Native to the southwest United States, the gila trout is native to the Gila River in New Mexico and Arizona. Threatened by competition from the rainbow trout, its primary cause for reduced population is loss of habitat  by loss of shad-giving trees and water flow. By 1967, its range had been reduced to a total of 20 in the Gila Wilderness and Aldo Leopold Wilderness from an area of sever hundreds of miles of streams. It is now more secure in its existence, having been moved to 10 additional steams.