The Jackson fish managers have never been able to conduct a population estimate on the Buffalo Fork River near Moran. To conduct a population estimate, managers must be able collect a good sampling of fish and on rivers, this is typically accomplished using electro-fishing. But some rivers are so clear and free of nutrients that they hardly conduct enough electricity to temporarily stun the fish so they can be netted. The Buffalo Fork is one of those rivers. Even though fish managers know there's a good population of fish in the Buffalo Fork, they have never been able to prove it, or run a population estimate to compare it to other rivers.

However, technological improvements have been made to the electro-fishing equipment, so local fish managers wanted to see if they could now get a decent sample of fish. To do so, the Jackson fish crew conducted sampling efforts on three separate days recently, and while the number of fish they were able to collect had improved, numbers were still relatively low compared to other rivers. 

"We know there's a solid population of Snake River cutthroats in there, based on the habitat and the creel surveys of anglers, but we just haven't been able to quantify it real well," said Jackson Fish Biologist Diana Miller. "We may just need to make more adjustements to the new equipment. We haven't given up yet."