Yellowstone River Basin
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Yellowstone River Basin Bighorn River Table of Contents Watershed Description ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Aquatic Wildlife ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Identification of Conservation Areas .................................................................................................................... .5 Threats........................................................................................................................................................................ .6 Conservation Initiatives ........................................................................................................................................... .9 Recommended Conservation Actions .................................................................................................................. 12 Monitoring ................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................................ 15 Wyoming State Wildlife Action Plan - 2017 Page III – 17 - 1 Aquatic Basins Wyoming Game and Fish Department Yellowstone River Basin Watershed Description covering 34,167 square miles in northern Wyoming’s Big Horn, Campbell, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Natrona, Park, Sheridan, and Six major watersheds were identified for Washakie counties. Thirty-five percent of the conservation planning purposes under this State land is privately held. Public land is managed Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) using primarily by the Bureau of Land Management hydrographic boundaries and fisheries (26% of total area), U.S. Forest Service (17%) assemblage and management considerations. and the National Park Service (7%). The Wind The watersheds each include one to four sub- River Indian Reservation occupies 7% of the regions (4-digit hydrologic unit code [HUC] area. watersheds). This approach allows the nesting of multiple spatial and temporal scales for There are approximately 38,600 miles of planning and prioritizing conservation actions. streams on the USGS National Hydrography Dataset in the Yellowstone River basin in The Yellowstone River Basin includes portions Wyoming. Major river drainages in the basin of four 4-digit HUC subregions: the Missouri include the Wind-Bighorn, Shoshone, Upper Headwaters in Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone, Clarks Fork, Tongue and Powder. (YNP; Madison and Gallatin Rivers), the Upper Yellowstone (also partly in YNP), the Bighorn Additional information about the basins River, and the Powder/Tongue River (Figure drainages, geography, geology, land forms, 11). A total of twenty-nine 8-digit HUC climate, dams, reservoirs and diversions, drainages are nested within these. These hydrology, habitat types, land use and watersheds span over one-third of Wyoming, classifications are detailed in the 2010 SWAP. Figure 11. Yellowstone River Basin. Wyoming State Wildlife Action Plan - 2017 Page III – 17 - 2 Aquatic Wildlife fishes have been introduced to the basin (Table 11). The known fish assemblage of the Fish Yellowstone River basin is shown in Table 11. A detailed history of fish collections and surveys Four game species and six nongame species are in this basin, which began in the mid 19th currently considered SGCN. century is chronicled in the 2010 SWAP. These Most of the fish SGCN in the basin (Brassy surveys and collections are the basis for Minnow, Flathead Chub, Goldeye, Plains describing the native fish community. The 2010 Minnow, Sturgeon Chub, Western Silvery SWAP also includes a summary of fish Minnow, Sauger and Shovelnose Sturgeon) introductions to the basin. Most introductions belong to an assemblage associated with large were conducted by the WGFD but others were turbid free flowing rivers such as the Powder illegal or inadvertent. and Bighorn. The Yellowstone River Basin has seven native game fish and 16 native nongame fish (Table 11). A total of 20 game fishes and 10 nongame Table 11. Fishes present in the Yellowstone River Basin. Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) are followed by an asterisk (*). Native game Native nongame Nonnative game Nonnative nongame Burbot* Brassy minnow* Bear River Cutthroat Brook Stickleback Channel Catfish Creek chub Trout Common Carp Mountain Whitefish Fathead Minnow Black Bullhead Emerald Shiner Sauger* Flathead Chub* Black Crappie Golden Shiner Shovelnose Sturgeon* Goldeye* Bluegill Goldfish Stonecat Lake Chub Brook Trout Grass Carp Yellowstone Cutthroat Longnose Dace Brown Trout Johnny Darter Trout* Longnose Sucker Colorado River Mottled Sculpin Mountain Sucker Cutthroat Trout Plains Killifish Plains Minnow* Golden Trout Spottail Shiner River Carpsucker Grayling Sand Shiner Green Sunfish Shorthead Redhorse Lake Trout Sturgeon Chub* Largemouth Bass Western Silvery Pumpkinseed Minnow* Rainbow Trout White Sucker Rock Bass Smallmouth Bass Snake River Cutthroat Trout Walleye White Crappie Yellow Perch Wyoming State Wildlife Action Plan - 2017 Page III – 17 - 3 Aquatic Basins Wyoming Game and Fish Department Yellowstone River Basin The native large river fish assemblage remains found in all of the major subdrainages in the intact in the Powder River where habitat Yellowstone River basin and is probably most remains largely unaltered by reservoir common in Clear and Crazy Woman Creeks in construction and water diversion. However, in the Powder River drainage. It is the only turtle the Wind-Bighorn where water development species known from the Clarks Fork of the has been substantial, Goldeye and Shovelnose Yellowstone River in Wyoming. The Eastern Sturgeon have been extirpated (Shovelnose Snapping Turtle is found in the Little Powder, Sturgeon have subsequently been reintroduced), Powder, Tongue, Little Bighorn, and Bighorn Plains Minnow were last documented in the River drainages. The species has only been 1990’s (Patton 1997) and Sturgeon Chub were found in the downstream portions of the Little last observed in 2001. Bighorn and Bighorn River drainages, near the Montana state line. Burbot are native to the basin but were historically only abundant in the less turbid and colder reaches of the Wind River and its Freshwater Mollusks and Crayfishes tributaries. Water developments in the basin Wyoming is still in the discovery phase in terms that have increased available cold lentic habitats of its freshwater bivalve mollusks and have allowed Burbot to expand their range. gastropods. Although fingernail and pill clams Threats to Burbot include limited range, angler and aquatic gastropods are often encountered exploitation and loss of population connectivity. during invertebrate sampling, few published Burbot are infrequently observed in the Tongue, accounts of mollusk collections exist (Beetle Powder, and warmer turbid reaches of the Big 1989, Henderson 1924, Hoke 1979, Hovingh Horn. 2004). Many native mussels, clams, and gastropods are considered SGCN due to a lack Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout are native to of information regarding status. colder headwater streams and rivers of the basin. Degradation of habitat due to factors Two bivalve mussel species have been including water diversion and increased documented in the Yellowstone River basin. sedimentation have impacted cutthroat The Fatmucket is the most widespread. distribution and abundance. However the Populations are spread throughout the Powder, primary threat to Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Tongue, and Wind-Bighorn river drainages. persistence is nonnative salmonids. These The Giant Floater exists in the Little Powder nonnatives are well documented competitors drainage near the Montana state line. for resources, predators of cutthroat and hybridizing species that diminish cutthroat Most of what is known about species presence genetic integrity. and distributions of gastropods in the basin are summarized in Beetle (1989) and Narr (2011). Substantial additional information on research With one exception all gastropods in the basin and prior management of SGCN in the are SGCN due to lack of adequate population Yellowstone River Basin are summarized in the and distribution information. Cave Physa are 2010 Wyoming SWAP (WGFD 2010). the only gastropod with enough information to assess status (NSS4). Aquatic Reptiles Little information is available on the distribution Three turtles are found in the Yellowstone River of Wyoming crayfishes. Two species (Orconectes basin, all of which are native. The Western Calico and Virile Crayfish), both of which are Spiny Softshell and Western Painted Turtle are native, have been documented in the SGCN, but the Eastern Snapping Turtle is not. Yellowstone River basin (Hubert 1988, 2010). The Western Spiny Softshell is known from the The Calico Crayfish are considered SGCN while Little Powder, Powder, Tongue, Nowood and the more common Virile Crayfish are not. Bighorn Rivers. The Western Painted Turtle is Wyoming State Wildlife Action Plan - 2017 Page III – 17 - 4 Aquatic Basins Wyoming Game and Fish Department Yellowstone River Basin warmwater habitats. Coldwater habitats in the basin were prioritized following conservation Table 12. Species of Greatest Conservation populations identified in the Yellowstone