{"id":823393,"date":"2026-07-24T16:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823393\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T16:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T16:13:11","slug":"parks-canada-works-to-protect-threatened-westslope-cutthroat-trout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/823393\/","title":{"rendered":"Parks Canada works to protect threatened westslope cutthroat trout"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A black milk crate is carefully placed into the fast flowing waters of Helen Creek in the back country of Banff National Park.<\/p>\n

The crate is stacked with red blocks that look like Lego \u2014 known as Jordan-Scotty incubators \u2014 which are full of thousands of westslope cutthroat trout eggs.<\/p>\n

The crate is engulfed by the glacier-fed water. The trout need cold mountain water to survive and thrive.<\/p>\n

Not all of the eggs will become fully grown adult fish, but those that do will be part of Parks Canada\u2019s long-term project to restore the threatened species to the national park\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Once a mainstay in the Canadian Rockies, now they only live in about 10 per cent of their traditional territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir populations and distributions have been pretty decimated on the landscape,\u201d said Brad Stitt, the native trout restoration project manager for Parks Canada’s Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field unit. \u201cThese fish are imperilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABrad Stitt, an aquatics expert with Parks Canada, places westslope cutthroat trout eggs in Helen Creek in Banff National Park. Parks Canada is reintroducing westslope cutthroat trout in multiple mountain lakes and creeks to help the threatened species. (Greg Colgan\/CBC)Project showing success in helping threatened fish<\/p>\n

In the first half of the 20th century, non-native fish like brook trout, rainbow trout and Yellowstone cutthroat trout<\/a> were introduced to areas of the national park for fishing.<\/p>\n

The non-native fish competed with westslope cutthroat trout for food, leading to its population decline and the species being listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act.<\/p>\n

Parks Canada began working on plans in 2011 to revive the trout species. It began removing non-native fish using rotenone \u2014 a natural fish poison \u2014 over a multi-year period starting with Hidden Lake in 2018.<\/p>\n

Shelley Humphries, an aquatic specialist with the field unit, said Hidden Lake is seeing a successful return of westslope cutthroat trout.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go up there now, you can see fish all over the lake. \u2026 You can see them in the streams and it\u2019s been excellent. We\u2019re expecting to have that same situation here [Helen Creek] in a few years,\u201d said Humphries.<\/p>\n

After confirming non-native fish were removed, Parks Canada staff began a four-year process<\/a> of adding westslope cutthroat trout eggs each year to get different age classes for a \u201csmooth continuous flow of eggs and adult fish reaching maturity,\u201d said Stitt.<\/p>\n

This year, Parks Canada placed about 10,000 eggs in multiple locations in Helen Creek, with similar numbers planned for Margaret Lake this summer. They join other areas like Cascade Creek, Katherine Lake and Little Herbert Lake.<\/p>\n

Humphries said it\u2019s Parks Canada\u2019s mandate to protect ecological integrity, and \u201cwe don\u2019t let species go without a fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WestslopeParks Canada staff take part in putting westslope cutthroat trout eggs in Helen Creek in Banff National Park. Parks Canada is reintroducing the threatened species in multiple mountain lakes and creeks. (Greg Colgan\/CBC)Reviving, protecting local ecosystems<\/p>\n

Grizzly bears, wolves and cougars may get more publicity, but fish are equally critical to maintaining the area\u2019s ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Westslope cutthroat trout can be food for bears and birds. They also eat bugs and other fish.<\/p>\n

Stitt said westslope cutthroat trout are also an \u201cindicator species\u201d that allows Parks Canada to monitor if there\u2019s changes to the water.<\/p>\n

Preliminary work is ongoing by Parks Canada to do similar projects for bull trout<\/a> in the area of Moraine Lake.<\/p>\n

Parks Canada has two options for returning fish to their natural habitat.<\/p>\n

They can take adult fish from other water bodies to the new areas; or they can collect eggs, fertilize them on-site, use a mobile hatchery that looks like a large cooler and incubate the eggs.<\/p>\n

The latter is the more successful option, though it takes considerably more work.<\/p>\n

The project will be about two decades from start to finish to help the trout species return to its territorial waters. <\/p>\n

If westslope cutthroat trout grow to one day be removed from the threatened species list, Stitt was clear about his plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it happened in my lifetime, it\u2019d be so rewarding. I\u2019d definitely crack some champagne and shed some tears,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\"PeopleParks Canada staff use a turkey feather to prepare westslope cutthroat trout eggs to be placed in Helen Creek in Banff National Park. (Greg Colgan\/CBC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-823393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}