Reviving Threatened Trout in Banff National Park

0:00Parks Canada crews in the Lake Louise Yoho and Kootenay area are set to release West Loeb Cutthroat trout into Margaret Lake and a few other spots. In Banff National Park this spring, this native fish got listed as threatened back in 2013 under Canada's Species at Risk Act and now they're pushing to bring it back to its old homes in these mountain lakes. The trout's range shrank to less than 10% of what it used to be over a century ago thanks to non-native brook and rainbow trout stocked for, fishing, plus climate change and invasive diseases. Those outsiders muscled in on food sources like bugs and smaller fish, throwing the whole water system out of balance. Park staff and park leaders are pumped about this, calling it a big win for conservation. They say healthy trout populations feed grizzly bears and birds of prey and serve as a key sign of strong ecosystems that benefit everything from wildlife to us humans. To make it happen, teams first clear out the invasive fish from target lakes, a step they

1:02mapped out around 2018 or 2019. Then they stock pure local trout, either by moving adults from driving spots or hatching eggs on site and mobile quarantine setups to cut risks, both methods have worked well in Canada and the U.S. With projects already succeeding at places like Hidden Lake and Cascade Creek, this keeps building resilient habitats across the parks. Officials are drafting a 10-year plan for 23 at-risk species, aiming to lock in these gains for future generations. That's the story for today. Canada News Today, Driven by AI