Talk: Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout in the Bighorn Basin

Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout: History, Management, and Future Conservation Efforts in the Bighorn Basin

By Joe Skorupski

April 6, 2023
Noon–1 p.m.
Free

Join us for our April Lunchtime Expedition, Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout: History, Management, and Future Conservation Efforts in the Bighorn Basin, presented by Joe Skorupski, Fisheries Management Biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

The in-person talk takes place in the Center’s Coe Auditorium, with a virtual option available.

If you prefer to join us online, you may register in advance via Zoom webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K9dFVt46S0mFKn_HakbTeQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

About the presentation

The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is the only native trout in the Bighorn Basin. Habitat loss and activities such as the introduction of nonnative species have resulted in decreases from their historical range, classifying them as a species of greatest conservation need in the state of Wyoming. They currently occupy 17 percent of their historical habitat, where they are not genetically altered by nonnative trout.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department makes a concerted effort to protect, enhance, and restore populations of Yellowstone cutthroat trout. In 2021, a new Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Conservation Plan was finalized with a high level of public involvement. This presentation focuses on how we got here and future conservation efforts to manage Yellowstone cutthroat trout in the Bighorn Basin.

Trout Unlimited has generously provided us with 100 Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout posters, which we will distribute free to the first 100 in-person attendees on April 6.

About the speaker

Joe Skorupski has been a Fisheries Management Biologist in the Cody Region for the past 7 years. Prior to transferring to Cody, he worked in the Green River Region in the same capacity for two years, and for three years as an Endangered Fish Biologist for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He earned his BS from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania and his MS from University of North Texas working in Yellowstone National Park related to the restoration and conservation of Westslope Cutthroat Trout. Skorupski resides in Cody with his wife and two children, enjoying time with them in the outdoors fishing, hunting—or anything else outdoors.

Upcoming Lunchtime Expeditions

• May 4: Functional Traits Underlie Specialist-generalist Strategies in Whitebark Pine and Limber Pine
• June 1: Golden Eagle Monitoring and Research in Yellowstone National Park
• July 6: The Future of Forests in Greater Yellowstone in a Warmer World with More Fire
• August 3: Dinosaur Paleontology in the Bighorn Basin

Support for the Draper’s Lunchtime Expedition series has been made possible by Sage Creek Ranch and the Nancy-Carroll Draper Charitable Foundation.