Conservation Group Wants To Prevent Bull Trout Listing

In an unusual reversal of roles, an Idaho conservation group wants the state to work out a way to prevent bull trout from being listed as an endangered species.

The timber-sale-dependent Idaho Department of Lands, conversely, figures an endangered species listing might be better than agreeing to the recovery blueprint.

Environmental groups asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the bull trout as endangered species more than a year ago. The native trout is considered a prime indicator of water quality and is rapidly declining in the region, they say.

Last June, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed the listing was warranted. But the agency said there are several other endangered species in greater need of federal protection. That will have to be reviewed again next June with a possible decision to make the bull trout another federally protected fish.

Some environmental groups have sued to force the listing. Both former Gov. Cecil Andrus and current Gov. Phil Batt asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make sure that does not happen.

So the Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho Fish and Game, Bureau of Land Management and the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality worked out a plan to bring back the fish. The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will vote on the plan Thursday.