Trout 101

"...to conserve, protect and restore North America's coldwater fisheries and their watersheds."

The broad spectrum of species that fall within TU's mission often causes people to ask: "If you're doing so much work on Atlantic salmon, or Pacific steelhead, or Arctic grayling, or some other fish not called 'trout,' why do you call yourself 'Trout Unlimited?'"

The short answer is that TU's exponential growth since its 1959 founding has expanded its conservation efforts to include far more coldwater species than even its founders could have imagined. The longer answer is that a family of fishes - known collectively as salmonids - share a set of unique characteristics and habitat requirements that place them under the umbrella of TU's conservation efforts in North America.

Conserving wild trout and salmon begins with conserving the watersheds that gave us our native coldwater fish stocks, and today support a bounty of native and wild fish. All North American fishes known as "trout," "salmon," "char," "steelhead," "grayling," or "whitefish," along with some other common names, fall into this group.

sal - mon` - id: Any fish of the family Salmonidae (trout, salmon, char, whitefish, and grayling). Known to inhabit coldwater ecosystems and to have low tolerance for habitat degradation.

Probably the single-most distinguishing feature that separates the salmonid from other fishes is its need for cold, clean water and healthy ecosystems to survive. Although their evolution dates back tens of millions of years, most salmonids living in North America today moved into their historical range as they followed melting ice inland thousands of years ago. Because of their history, trout and salmon have little or no tolerance for higher water temperatures, pollution, increased dissolved gases, and other problems often associated with humankind's encroachment.

Many species of salmonids are known commonly as "trout." Often we think of fish swimming in mountain streams or alpine lakes when we think of trout. Those environs historically provide the type of ecosystem salmonids require-namely, cold, clean, oxygenated water. We think of the various cutthroat trout, the rainbows, the goldens, and the browns. We even call some salmonids "trout" that aren't trout at all: The bull, brook and lake trout, for example, are really another type of salmonid known as "char." And to confuse matters more, some fish that really are trout we call by other names: For example, fish we call "steelhead" are actually ocean-going rainbow trout.

Anglers tend to lump species together that share similar physical characteristics and habitat, and in doing so sometimes blur the lines of specific taxonomic distinctions. And while a biologist or taxonomist might quibble, that's what we've done with many of the fish we call "trout." In many waters, for example, brook trout (char) and rainbows share the same habitat, and more than one angler has mistaken a bull trout (char) for a brown. But for conservation purposes, what is important when we think of trout and the various fish that share this name is their common need for clean, cold water and healthy ecosystems. In other words, "salmonid conservation" is conservation of the environmental qualities we associate with clean, free-flowing waters, and healthy forests and rangelands.

What is a salmon?

Like trout, there are several different types of salmon, notably the chinook, coho, sockeye, and chum of the West and the Atlantic salmon of the East. And like trout and char, all are members of the salmonid family. Salmon are known for their migration out of fresh water into saltwater and back, and are generally thought of as being much larger than their trout relatives. Their ocean migration gives most salmon the label "anadromous."

An-ad`-rom-ous: Rooted in the Greek word for "running up," any fish born in fresh water, migrating to live a life stage in salt water, then returning to fresh water to spawn (reproduce).

Yet to further illustrate the similarities within the salmonid family, not all salmon migrate to saltwater, and conversely some trout species do. Landlocked sockeye salmon called kokanee, for example, live in fresh water lakes and migrate into fresh water tributaries to spawn. And steelhead-genetic duplicates of fresh water rainbow trout-make the ocean migration, returning to spawn in fresh water streams. So do some species of cutthroat. Unlike trout, which can spawn a number of times, most salmon species die once they spawn.

Why is trout and salmon conservation important?

Trout and salmon species are often viewed as indicators of overall environmental health. Where trout or salmon are present, that generally indicates a healthy ecosystem and, in turn, the presence of other healthy populations of wildlife. Where trout and salmon have disappeared, that generally indicates a damaged ecosystem, and other wildlife that once shared it are likely suffering too. In this way, trout and salmon set the standard for the overall health of an ecosystem-a standard that benefits all living things that share it, including humans.

Additionally, trout and salmon represent a critical cog in the wheel of any food chain in which they live. Consider, for example, the life cycle of a chinook salmon. Born in freshwater streams, usually the tributary of a large river like the Snake or Columbia in the Pacific Northwest, they emerge from the gravel as tiny fingerlings. They are born in huge numbers and immediately provide food for predators, such as other fish and aquatic birds.

Within about a year, the young salmon begin their migration seaward, feeding aquatic predators and birds for a journey that can be hundreds of miles in length through a wide array of habitats. Those that reach the ocean remain there and grow to adulthood, supporting oceanic food chains-and that of humans-during the length of their journey, which over the course of a few years can take them all the way to the Gulf of Alaska and back.

The chinook then return to fresh water, where again they feed larger predators, including humans. The adult chinook that successfully reach their natal streams to spawn die soon thereafter. Even after death, they are a food source for bald eagles, deer, bear, and other wildlife and their carcasses contribute rich nutrients to the water and the nearby trees and plants. Indeed, without the salmon, many ecosystems and the wildlife that live there would suffer; some would not exist at all.

What does TU do?

TU focuses its trout and salmon conservation efforts on several fronts. From local on-the-ground habitat protection to lobbying at the highest levels of government, TU uses science as its key weapon in the fight to conserve, protect and restore North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds. These efforts generally target one or more of the so-called "Four Hs" of fisheries conservation - habitat, hydropower, harvestand hatcheries.