LANDER – In September fisheries biologists from the Laramie and Lander Regions transplanted 308 native hornyhead chub from the Laramie River to the Sweetwater River within the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Sweetwater Canyon Wilderness Study Area near Atlantic City, Wyoming, to re-establish the species in an area where they were once present.
To collect the fish out of the Laramie River, biologists used backpack electro-fishing equipment to send electrical impulses through the water and temporarily stun the fish so they could be collected, measured, and prepared for travel to the Sweetwater Canyon.
Hornyhead chub once occupied the Sweetwater River but were last documented there in 1852. Expanding the range of hornyhead chub through this transplant was an important step for their future persistence in Wyoming. The transplant will help restore this native species to its historic range and will create an additional population of a species with isolated and limited distribution in Wyoming.
Over the years, many personnel and organizations have worked on this unique fish species in Wyoming and all that important work/research contributed to the conservation of this species in the Laramie and North Laramie rivers and now to their hopeful success in the Sweetwater River. Thank you to the private landowners who allowed access and collection of the fish on their properties, and to the BLM for supporting the release of hornyhead chub within Sweetwater Canyon.