Big Valley Pomo respond to federal decision not to give Clear Lake hitch emergency listing
In the wake of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saying it will not grant an emergency Endangered Species Act listing for the Clear Lake hitch, the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians voiced its disappointment with the decision. On Tuesday, Fish and Wildlife announced that it wouldn’t give the listing, which the California Fish and Game Commission, Lake County’s tribes and the Center for Biological Diversity asked for the agency to do last year. The hitch, a fish native to Clear Lake, is known as the “chi” to Lake County’s tribes, for whom it has had an important cultural role due to being a primary food source historically.