USFWS airlifts 78 wild Iron Creek Gila trout out of New Mexico fire country

Iron Creek’s Gila trout are out of the burn scar. U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Sept. 15, 2026 story says the Iron Creek lineage — one of five remaining Gila trout populations, entirely wild and a genetically distinct Middle Fork Gila River relict — lives in a high-mountain creek in the Gila Wilderness in southwest New Mexico. The Hummingbird Fire burned about 5,720 acres in May and the Sacaton Fire about 9,861 acres in July, destroying the only trail in. Forecast rain after Sacaton raised the ash-and-debris flood risk, so the Gila Trout Recovery Implementation Team evacuated the fish.

USFS forest fish biologist Eileen Henry, New Mexico Department of Wildlife’s Dan Trujillo, and Gila National Forest wildlife biologist Jose Delgado — all wildland-firefighter trained — helicoptered into the active fire zone. They electrofished 78 Gila trout into an oxygenated aluminum tank, airlifted the tank out, and handed the fish to Mora National Fish Hatchery project leader Daniel Gallegos for the long truck ride. USFWS fish biologist Serena Kucera said the written evacuation plan already existed; Arizona Game and Fish was part of the cross-agency team.

At Mora, Gallegos had prepped an isolation system in May and ordered meal worms and crickets for a live diet. As of the Sept. 15 story the rescued fish were in an isolated tank at 100 percent survival. After genetics they go into broodstock; offspring are meant for recovery stocking in New Mexico and Arizona, with a later shot at angler opportunity.

Photo: Daniel Gallegos / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain; helicopter airlift from the Sacaton Fire).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Gila Trout Rescue in New Mexico (Sept. 15, 2026). Photo: Gila trout transported by helicopter (Daniel Gallegos/USFWS).