Return of the Greenbacks

A DNA study published in 2012 revealed the greenback cutthroat trout that had been stocked in Colorado were actually hybridized with other cutthroat trout species, and only one pure-strain greenback population still existed, in Bear Creek near Colorado Springs. Since then, efforts have focused on establishing a broodstock.  Recently the first batch of fingerlings were released in Zimmerman Lake, in northern Colorado. Read more and see photos from the release day, in a recent post from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.