFW and US Forest Service to identify and prioritize key locations needing restoration, develop extensive monitoring plans, apply for permits, and secure required additional funding. Anabranch Solutions, leaders in low-tech, process-based stream-restoration techniques, developed state-of-the-art restoration plans, and leading meadow ecologists as well as other experts, were recruited to help ground-truth and implement the work. This work is a part of the keystone agreement between Trout Unlimited and the US Forest Service to invest $40 million improving trout and salmon habitat on national forests and national grasslands across the country.
In the summer of 2023, with further support from the State of California and federal investments provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the partners launched the next iteration of the Golden Trout Project as crews moved into the Sierra Nevada backcountry to kick off what is expected to be a decade of restoration and monitoring work spanning 3,000 acres and more than 40 miles of in-stream habitat.
During that time, the Golden Trout Project partners plan on constructing approximately 2,500 Beaver Dam Analogues (BDA) and other structures to slow down the flow of water during spring runoff, reconnect meadow floodplains, and recharge groundwater. In late summer, the stored groundwater provides cold water during the dry season, preventing streams from going dry, stabilizing stream temperatures, and supporting the regrowth of willows and other beneficial streamside vegetation. In the winter, the deep pools created by the BDAs don’t freeze solid, providing crucial sanctuary for fish.
Alongside the restoration work, crews will install temperature loggers and groundwater monitoring wells, take eDNA samples from trout, measure stream banks and vegetation, and conduct electrofishing to rigorously document the improvements to the landscape, water supplies, and golden trout populations. This work happens in remote, high-elevation meadows in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, often many miles from the nearest road. Much of it takes place in designated wilderness, where power tools and motorized vehicles aren’t allowed. Materials and equipment for those locations are carried in by crew members, or hauled by mules and horses, and the work on those sites is done with hand tools like axes, shovels, augers, and sledgehammers.
Trout Unlimited has designated this watershed as one of its national Priority Waters (https://prioritywaters.tu.org/California/). The next decade will be transformational. The Golden Trout Project is dedicated to the vision of rebuilding lush, high-elevation meadow ecosystems fed by cold headwater streams, and a future of thriving California golden trout populations.
