Rare California trout species returns to native habitat
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For the first time in nearly a century, a California trout species will swim in a mountain creek that is its native habitat — a milestone that conservationists hope will lead to a thriving population and removal of its threatened status.
About 30 Paiute cutthroat trout will be plucked Wednesday from Coyote Valley Creek in the eastern Sierra Nevada and hauled in cans strapped to pack mules about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) west into Long Valley.
State and federal researchers will be on hand as the fish are dumped into a stretch of Silver King Creek at around 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) elevation, where the shimmering species glided through the cold water for thousands of years before starting to disappear in the 1920s.
The homecoming is the culmination of decades of restoration and conservation work.
