Whitlock-Vibert Trout Egg Project

Over 3,000 eyed rainbow trout eggs were placed in Kannah Creek in Whitlock-Vibert boxes in mid-April, 2019 by volunteers from Grand Valley Anglers and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. These boxes have a very high success rate for survival of the fry, and this effort is the first step in a process to eventually breed and stock green-lineage Colorado Cutthroat trout in streams on the Western Slope. If the rainbow fry are viable, the next step is to produce "green" rainbow trout eggs, which are gathered and fertilized from wild trout populations, and assess the possibility of that option. Should that go well, the next step is to collect eggs and sperm from the green-lineage Cutthroats and place their eyed eggs in the boxes to repopulate creeks, streams, and lakes on the Western Slope, part of their original habitat.