October 2022 - 11

NEWS
Backcountry lake sampling looks
for trout varieties in Silas drainage
LANDER - It's work that dates back
more than 100 years, yet the process of sampling
backcountry lakes remains much the
same as back then, along with an important
part of fish management for the Wyoming
Game and Fish Department.
In late August, Paul Gerrity, Game and
Fish fisheries biologist in the Lander Region,
led a trip into the Silas Creek drainage on
the east side of the Wind River Mountains
to sample eight trout lakes.
" We want to update fish species presence
and absence data and find out what kind
of questions we have to answer regarding
management and conservation, " said Gerrity
about the purposes of backcountry lake
sampling.
The lakes sampled this year were in the
Popo Agie Wilderness of the Shoshone
National Forest, and sampling areas change
each year.
" It's probably the most popular drainage
on the east side of the Wind River Mountains
because it is fairly easy to access. You can be
at Lower Silas and Tomahawk lakes catching
brook trout, cutthroat trout and tiger trout on
a 4½-mile hike, " Gerrity said. " The scenery up
there is spectacular, and it's one of the most
diverse drainages we have. "
Gerrity said on the east slope of the Wind
River Mountains there are 499 alpine lakes,
not including the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Of those, 213 have sportfish and are
managed by Game and Fish, and 20-25 of
those lakes are managed by stocking.
The trip utilized pack animals, in this case
llamas, to haul equipment. Workers sampled
fish using small, lightweight gill nets and
workers used inflatable rafts to get in position
and set the nets. Managers will use data about
the species and size of fish to help make future
management decisions for each lake.
Fisheries Technicians Becky Barbier and James Anderson work
alongside Game Warden Conor Curran to remove fish from a gill
net set in Upper Silas Lake. (Photo by Chris Martin/WGFD)
In addition to sampling, Gerrity and his
crew gathered genetic samples from Yellowstone
cutthroat trout at one of the lakes as part
of an ongoing research project with Idaho and
Montana. Researchers will use the samples to
determine if there are places with genetically
pure or hybridized trout populations and
create a map with this data.
This work takes place in some of the more
remote areas of Wyoming, and harbors back
to the early days of Game and Fish - and
even before that - where access isn't easy
and packing light and efficiently is a must.
" You're using pack animals like they did
Fisheries Biologist Paul Gerrity, middle, takes a genetic sample and Game Warden Conor Curran, right, takes a photo of a
Yellowstone cutthroat trout from Island Lake. (Photo by Chris Martin/WGFD)
100 years ago to go back and do backcountry
work, " Gerrity said. " It's definitely old-school,
and it's pretty neat. "
- Robert Gagliardi, WGFD
Wyoming Wildlife | 11

October 2022

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