Several streams in the Trout Creek Mountains are home to trout , including the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout subspecies . These include Willow Creek , Whitehorse Creek , Little Whitehorse Creek , Doolittle Creek , Fifteen Mile Creek , Indian Creek , Sage Canyon Creek , Line Canyon Creek , and some tributaries of McDermitt Creek . Lahontan cutthroat trout live in small , isolated populations that are often confined to individual streams , many of them in the Trout Creek Mountains . These populations have significant genetic differences due to their history of isolation . For most of the 20th century , the trout 's numbers declined considerably . It was listed under federal law as an endangered species in 1970 and was reclassified as threatened in 1975 . Reasons for the fish 's decline included habitat degradation from cattle grazing , drought , overfishing , competition with other fish , and hybridization with introduced rainbow trout , which decreased the number of genetically pure Lahontan cutthroat trout . However , reductions in cattle grazing in riparian zones since the 1980s allowed fish habitat and populations to start to recover .