Low Colorado River flows force new approach for endangered fish recovery near Moab
An endangered fish recovery project near Moab is trying a new approach this year after unusually low Colorado River flows disrupted the wetland nursery process normally used to raise young razorback sucker. Earlier this month, biologists with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources stocked 5,000 larval bonytail chub — the rarest endangered native fish in the Colorado River Basin — into the central pond at the Scott and Norma Matheson Wetlands Preserve as part of an experimental recovery effort. Instead of relying on spring runoff to naturally carry endangered razorback sucker larvae into the preserve, DWR biologists directly introduced the bonytail in hopes that fish raised in a more natural environment may ultimately survive better once released into the Colorado River.
Other habitat and species restoration news around the West:
- Edhat Santa Barbara (Calif.): Wildlife officials begin tagging spring-run chinook salmon ahead of spawning season
- Arizona Mirror: The tiny frog that could: How Arizona is pulling a threatened species back from the edge
- Public Policy Institute of California: Blog: A conversation with CDFW’s new director, Meghan Hertel
- NOAA Fisheries: Blog: World Fish Migration Day
