Resolution pertaining to listing priority restoration and emergency Federal listing of Gila nigra as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Authors: Sally E. Stefferud

Year: 2009 (xli)

Abstract

Whereas the Desert Fishes Council (http://www.desertfishes.org) is an international organization numbering in excess of 150 professional members, including agency, university, and management scientists and resource specialists and other individuals concerned with the long-term integrity of North America’s desert ecosystems, and

Whereas the expertise of its members collectively reflects considerable decades of education and active experience working in the fields of aquatic ecosystem research, conservation, and management, and

Whereas, Gila nigra, headwater chub (formerly Gila robusta grahami), is a cyprinid fish native to the Gila River basin in Arizona and New Mexico. It was described as a distinct species by Minckley and Demarais in 2000 and has been recognized by the American Fisheries Society. G. nigra currently occurs in only 10 populations, of which 50% are unstable or imperiled with significant and increasing threats from nonnative species and habitat degredation. Another 30% are stable but with increasing threats, and the remaining 20% are of uncertain identity and may not be G. nigra and

Whereas, an emergency exists to the species persistence due to substantial increases in actions threatening several populations, most notably water depletion in the East Verde River approved under the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, and burgeoning, uncontrolled recreational use in Fossil Creek that endangers a two-decade long multi-million dollar restoration effort, and

Whereas, the 5-year collaborative multi-party "Statewide Conservation Agreement" for 6 species of fish, instituted in 2006, has not to-date resulted in completion of any on-the-ground conservation gains or any significant improvement in the status of G. nigra, and remains untested and unfunded, and

Whereas, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 found that Federal listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted for G. nigra, but precluded by listing actions of higher priority, and

Whereas, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2008 revised the listing priority of headwater chub in a downward direction, from the former 2 to the present 8, and based the downgrade on erroneous data and unsupported conclusions regarding improved status of and threat removal to G. nigra populations, and proleptic assumptions regarding possible future conservation efforts through the Statewide Conservation Agreement, and

Whereas, on November 7, 2009, the USFWS was formally petitioned by Sally E. Stefferud and Dr. Thomas E. Dowling, members of Desert Fishes Council, and Jerome A. Stefferud and Dr. Paul C. Marsh, to restore the listing priority of G. nigra to 2 and to emergency list G. nigra as endangered, and

Now therefore be it resolved, that the Desert Fishes Council by majority vote of the membership assembled at its 41st annual business meeting on November 21, 2009 in Death Valley, California, believes that increasing threats to the species and declining status of the majority populations raises the priority for listing of G. nigra, and therefore, the Council urges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a favorable finding regarding the requests in the November 7, 2009 petition and restore the listing priority of G. nigra to 2 and emergency list the species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and

Be it further resolved that this resolution be sent to the Secretary of the Interior, Washington D.C., with copies to the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington D.C., Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, NM; Director, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ; and Director, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Santa Fe, NM.