Desert Trout Not Listed

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a petition seeking threatened or endangered species status for desert populations of the interior redband trout.

The agency said in a statement issued Wednesday from its regional office in Portland, that federal protection requires more conclusive information about whether the subspecies of rainbow trout in the Snake River Basin actually is a distinct population.

Environmental groups from Idaho, Oregon and Nevada petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in April to protect the redband trout, which are closely related to rainbow trout but sport broad red swaths down their sides.