In 2002, New Mexico began one of America’s largest native-fish restoration projects...

A major conservation effort launched in 2002 has restored New Mexico’s official state fish to more than 120 miles of connected mountain streams, marking one of the largest native fish restoration projects in the United States. For more than two decades, state and federal conservation agencies have worked to remove non-native predators and restore high-altitude habitats across northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. According to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the effort has re-established a self-sustaining population of Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis) across the Rio Costilla basin.The native trout is easily recognised by the bright red mark beneath its lower jaw. It once lived across thousands of miles of cold-water streams in the Rio Grande and Canadian River basins. But by the late 20th century, habitat loss, logging, major wildfires, drought and competition from non-native fish had badly reduced its range. Biologists estimated that the fish survived in only about 10 per cent of its original habitat before active recovery efforts began. The decline was largely caused by non-native gam...