CATRON COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE)- It wasn’t your typical rescue operation as a helicopter airlifted 78 Gila trout to safety after the Sacaton fire scorched nearly 10 thousand acres of the Gila Wilderness.
The Gila trout lives nowhere else in the world, but the Gila Wilderness and was one of the first fish species to ever be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
“Ttoday, they’re listed as threatened mostly due to this habitat loss from large wildfires but also competition and hybridization with nonnative trout,” said Dan Trujillo, a Gila trout biologist with the New Mexico Department of Wildlife.
Trujillo and his crew raced to evacuate the trout from Iron Creek, home to one of the species’ most genetically diverse populations.
“Iron Creek holds what we call a relic lineage and those are the remnants of a population that used to be much larger,” he said.”It represents Gila trout as a whole fairly well and so in order to maintain the genetic health of this lineage, we decided to go collect these fish before the population was potentially lost.”
Trujillo said the mission was launched as a precaution in case ash or sediment from the fire degrades Iron Creek, causing both short- and long-term impacts to the ecosystem.
“This is one small project that is in the broader scope of conservation for the species.”
Trujillo says the uniquely-bronze-finely-spotted trout once thrived throughout coldwater streams across the Gila watershed, but that is not the case anymore.
He said they now mostly live in isolated pockets in high headwater areas and a couple of large streams.
The rescued group will now breed at the Mora National Fish Hatchery, where biologists hope their offspring will eventually be released back into the wild.
Trujillo said the trout is a part of New Mexico’s natural landscape.
“As long as there have been trout in the Gila there have been Gila trout. They’re pretty special.”
Trujillo said while these types of operations can often be stressful on fish, not a single one perished.