Batt Presses Case Against Listing Governor Says Bull Trout Don’t Need To Be On Endangered List

Gov. Phil Batt has stepped up his campaign to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service there is no need for a federal endangered species listing to protect Idaho’s bull trout.

“Over the next two years, Idaho’s bull trout will be receiving more and more attention as I implement additional restoration efforts,” Batt wrote Friday in a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Clark.

He urged Clark to give “due consideration to the state’s actions prior to any listing decision on the bull trout.”

The governor’s letter, which was delivered to Clark by Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Steve Mealey at a meeting in Portland also announced three new projects aimed at saving bull trout and protecting their habitat.

The projects include:

Building a fish ladder to help bull trout migrate above Kirby Dam on the Upper Middle Fork of the Boise River near Atlanta;

Reducing the number of non-native, competing lake trout in Upper Priest Lake and brook trout in Crooked River;

Removing culverts and other migration barriers in the Boise River and Panhandle basins.

Batt said initial estimates indicate the projects will cost the state $150,000, which he has requested from the Legislature.

The governor issued his overall bull trout recovery plan in July 1996 and has vowed to complete an assessment of all the problems contributing to the fish’s dwindling numbers by the end of this year.

Last month, Idaho’s congressional delegation asked Clark to provide full disclosure of the scientific information the agency is using to evaluate the bull trout population in Idaho.

The four Republicans joined two timber industry groups in telling Clark any listing of the fish under the Endangered Species Act is premature.

The state contends the Fish and Wildlife Service has used outdated information to justify proposing protected status for Idaho bull trout.