Last Year We Appealed to You and You Responded. We Did It!!!

USFWS is Removing the Apache Trout from the Endangered Species List!

Dear Alan ,

Over 40 years of conservation work by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), the White Mountain Apache Tribe (WMAT), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited (AZTU) resulted in meeting the criteria for de-listing the Apache Trout from the Endangered Species list. USFWS next step is publishing the de-listing recommendation in the Federal Register, soliciting comment and review from all interested parties.

Once Apache trout are de-listed a Cooperative Management Plan (CMP) written, approved and signed by AZGFD, WMAT, USFWS, USFS, and AZTU, will provide a five-year monitoring period to ensure the fisheries do not deteriorate.

Great news, isn’t it? Have you ever caught and released an Apache Trout? How about a Gila Trout? Thrilling, isn’t it? And when you realize they’re the only two Arizona native trout species, it makes you extra-grateful they are still around.

In 1966, the ESA listed Apache Trout as endangered. In 1975, the ESA down listed to threatened. Apache trout are now returning to their place in the legacy of Arizona’s unique, native fish resources. But we must not take them for granted!

Gila Trout are one of the rarest trout species in the United States. The ESA listed Gila Trout endangered in 1967 and down listed to threatened in 2006. But Gila Trout have only four streams in Arizona with pure populations.

Donate Here!

We now need to get Gila Trout off the threatened list. To do so, we need Your Help. The AZGFD has a lengthy priority list for various streams and rivers in Arizona; and AZTU can assist with funding and workforce on four of the streams. The work is scheduled for 2023 through 2025.

Do your part and make a gift to the Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited. Together, we can help the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, and others reestablish Apache Trout and Gila Trout habitat and remove both species from the “ESA Threatened List,” and keep them off.

Let’s make both the Apache and Gila Trout the first fish species to be delisted!

Yours in conservation,

Alan Davis

Chair

Arizona Council

Trout Unlimited

P.S. No fish species has been removed from the Endangered List that did not go extinct. Together, we changed that! Now Let’s do it for Gila Trout too!

Your entire donation stays in Arizona and AZTU uses these funds for our conservation work.

I will help maintain/restore Arizona’s Apache and Gila Trout habitats!

Enclosed is my tax-deductible gift:

(Clip this box and send your tax-deductible gift to our Chandler address below)

☐ $50 ☐ $100 ☐ $150 ☐ $250 ☐ $Other

Name_______________________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________________

City/State/Zip_________________________________________________________

Phone_____________________________ Email_____________________________

☐Check enclosed payable to Arizona Council TU ☐Online, click here or use the button below.

Please charge my: ☐ VISA ☐ MC ☐ AMEX ☐ DISC

☐ Card Number___________________________ Exp. Date________ Security Code_____

Thank You for Supporting Arizona Council of Trout Unlimited’s Initiative to Save Arizona’s Apache Trout and Gila Trout!

Donate Online!