With few exceptions, native trout populations have declined and remain depressed across the west

The Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Inc. (WAFWA) received a $125,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (NFHP) program (CFDA 15.686), with an award date of September 1, 2025, and completion date of December 31, 2026. This grant supports the Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI), a collaborative public-private fish habitat partnership operating across 12 western states to conserve 21 native trout and char species.

Under this award, WAFWA will deliver coordination, restoration, and recovery services focused on protecting native trout populations across their historic range. Key deliverables include raising public awareness regarding native trout conservation, coordinating high-impact voluntary on-the-ground restoration projects led by local communities and resource agencies, and investing limited private and public resources toward landscape-scale habitat improvements. These efforts address the primary threats to native trout populations, including habitat degradation, non-native fish species introductions, predation, competition, and hybridization, while addressing emerging challenges from human population growth, drought severity, wildfires, and anthropogenic land uses across the western United States.

This decline is primarily a result of habitat degradation and non-native fish introductions. Remaining native trout populationsare often isolated from one another and exposed to increased predation, competition, and hybridization. Thefuture of native trout continues to be threatened by increasing human population growth, competition andpredation from expanding nonnative fishes, and habitat reductions from increasing drought severity, more intense wildfires, and anthropogenic land uses. This is increasing the urgency of securing and improving the status of western native trout. The 21 native trout and char addressed by the western native trout initiative (WNTI) are a valuable component of the cultural landscape but also are ecologically and economically important to western communities. Many localized conservation actions have occurred in small scales but are typically implemented in an uncoordinated, fragmented approach limiting their effectiveness. Large-scale range wide coordinated restoration and conservations actions are needed to protect western native trout and char at landscape scales. The western native trout initiative (WNTI) is a public-private fish habitat partnership that workscollaboratively across 12 western states to conserve (protect, restore, and enhance) 21 native trout and charspecies. WNTI is an initiative under the western association of fish and wildlife agencies (WAFWA) and recognized by the national fish habitat partnership program (NFHP) since 2008. We work cooperatively to restore and recover the last remaining western native trout species across their historic range by funding efforts to raise public awareness, and by investing limited private and public resources toward completing the highest-impact, voluntary, on-the-ground projects led by local communities and resource agencies across the western united states. WNTI is requesting funding to maintain the organizational capacity of the partnership through directed outreach to new partners and communities across our 12 western states, deliver habitat conservation strategies within our revised strategic plan, support activities of the partnerships steering committee and other committees as needed, share our work through the development of publication materials and improvements to our website, assist in organizing and participating in regional or national symposia to contribute expertise and information from WNTI, and support the partnerships efforts to contribute to activities of the national fish habitat partnership. The goal of this project is to furnish the necessary personnel, materials and services, and do all things tooperate and manage the business of the western native trout initiative within the member states of the westernassociation of fish and wildlife agencies, or the states within the national fish habitat partnership as needed. These are long-term project goals intended to build and maintain effective conservation partnerships among local, state, and federal partners to catalyze and accelerate conservation of western native trout across 12 western states. Conserving western native trout and char populations requires a unified, collaborative effort among multiple state, federal, tribal and local agencies as well as private landowners and companies to be successful. The western native trout initiative was formed in 2006 to ensure that native trout populations continue to thrivein the face of ongoing challenges, while fostering a cooperative approach to conserving the water and habitatthey depend on for future generations.