Posted on May 08 2006
A quarter of all fish in streams in the western U.S. are non-native, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey. What qualifies as “non-native?” Well, according to the Survey’s standards, in the western states that would include brook, brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout, as well as smallmouth and largemouth bass. Sounds confusing (or downright wrong, in the case of the cutthroat and rainbows) until you note that the Survey’s concern is the exctinction of species native to specific streams.