WABAMUN — Alberta has taken trumpeter swans off its threatened species list, but the province’s official fish isn’t so lucky.
The bull trout — along with the Athabasca rainbow trout, pygmy whitefish and western grebe — is now considered threatened due to declining or small populations.
Environment Minister Robin Campbell says a recovery plan will be developed and put in place to protect and rebuild their populations.
Trumpeter swans aren’t totally out of the woods.
They are still identified as a species of special concern.
That means they are still vulnerable, but not in immediate danger.
The county of Grande Prairie is home to a large, natural breeding ground for the swans.
“We worked closely with other stakeholders in the area to ensure guidelines and land-use plans were followed to protect them and their nesting areas,” county Reeve Leanne Beaupre said Wednesday at a news conference in Wabamun, west of Edmonton.