Battle Against Extinction: The Desert Fishes Council’s dedication to an imperiled fauna, in tribute to UNLV scientist and pupfish advocate James Deacon.

Authors: Kathryn* Boyer

Year: 2015 (xlvii)

Abstract

In the mid 60’s aquatic ecosystems east of the Sierra Nevada and throughout the desert Southwest of North America were in peril of disappearing due to increased groundwater pumping and stream diversion. As the decade advanced, desert springs and streams were drying up, and the endemic fish fauna found nowhere else on earth was in peril of extinction. The Desert Fishes Council was formed in 1969 through the coordinated efforts of concerned scientists and managers desperate to act on behalf of the unique and imperiled fauna. The Council’s flagship icon was and is the Devil’s Hole Pupfish, Cyprinodon diabolis and its distant cousins. Instrumental in the conservation of this iconic species was Dr. Jim Deacon from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Jim’s graduate students were studying the fauna and the habitat of Devils Hole, located within Ash Meadows of western Nevada. Die-hard desert rat biologists thus drafted themselves for a battle against extinction, scheduling the first meeting of the Desert Fishes Council in November 1969. This is the story about the Desert Fishes Council, and the vanishing species that triggered its rise, in tribute to Jim Deacon, and those who drafted themselves for combat.