DRAFT Native Fish Management Plan: Valle Caldera National Preserve

Medley, Carl

Executive Summary The Valle Caldera National Preserve Native Fish Management Plan (FMP, Plan) explains the regulatory and policy basis of the National Park Service’s role in managing fish and fishing within units of the NPS, and identifies the management goals, objectives, strategies and major activities necessary for the conservation, and appropriate recreational use of the regionally native fish community within Valle Caldera National Preserve (VALL), New Mexico, U.S.A. The species’ of primary management interest consist of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis, RGCT), Rio Grande chub (Gila pandora, RGC), Rio Grande sucker (Catostomus plebeius, RGS), and longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae, LND). The Plan identifies a programmatic framework that would (1) restore, and maintain the regional native fish community in the two primary watersheds within VALL (San Antonio Creek (SAC), East Fork of the Jemez River (EFJ)), including two genetically pure “conservation populations” of RGCT, and (2) provide unique opportunities for visitors to experience wildlife viewing and recreational fishing for RGCT within its native range, to the extent that such opportunities do not conflict with other NPS management policies. NPS manages and regulates the use of lands within VALL and cooperates and consults closely with NMDGF to manage for mutually beneficial goals that are consistent with NPS management policies. However, much of the land within the proposed native fish conservation project area is outside the administrative boundary of VALL but administered by the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF), whose fish and wildlife is managed and regulated by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) under a Memorandum of Understanding (USFS SW Region 2014). Accordingly, the major actions identified in the Plan can only be implemented through a close, cooperative relationship with, and agreement between NPS, SFNF, and NMDGF, in consultation with other stakeholders and interested parties. The Plan proposes to chemically remove non-native brown and rainbow trout from streams within VALL and the adjoining Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) by treatment with the piscicide, rotenone, a plant derived chemical extract. While the primary target species is non-native trout, chemical removal will also result in the removal of other currently extant native fishes, but in doing so, it also provides the necessary conditions to restore the entire native fish community to VALL streams in the absence of non-native fish. It is proposed that the native fish community will be restored in two primary phases. Phase1 will remove non-native trout from SAC above a fish barrier in Ice Cave Canyon, and the reestablishment of the native fish community, sourced from EFJ (RGC, RGS, LND), and regional sources of RGCT. Phase 2 will involve the removal of non-native trout from EFJ above Jemez Falls, and the reestablishment of native fish sourced from the previously restored native fish assemblage, or their offspring, from SAC. The Plan also considers the removal non-native trout from Sulphur Creek and Redondo Creek in VALL by extending native fish restoration downstream to Soda Dam on the Jemez River. While highly speculative and uncertain, its inclusion identifies the Preserves long-term goal to restore the native fish community to all streams within VALL, should the opportunity arise. Other proposed native fish management strategies include fish community population monitoring, genetic management, habitat restoration, and visitor education and outreach about the importance of native fish conservation. The Plan aligns future native fish management at VALL with National Park Service (NPS) Management Policies (NPS 2006), the natural resource management goals of VALL (NPS 2018), and the fisheries goals of the Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF). The Plan is consistent with the Department of the Interior (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Policy: State-Federal Relationships. 43CFR24.1 (DOI 2003), and the recently published DOI Memo (DOI 2018) and Secretarial Order 3356; Hunting, Fishing, Recreational Shooting, and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities and Coordination with States, Tribes, and Territories (DOI 2017) that requires federal agencies to enhance conservation stewardship in collaboration with the States, improve the management of game species and their habitats, and increase opportunities for outdoor recreation. The Plan is also consistent with the native fish conservation goals of both VALL, SFNF, and the NMDGF as described in the Conservation Agreement for the Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout in the States of Colorado and New Mexico (RGCT Conservation Team, 2013a), and the associated Conservation Strategy (RGCT Conservation Team, 2013b), and the Conservation Agreement for the Rio Grande Chub and Rio Grande Sucker (RGC and RGS Conservation Team, 2018), to which the NPS Intermountain Regional Office, the SFNF, and NMDGF are all signatories. At this time, other than the general desire of all parties to identify and describe the broad opportunities to restore native fish to SAC and EFJ, and to pursue them as funding and resources become available, no specific commitments have been made to implement the actions identified in this plan. In fact, unless the federal parties find the funding and manpower to move forward without the lead of the state, native fish restoration will likely not occur until NMDGF has completed their higher priority restoration actions for the Pecos strain of RGCT. However, by identifying the Preserves future fish management goals, and a suite of connected actions to accomplish them, it is hoped that the VALL Native Fish Management Plan will serve as a long-term foundation for the conservation of the regionally native fish community within the Preserve. Until that time, the NPS, in coordination with NMDGF will continue to manage fish resources at VALL consistent with the previously identified NMDGF management goals that emphasize providing a high quality, recreational wild trout fishery and conserving the extant RGC/RGS population (NMDGF 2016).