Native Fish Management Plan: Bandelier National Monument

Medley, Carl; McFarland, Scott; Milligan, Sarah

Executive Summary The Bandelier National Monument Native Fish Management Plan (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 of the regionally native fish community within Bandelier National Monument (BAND), New Mexico, U.S.A. The species of 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 Rio Grande tributary streams capable of sustaining a persistent fish community within the Monument (El Rito de los Frijoles and Rio Capulin), and (2) provide unique opportunities for visitors to experience wildlife viewing and recreational fishing for rare RGCT within its native range, to the extent that such opportunities do not conflict with other NPS management policies. Other proposed fish management strategies include fish community population monitoring, genetic management and visitor education and outreach about the importance of native fish conservation. The Plan aligns future native fish management at BAND with National Park Service (NPS) Management Policies (NPS 2006), the natural resource management goals of BAND, and the goals of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF). 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, and the restoration of native fish, is also consistent with the native fish conservation goals of both BAND and the NMDGF as described in the NMDGF 2016 Statewide Fisheries Management Plan: and 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 and NMDGF are both signatories.