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And, ironically, the suit could kill the Verde trout.

Oddly enough, the Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit the very same week I approached Arizona Game & Fish Department with my own Verde Trout Recovery Project. The CBD is as concerned about the fish as I am, but we're approaching the problem from two different directions; unfortunately, they're mutually exclusive. Consider tossing in your own two cents' worth after I give you some background.

The native Verde trout (Gila robusta), aka the roundtail chub, isn't a true salmonidae trout at all; taxonomically it's really a minnow. But it's related to a minnow like a wolf is related to a chihuahua, and the Verde trout can grow to a length of 24 inches. Early settlers here named it the Verde trout because: 1. they found it in the Verde river, and 2. it acts like a trout as far as angling is concerned. As a fly fisherman, I've discovered they'll take dry flies, and they're particularly fond of a green stonefly pattern I tie up on #16 barbless hook specifically for them. They also hit baits and small spinning lures. If you go fish the Verde or Salt rivers or their tributaries using methods for trout or bass, it's just as likely you'll catch a Verde trout.

At least, it used to be just as likely. Our forebears stocked non-native warm water bass, catfish and panfish species in Arizona waters before we understood (or cared about) ecological balances; these non-natives are successfully out-competing natives like the Verde trout, with the result that some natives are now endangered and others are getting there. There is no doubt that Verde trout numbers here, especially in the Central Highlands, are a bare fraction of what they were historically, and that the fish is completely gone from some Verde and Salt River tributaries. (For the record, Verde trout/roundtail chub/Gila robusta make their homes in waters stretching from Wyoming to Mexico.)

Enter the Verde Trout Recovery Project. When I learned that this native sportfish was edging into serious trouble, I wanted to do something about it before it was too late, and I spent the first half of 2006 designing a program to encourage anglers to help. “Who better?” I thought. “Hunters and anglers have always been the biggest spenders for conservation.” Basically, the project consists of enticing caring anglers to contribute to a hatchery program to raise Verde trout and release them into the wild, thereby increasing their numbers. Anglers using barbless hooks for a catch-and-release pursuit of Verde trout will also catch-and-keep non-native fish to help keep those numbers in check.

In early September I presented this project idea to Arizona Game & Fish Department Fisheries Project Manager Andy Clark; he was enthusiastic and agreed to send it up the AZG&F food chain to the decision makers. He also sent me copies of biological studies of the Verde trout; from those I learned that the fish is literally one dry winter away from the endangered species list.

Enter the Center for Biological Diversity. Within a day or two of my speaking with Clark, I received a CBD press release announcing their lawsuit to force US Fish & Wildlife to list the roundtail chub as endangered. I called Clark, who told me that, if the suit goes through, AZG&F will have to stop stocking non-native fish in all waters connected by drainage to waters where the Verde trout lives until biologists determine what impact the non-natives have on the native fish. That could take a year or more, he said. Those waters are the Verde and Salt rivers and their tributaries, like Oak Creek, Beaver Creek and many other popular fishing spots that AZG&F routinely stocks with trout, bass and other non-natives. It's a big chunk of Arizona fishing. Besides the loss of angling opportunities, the economic impact will probably be significant, especially to smaller retailers who serve the sport. And biologists could decide that, to protect the Verde trout, all stockings of non-natives in their waters must cease permanently.

If successful, the CBD suit will kill the Verde Trout Recovery Project because, well, can you imagine encouraging people to fish for an endangered species? If successful, the suit will kill the prospect of an angler-funded native fish hatchery project to recover the Verde trout, which Clark said is a far better idea than listing the fish as endangered.

“When a species gets listed, it’s just shuffled off into a corner,” he told me. “Then, to protect it, you shut down mining, you shut down logging, you shut down grazing, you shut down recreation, and nobody’s happy.”

CBD wants to help the fish, but - more irony - rather than saving the Verde trout, listing it as an endangered species could finish killing it off. To wit: how many fish on the endangered species list have ever recovered enough to warrant de-listing? Answer: the success rate is just about zero, and for relatively minor species like the Verde trout, it is zero.

To recover the Verde trout we must establish a hatchery program to introduce more of the fish into the wild. We could try to save it bureaucratically by listing the fish, then watch the Verde trout join the passenger pigeon while officials spend a couple of decades shuffling paperwork back and forth between agencies. Or we could shoot for success right now, on our own at the grassroots level.

On Tuesday, Nov. 14 Prescott Flycasters is hosting a presentation about the Verde trout by AZG&F Fisheries Project Manager Andy Clark. It's at the Smoki Museum in Prescott (behind the old armory on Gurley Street) and starts at 7pm. There'll be a Q&A session afterward, and I'll outline the Verde Trout Recovery Project for you, so come ready to learn and to contribute your thoughts.

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