Description
Watercolor painting by Carlyle Stem
Colorado’s cold mountain streams provide outstanding habitat for cutthroat trout. However, the Greenback Cutthroat Trout became so rare it was once presumed to be extinct in the state. Since then, successful reintroduction and conservation efforts have brought it back from the brink. By the 1990’s momentum for preserving this Colorado native led to naming it the state fish of Colorado. Reintroductions continue, today using genetic research to restore historic populations of trout found in Colorado.