Wildfire Comeback for Gila Trout

Raging through New Mexico wilderness last summer, the Whitewater-Baldy wildfire scorched nearly nearly 300,000-acres, causing biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Forest Service to evacuate populations of threatened Gila trout. And while the future looked grim, there’s an unexpected silver lining: “A flood of sedimentation following the fire,” explains Katie Mast, “cleared the streams of the non-native rainbow and brown trout that are serious obstacles to improving Gila trout populations.” Read more on High Country News.