SHAUN STANLEY/Durango Herald A long-planned move to re-establish
the Colorado River cutthroat trout in the Hermosa Creek
watershed occurred Wednesday when the headwaters stretch of the
drainage was stocked with the native fish. Colorado Parks and
Wildlife biologists and volunteers, including Trout Unlimited,
planted 11,000 fingerlings about 3 inches long and 200
10-inchers in the main stem of Hermosa Creek upstream from Hotel
Draw. Fish were carried in bags from trucks and emptied into
Hermosa Creek at various points. If the fish had to be carried
any distance, they were transported in super-oxygenated water to
ensure they arrived in good condition. Michael Martinez, a fish
culturist at the Parks and Wildlife hatchery in Durango, brought
the fingerlings Tuesday from the Rifle Falls hatchery in
Garfield County. “The water there has been certified free of
whirling disease,” said Riley Morris, assistant manager at the
Parks and Wildlife hatchery in Durango. Whirling disease, caused
by a parasite, results in skel