The National Marine Fisheries Service has designated critical habitat for cutthroat trout in Oregon's famous Umpqua River, the agency announced today.  In August 1996, the fisheries service found that cutthroat were at risk of extinction and listed the fish as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

 The fisheries service said it expects minimal economic and other impacts from this critical habitat designation.  The designation is aimed at complementing efforts to restore the Umpqua’s famed fishery resources and is not expected to further restrict human activities or require any specific management or recovery actions.

 A designation helps conserve a species by identifying critically important areas, and by describing features within those areas essential to the species, alerting public and private entities to the area's importance.  Because these same areas are also important to very weak coho salmon and steelhead populations, the critical habitat designation will benefit these species too.

 Critical habitat designation requires federal agencies to ensure that their actions aren’t likely to destroy or adversely modify that habitat.  The designation also helps focus federal, state and private conservation and management efforts in those areas.

 The current geographic range of Umpqua River cutthroat trout includes nearshore ocean areas, the Umpqua River and its tributaries, and the North and South Umpqua rivers and their tributaries. The fisheries service said that the current freshwater and estuarine range of the species is adequate to ensure its conservation. Because the Umpqua River estuary is an essential migration corridor and provides rearing habitat for the trout, estuary areas are included in this designation as well.