EBS STAFF
Yellowstone National Park will close Buffalo Creek, a tributary of Slough Creek in the park’s northern section, from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7 to remove invasive rainbow trout, according to a Aug. 25 press release. Biologists will apply the EPA-approved piscicide rotenone from the northern park boundary downstream to the creek’s confluence with Slough Creek; officials say the treatment will not affect drinking water potability at Slough Creek Campground.
The effort targets a rainbow trout source population that has been competing and hybridizing with native Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Slough Creek, Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River. Yellowstone cutthroat trout are rarely found in Buffalo Creek, but any captured by electrofishing ahead of the treatment will be relocated outside the treatment zone. The park says removing the source population is key to the long-term survival of cutthroat trout in the Lamar River watershed.
