Cutthroat – or cutts – are now on the edge of extinction. They were once so plentiful that they were hauled away by the wagonload until overfishing and such industrial development as hydro-electric dams decimated the population. Well-intentioned but imprudent attempts followed to restock the water bodies with non-native species such as brook trout, which gobbled up food and cross-bred with the cutts.

"This is our fault," said Shelley Humphries, an aquatics specialist with Parks Canada. "We caused this. We've monkeyed around. ... but we can fix this one. We can save cutthroat if we just have the will to do it."