NMTU Asks State to Up Funding for Cutthroat

Recently, the New Mexico Council of Trout Unlimited sent a letter requesting that Governor Richardson provide additional funding to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for the purpose of increasing the restoration efforts on the RIo Grande cutthroat trout (RGCT).

With the recent decision by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to add our state fish to the Endangered Species list, we feel that it is imperative that we get more populations of the fish restored while it is still a candidate species.  With the current backlog, the RGCT will likely remain on the candidate list – and not by officially listed – for a few years.  This means we have some time to get work done before the impacts of listing on water and resource use are implemented.

But we must act now.  These projects take a lot of time, money and effort to complete.

The NMTU letter was one of the subjects discussed at the July 23rd Game Commission meeting in Las Vegas.  It was also the subject of an article in the Albuquerque Journal North (subscription required).

We hope that the state will take to heart our concerns that a much stronger effort must be made to restore the RGCT.  If it’s not done now, the negative impacts could be much worse in a few years when the USFWS actually lists the fish.

Remembering the Rio Grande Cutthroat

The Santa Fe New Mexican has an article today about the city council commissioning a $100,000 piece of sculpture, depicting 27 leaping cutthorats that will be constructed outside the new convention center.

My big question is, why is it we can commission art to celebrate our state fish, yet we can’t seem to get a living, breathing river right here in downtown Santa Fe?  Wouldn’t it be nice to have some real, live cutthroats in the Santa Fe River in addition to the granite ones outside the convention center?

While we honor our state fish in stone, we have a gaping eyesore through the middle of town only a couple blocks away.