At the time, they promised to do everything they could to prevent the spread of the trout malady to two popular fishing reservoirs. Currant Creek and Strawberry reservoirs are not naturally linked to the Duchesne River, but a Central Utah Water Project pipeline on the West Fork of the Duchesne dumps into Currant Creek, and another pipe moves water from Currant Creek to Strawberry.
Division of Wildlife Resources officials moved as quickly as any state government branch could when it comes to dealing with federal land agencies such as the Forest Service and things like National Environmental Policy Act requirements.
Biologists proposed a fish barrier on the West Fork below a diversion dam where the pipeline takes in water. The idea was to prevent infected fish from getting into the pipe. Officials hoped the diversion dam would serve as a barrier to the upper reaches of the West Fork, where a precious pure strain Colorado cutthroat population is found.
The Habitat Council funded $30,000 for construction of the barrier in April. A permit for the barrier was finalized in September, and plans were made to create the barrier last fall. Everything came to a halt when trout above the proposed barrier tested positive for whirling disease in late September.
Even more discouraging was the discovery of one whirling-disease-infected trout in a 54-fish sample taken above the diversion dam. Biologists say it is possible that fish could have worked through the series of channels and into the dam, but the most likely carrier of whirling disease above the dam is anglers.
Fisheries officials are hopeful the trout malady did not make it into the pipeline, a good possibility considering the valve was shut most of the summer. But they recognize it is possible the whirling-disease spore has been moved through a mountain to Currant Creek.
Whirling disease, of course, could have already been delivered to Strawberry and Currant Creek by anglers or birds, but fish from those waters have tested negative so far.
The impact, should whirling disease show up at Strawberry, is all hypothesis, but there is a reason to be concerned. There were more than 525,000 angler days at Strawberry in 2005 and close to 800,000 angler days at the popular fishery in 2000.
Whirling disease has not had the major impact in Utah that it has had in other states, largely because most trout populations in the state are introduced by the DWR. The one trout that does carry a lot of natural recruitment in Utah, the brown, is not nearly as susceptible to whirling disease as the cutthroat. The bulk of the fish in Strawberry are the Bear Lake strain of the Bonneville cutthroat, and biologists say annual natural recruitment of the trout ranges from 35 percent to 60 percent.
Those numbers could fall dramatically once whirling disease is discovered at Utah's most popular fishery. You may wonder why all the concern about the prevention of the spread of whirling disease when it seems inevitable. The answer is akin to preventing a heart attack when given the opportunity. You may survive the attack, but you will likely never be the same.
Biologists across the country are looking at myriad innovative ways to deal with whirling disease. The longer the disease can be held at bay at Strawberry, and all the other so-far whirling disease-free waters, the better.
brettp@ sltrib.com
