Download Welcome to Pyramid Lake

Welcome to Pyramid Lake
The Pride
of the
Paiute
People
Pleistocene Lake Lahontan
™ An
inland sea of
the last ice-age
(10,000-70,000
years ago)
™ Recent
peak
about 14,000
years ago
8,665 sq. miles
„ 875 feet deep
„
The end of an era
™ About
8,000 years ago the climate became
drier, and Lake Lahontan began to recede
™ Fish populations became physically isolated
in various basins
™ They evolved and adapted to the new
habitat of interconnected lakes and rivers
™ Pyramid Lake is the only permanent
remnant of Lake Lahontan
Kooyooe Tukadda
“Cui-ui Eaters”
™ Traditional foods:
„ Cui-ui lakesucker
„ Lahontan cutthroat trout
„ Pine nuts (the most
important winter food)
„ Seeds, roots, berries,
and grasses
„ Waterfowl, rabbits, and
ground squirrels
„ Antelope and Deer
Picture courtesy of Nevada Historical Society
Cui-ui (“Kwee-wee”)
Chasmistes cujus
™ Only
found in
Pyramid Lake
™ Matures at 8-13
years of age
™ Can live 20-40 years
(oldest documented
was 53 years)
™ 2 million year old
cui-ui fossils have
been found in the
Great Basin
Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT)
Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi
™ Historically
Pyramid
Lake LCT were very
large
„
15-20 pounds
was common
™ Official
Picture from the collection of Becky J. Smith
world record
cutthroat trout (41
pounds) caught in
1925
™ Unofficial reports of
60 pound LCT
The American West
™ 1844:
Pyramid Lake was “discovered” by the
explorer John C. Fremont
™ 1860s-1880s: The Comstock Lode triggered
a mass immigration of miners and pioneers
™ 1902: Reclamation Act enacted by Congress
™ 1960s: Army Corps of Engineers project
Channelization of the river below Reno to prevent
flooding in the Truckee Meadows
„ Removed the old Cottonwood trees
„
Newlands Reclamation Project
™ Derby
Dam was
completed in 1905
™ Truckee Canal diverts
water from the
Truckee River basin to
Lahontan Reservoir in
the Carson River basin
™ Built to expand
agricultural production
in the Carson River
Basin
Timeline of destruction
™ 1915-1970:
More than 50% of the total
Truckee River flow was diverted to the
Newlands Project.
™ 1868-1967: Pyramid Lake’s elevation
declined 92 feet
™ Total dissolved solids (TDS) in Pyramid
Lake increased from 3,500 to 5,500 mg/L
Timeline of destruction
™ 1938:
„
Winnemucca Lake dried-up completely
Loss of waterfowl and fish nursery habitat
™ 1940s:
LCT became extinct in Pyramid Lake,
Lake Tahoe, and the Truckee River
™ 1960s:
Cui-ui became endangered
Causes of the fishery decline
™ Pollution
from mining, milling, and sewage
™ Introduction of non-native species
™ Agricultural diversions
™ Over-fishing
„
Commercially harvested more than 200,000
pounds of LCT annually.
Re-introduction
™ 1950’s:
Nevada Fish and Game, in
cooperation with the Pyramid Lake
Paiute Tribe, began re-introducing other
strains of LCT into Pyramid Lake.
Walker Lake
„ Summit Lake
„ Independence Lake
„ Heenan Lake
„
Endangered Species Act (1967)
™ Cui-ui
placed on the
Endangered Species
List as the first fish
ever to be listed.
„
This brought new
regulations, known
as OCAP, to
decrease water
allocations to the
Newlands Project.
Endangered Species Act (1970)
™ LCT
was placed on
the Endangered
Species List
„
In 1975 it was
reclassified as
“threatened” to
facilitate
management and
allow for regulated
angling
Pyramid Lake Fisheries was
established in 1974
™ Dedicated
to the
recovery of native
cui-ui and Lahontan
cutthroat trout to
Pyramid Lake and
the lower Truckee
River
Hatcheries and other facilities
™ Koch
Cui-ui Hatchery
™ Dunn Hatchery
™ Numana Hatchery
™ Big Bend Incubation Facility
™ Lake Operations Acclimation Facility
™ Adeline Davis Research Laboratory
™ Marble Bluff Dam & Fishway
™ Lahontan National Fish Hatchery
™ CA-NV Fish Health Center
LCT spawning
™A
concrete channel
at Lake Operations
mimics a flowing
river
™ Spawning LCT are
attracted to the
channel by the flow
of cold water and
the scent of fish in
tanks above
Adult LCT are sorted by sex and
size and checked for ripeness
Females are stripped of their eggs,
which are put into a bowl
Sperm from a male is added
The fertilized eggs are stirred,
cleaned, and disinfected
Eggs are packed and
transferred to the hatchery
They are measured by volume to
establish an approximate count
And put into egg jars or
incubation trays until hatching
LCT eggs hatch in 39-46 days
depending on water temperature
After hatching the fry are
grown-out in hatchery tanks
Fry grow
about 1 inch
per month in
the hatchery
environment
Coded Wire Tags (CWT)
™ Each
year 10-20 %
of LCT fingerlings
are marked with a
CWT
A tagged fish can be identified
by a missing adipose fin
Groups of 20,000 –
80,000 fish are tagged
with a batch code that is
unique to each group.
9Managers can monitor the
group’s growth and survival
over many years.
9The fish must be dead
before the tag can be
recovered.
After acclimation the fish are
stocked into the lake or river
Cui-ui are spawned by the
same process as LCT
A large female can yield
more than 100,000 eggs
Cui-ui eggs hatch in 7-10 days
Cui-ui are released as larvae
Stocking
™ About
1,000,000
LCT fingerlings are
stocked into
Pyramid Lake every
year
„
4 to 8 inches long
™ About
2,000,000
Cui-ui larvae are
stocked every year
„
Less than ½ inch long
Restoring LCT to the Truckee River
™
™
™
PLF and Nevada Division of
Wildlife are working
together to restore a
spawning run of LCT to the
Truckee River.
Over 2,000 adult pairs have
been transferred to the river
between Reno and Verdi,
where the best spawning
habitat is found.
Redds have been observed,
but fry survival is unknown
at this time.
Elevation (feet MSL)
Recent variations in lake elevation
3825
3820
3815
3810
3805
3800
3795
3790
3785
3780
67 -70 -73 -76 -79 -82 -85 -88 -91 -94 -97 -00 -03
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