Fisheries habitats in the Planning Area include perennial and intermittent streams that support fish through at least a portion of the year. See Section 3.1.4 Water for a description of surface-waterbodies in the Planning Area.
Special status fish species are listed as endangered or threatened, or are proposed or candidate species for listing under the ESA. Special status fish species also include those designated as BLM sensitive species or state of Wyoming species of concern. No federally listed fish species are known to occur in the Bighorn Basin; however, the Bighorn River and the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River both drain into the Yellowstone River, which supports listed species downstream. See Section 3.4.5 Fish and Wildlife Resources - Fish for more information on fishery resources in the Planning Area.
The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is the only BLM sensitive fish species and only native trout found in the Planning Area. There is Yellowstone cutthroat trout habitat in the Wind/Bighorn and Yellowstone drainage. This species is found in many headwater streams of the Bighorn, Greybull, Shoshone, and Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone river drainages.
Three other game species of concern are known to occur in the Planning Area the burbot, sauger, and shovelnose sturgeon. Burbot and sauger are found in Boysen Reservoir and downstream in Bighorn River to Yellowtail Reservoir. In the 1990s, the shovelnose sturgeon was reintroduced to the Bighorn and Greybull rivers, part of its historic range (WGFD 2005b).
Threats to special status fish species are similar to those for other fish species and can include livestock and wildlife grazing practices and management, drought, and degraded habitat conditions. See Section 3.4.5 Fish and Wildlife Resources - Fish for more information regarding management challenges and objectives.
Water depletions upstream can change the velocity, volume, and timing of downstream river water flows. Historically, water development projects (i.e., dams, reservoirs, water and sediment control basins, irrigation diversions, sand and gravel mining, and wetland creation) have altered historic surface water hydrographs (i.e., water flow timing, volume, and velocity) in the Missouri River ecosystem through consumption, evaporation, or by altering the timing of water flows.