Valuing Wildlife at Risk from Exotic Invaders in Yellowstone Lake

Abstract

) in Yellowstone Lake, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Judging by the size of the trout, and from subsequent data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, biologists now believe that someone must have illegally planted lake trout in the lake some five years earlier. They blame humans for the introduction because natural movement of this nonnative species into Yellowstone Lake is improbable. Based on catch and mortality rates, biologists now estimate that thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of lake trout of several age classes, some capable of spawning, live in Yellowstone Lake (Kaeding et al., 1995). Yellowstone Lake is a prime spot for lake trout to flourish, because they thrive in the cold, deep water. But the problem is that Yellowstone Lake is the last premier inland cutthroat trout fishery in North America. And after years of working to restore the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout (