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Carefully restored habitat of Lahontan cutthroat trout destroyed in Oregon's Holloway fire; fishing suspended

The Oregonian/OregonLive By The Oregonian/OregonLive The Oregonian
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on September 05, 2012 at 6:14 AM, updated September 05, 2012 at 10:24 AM
Little-Whitehorse-Creek-drainage-13.jpgView full sizeVegetation was completely burned away in this stretch of the LIttle Whitehorse Creek.
With the Holloway fire contained, more tragic news is coming from Oregon's largest wildfire in a century:

The fire destroyed decades worth of restoration work that had helped threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout rebound.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it suspended fishing in several streams in southeastern Oregon near the Nevada border due to severe habitat damage.

In the Willow-Whitehorse Basin: all streams including but not limited to Cottonwood, Doolittle, Fifteeenmile, Little Whitehorse, Whitehorse and Willow creeks.

In the McDermitt Creek Subbasin: Cottonwood, McDermitt and N. Fork McDermitt creeks.

In the Quinn Basin (Malheur County): Indian and Sage creeks will remain closed.

ODFW said in its press release that the fire destroyed the vegetation on some stream sections and fire fighters observed fish dying from asphyxiation during the fire. Long-term impacts could include higher water temperatures in summer, lower water temperatures in winter and increased sediment from eroding soils, she said.

The burned area includes Oregon's only pure native Lahontan cutthroat trout populations.

The species is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

In 1989 biologists counted only 8,000 Lahontan trout in the Whitehorse basin. During the most recent population survey in 2011, the population was estimated at 23,800, the ODFW reported.

Biologists credit the population rebound in the 1990s to the efforts of the Trout Creek Mountain Working Group -- ranchers, government agencies and environmental advocacy groups.

-- The Oregonian