The Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI) and the Fish Habitat Section of the American Fisheries Society are co sponsoring a symposium titled “Western Native Trout – Managing the Threats and Building Resiliency” at the upcoming American Fisheries Society annual meeting in Spokane, Washington, on August 21-25, 2022. Abstract submission will be open March 1-April 8
Abstract: Over the 15 years since WNTI’s inception, climate change impacts to habitat availability have emerged as some of the most significant threats to the persistence of native trout, with native cutthroat trout habitat predicted to shrink by as much as 58% by the year 2080 as a result of increasing stream temperatures. As such, protecting remaining thermally suitable habitat – much of which will occur in forested, higher-elevation areas within watersheds – will be critical to ensure the persistence of native trout populations in the future. Changing wildfire, drought and flood regimes potentially compromise those habitats, and can be exacerbated by native trout range constrictions, non-native species invasions and habitat degradation and fragmentation, thereby posing a significant threat to the persistence of many native trout populations. In this symposium we invite presentations that explore the complex relationship between native trout and their habitats in the face of climate change, including aspects of wildfire ecology and management, building resiliency in native trout populations and habitats during drought, promoting habitat recovery and restoration opportunities following stochastic events, and reducing the impacts of non-native species on sensitive native trout populations. Read the full abstract
