Recovering Summit Lake's Lahontan Cutthroat Trout - Brief Article

For centuries, the Numa (or "People") have relied upon the land and other resources of the northern Great Basin. Numa are better known now as the Northern Paiute (meaning "water over there") Indians. The Numa, taibo ("white people"), and agai ("trout") continue to thank Numanah ("Father of All People and Creator of All Things") for Summit Lake, the "water over there" in this desert region. Summit Lake is home to one of the few remaining native populations of lacustrine or lake-dwelling Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi). This once common fish has not only been a significant food source but also a fundamental part of the Summit Lake Numa culture. It wasn't until 1970, after riparian habitat degradation, water diversion, over-fishing, and the introduction of non-native fishes had taken their toll, that two new words for agai were introduced into the Numa language: "endangered species."

Northwestern Nevada is Lahontan cutthroat trout country and home of the Summit Lake Paiute Indian Tribe. Of all the historic lake habitat occupied by the Lahontan cutthroat, only 0.4 percent supports self-sustaining populations today. Two small native lacustrine populations remain at Independence Lake, California and Summit Lake, Nevada, on the Summit Lake Paiute Indian Reservation. Summit Lake is a terminal lake (no outlet) of approximately 600 surface acres (243 hectares). In 1998, the Summit Lake spawning run was the largest (1,925 adults) since 1980, almost 30 times larger than the Independence Lake spawning run of 65 fish. However, this strength has not always been the case. As early as 1877, the Winnemucca Silver State reported the "wholesale slaughter" of "mountain and salmon trout" at Summit Lake. These reports followed on the heels of the 1865-1871 military occupation of Summit Lake at Camp McGarry. It wasn't until 1913 that the Summit Lake Indian Reservation was set aside by an executive order of President Taft.

In the 1950's, the Nevada Fish and Game Department used stock from Summit Lake for Lahontan cutthroat trout recovery efforts at Pyramid Lake, which had lost its own native trout population. Later, in the 1960's and 1970's, the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) worked together to augment and recover Lahontan cutthroat trout populations in need, including the trout at Summit Lake. This three decade period began with the worst of times for the Summit Lake population but finished with strong recovery efforts. Some poor water years in the 1950's and 1960's magnified problems caused by irrigation withdrawals and grazing damage to riparian habitat. The 1970's was a decade of much change. On the negative side, an illegal introduction of two cyprinid fish species occurred around 1970 or 1971. Most of the change, however, was good: the Summit Lake population was supplemented with hatchery fish; riparian habitat along Mahogany Creek, which flows into Summit Lake, was fenced for protection from grazing; the Bureau of Land Management created the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Natural Area on Mahogany Creek; a permanent fish trap was constructed by the tribe and FWS for monitoring the trout population; and the Nevada Division of Wildlife closed fishing on the public section of Mahogany Creek. In 1975, the FWS reclassified the Lahontan cutthroat trout from endangered to the less critical category of threatened.

The tribe assumed management of its fishery in 1981. As set forth in the tribe's 1981 hunting and fishing ordinance, "it is the policy of the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians to restore, preserve, protect, and perpetuate fish and wildlife resources for the benefit of the Tribe and the Public." Some tough times and the tribe's belief in allowing nature to provide for the fish has led to conservative views in managing this Lahontan cutthroat trout population. The tribe has employed fisheries biologists and tribal members that work within a philosophy that emphasizes natural spawning with as little human intrusion as possible.

The tribe implemented more restrictive fishing regulations in 1977 and 1981. The annual spawning runs have varied from highs of 5,000 fish in 1974 and 1975 to a low of 472 in 1992. The largest runs were likely influenced by fish of hatchery origin: up to 100,000 fry were planted in 1968 and 1970. The smallest run followed drought years. Spawning runs never reached 1,000 fish from 1982 through 1992. This period was dominated by drought years, which hampered trout recovery since the system needed water and time to recover from decades of habitat loss, egg takes, and introduced fishes. However, the tribe's efforts toward habitat protection and restrictive harvest regulations paid off as the Lahontan cutthroat trout quickly responded once sufficient amounts of water and quality habitat returned. The 1998 spawning run numbered 1,925 fish and was followed by 2,400 spawners in 1999.

Despite an overall desire to minimize handling of Lahontan cutthroat trout, the Tribal Council believes there is need for good information and has granted approval for its Fisheries Program to use passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags in a study of fish survival, growth, and movement. However, the extent to which we research and understand Summit Lake's Lahontan cutthroat trout population will be limited somewhat by how much money is available from private sources. Federal funding that has long supported monitoring activities may not keep up with needs of the fishery. While maintaining habitat quality in times of land use development, we need to learn more about the trout's growth, spawning mortality, repeat spawning in successive years, interactions with other fish species, and lake productivity. This information is important if we are to be successful in "restoring, preserving, protecting, and perpetuating" the fisheries resouce.