From Patrick Donnelly at the Center for Biological Diversity:
Today the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a positive 90-day finding on the Center for Biological Diversity’s petition to protect the Long Valley speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus ssp.) under the Endangered Species Act. The Service found that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing may be warranted. This advances the fish to a one-year review for determination as to whether or not listing under the Act is warranted.
DFC’er Steve Parmenter basically single-handedly saved the Long Valley speckled dace from extinction, scooping up a few and establishing a refugium outside of its native range before the last population at Whitmore Hot Spring likely winked out. And it’s not the only taxon of endemic desert aquatic life which might be extinct but for Parmenter’s tender care.
90-day finding in the Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/09/29/2021-20963/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-90-day-findings-for-five-species
90-day finding petition review form: https://downloads.regulations.gov/FWS-R8-ES-2021-0065-0003/content.pdf
CBD’s 2020 petition: https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/fish/pdfs/Death-Valley-dace-petition-6-8-20.pdf