Standard Grant: Wild Trout: Conservation, Restoration, and the Molecular Turn

University Of Colorado At Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs CO

Investigators

Abstract

Trout fishing contributes billions of dollars annually to local and regional economies. In many cases, native trout are privileged even as wildlife managers release non-native fish into freshwater ecosystems. Questions about the value of native vs. non-native trout and where these belong are increasingly addressed at the molecular scale using environmental DNA. This project examines the intersection of science, values, and actions in native trout management in Colorado and Montana. It addresses three key questions: 1) How are conceptions of nativity constructed as related to trout management and policy? 2) How are scientific advances in genetics reshaping key assumptions about trout distribution, ecology, and ideas of nativity? 3) How are new forms of scientific knowledge impacting fisheries management practices, policies, funding priorities, and spatial claims to nature? The project advances understanding about how we value species and genetic purity, how these can change over time, and how scientific information is adopted as 'common sense' by institutions. It also addresses the broader impacts of these changes, considering how scientific and technological developments contribute to changing concentrations of power and expertise, geographies of "healthy" and "impaired" ecosystems, and shifting patterns of natural resource management. This research project combines multiple social science methods to examine how new genetic methods for identifying native vs. invasive trout species matter for trout management and policy. These methods include semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, angler creel surveys, content analyses of documents (including environmental assessments, management plans, technical reports, media accounts, and archives), and site visits to hatcheries and centers of fisheries science. In combination, these convergent indicators enable systematic examination of shifting understanding of what constitutes a native vs. non-native species, and of the financial, ecological, and natural resource management implications of this shift in perspective. Such understanding has significant practical implications for understanding and managing trout as wildlife officials, fishing guides, and anglers make decisions about what kinds of fisheries they promote or pursue. The project also has broader impacts on teaching and learning by supporting and the training of undergraduate and graduate students at an institution that serves significant populations of minority, first-generation, and Pell Grant-eligible students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.