DENVER — Here in Colorado, we have trout mules … and they aren’t what you think.
The animals are on an uncommon but important mission this summer to haul rare Hayden Creek cutthroat trout to their new home. These are unique fish: They contain genetic markers matching museum specimens collected by early explorers, and are the offspring of trout saved from the Hayden Pass Fire, which burned southwest of Canon City in 2016.
Biologists rescued 158 of those fish before ash could fill the creek and kill them. Their offspring were packed into saddle tanks and brought by mule six miles up a steep trail to Cottonwood Creek in Westcliffe.
“We only had them in the south prong of Hayden Creek, which was the only stream we had those cutthroats in, so they are pretty rare,” said Josh Nehring with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “We’re working to try and get three to five populations on the landscape in the Arkansas River Basin, and hopefully that will protect it from other wildfires and other devastating events.”
Once the mules drop off the fish, the work isn’t totally done.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife hopes to reintroduce the Hayden Creek cutthroat trout to several streams in the Arkansas River Basin.
This is in an effort to make them less vulnerable to extinction in the event of another fire.
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