WESTIES IN GLACIER PARK
Displacement & Hybridization
same song - different verse
we'll miss 'em
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.. The Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, (NOROCK,) and the National Park Service have begun work on a management plan to protect and restore the Westslope Cutthroat Trout in Glacier National Park... The project will establish baseline genetic and distribution data that will allow informed management decisions for both the park and the western United States.
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. One of the most important aspects of the study will be to address the extent of pure strain cutts in the waters of the park. Many populations of Westies were 'assumed' to be non-hybridized in the past. This has led to controversy in the decision by the USFWS not to list the species as threatened or endangered... The controversial court decision suggested that genetics are irrelevant and that morphology is what should decide the status of the species - SO - if it looks like a cutt . . . . (to who?)
.. We've mentioned this in a previous post, and recently noted a similar effort that is just beginning in Yellowstone National Park, to manage the native species.
.. Speculation is that non-hybridized Cutthroats will disappear at about the same time that the glaciers leave Glacier National Park. New naming conventions will then be in order. We suggest "Glaciated Unnatural Park" to solve the nomenclature problem of both circumstances.
.. The specific objectives of the NOROCK project are:
#1] Map the distribution of WCT and hybridization in GNP. #2] Assess spatial and temporal patterns of hybridization and relatedness among WCT populations. #3] Develop site-specific management alternatives for conservation and protection.
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