Though populations have been stocked throughout the American West and into Canada, the California golden trout’s native range is limited to less than a 600 square mile area high within the headwaters of the Kern River watershed in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. This includes a substantial portion of the South Fork of the Kern River and its tributaries, and an upper portion of Golden Trout Creek and its tributaries. Over the years the fish have lost access to large portions of their native waters, but much of what remains connected are encompassed within the Golden Trout Wilderness, a protected backcountry portion of the Kern Plateau spanning the Sequoia and Inyo National Forests.