Summary of AZGFD Conservation Efforts Through the Gila River Basin Native Fishes Conservation Program 2001-2022

Authors: Brian Hickerson, William Stewart, Kent Mosher, Anthony Robinson

Year: 2022

Abstract

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (in collaboration with other partner agencies), has implemented a program of nonnative fish eradication efforts and native fish translocations since 2001, as part of the Gila River Basin Native Fishes Conservation Program led by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These efforts have primarily focused on improving the conservation status of several priority species: Gila Topminnow, Poeciliopsis occidentalis, Spikedace, Meda fulgida, Loach Minnow, Rhinichthys cobitis, and Gila Chub, Gila intermedia. To date, the Department’s efforts have resulted in the eradication of nonnative fishes from seven waters within the Gila River basin in Arizona. In addition, there has been a substantial increase in the number of extant populations of the priority species (and Desert Pupfish, Cyprinodon macularius) within the Gila River basin of Arizona as a result of translocations. Few relict populations of the priority species were lost within this period, resulting in a net increase in the number of populations for all focal taxa since 2001. The Department’s efforts supported by the Gila River Basin Native Fishes Conservation Program have substantially benefited the conservation status of listed species and demonstrates that conservation actions can be effective when funding is consistent and targeted to actions most likely to move species toward recovery.